A Romanian recipe is one of the best places to meet two ways of giving instructions side by side. You'll see the polite 2nd-person plural imperative (Tăiați ceapa — "Cut the onion") and the impersonal se-passive (Se taie ceapa — "The onion is cut / one cuts the onion"). Both are completely standard in cookbooks, often in the same paragraph, and learning to read both is the key to following any Romanian recipe. Along the way you'll see the number-plus-de measurement rule (200 de grame), the supine of purpose (gata de servit — "ready to serve"), and the little connector words that sequence the steps (apoi, după aceea, la final).
This page presents an original recipe for salată de boeuf, the festive potato-and-vegetable salad on every Romanian holiday table, then annotates the instructional grammar.
The recipe
Salată de boeuf
Ingrediente:
500 de grame de cartofi, 300 de grame de carne de vită, 4 morcovi, un borcan de castraveți murați, 200 de grame de mazăre, 3 linguri de maioneză, sare și piper.
500 grams of potatoes, 300 grams of beef, 4 carrots, a jar of pickles, 200 grams of peas, 3 spoonfuls of mayonnaise, salt and pepper.
Mod de preparare:
Mai întâi, fierbeți carnea, cartofii și morcovii în apă cu sare.
First, boil the meat, potatoes and carrots in salted water.
După ce s-au răcit, se curăță cartofii și morcovii și se taie cubulețe mici.
Once they've cooled, the potatoes and carrots are peeled and cut into small cubes.
Apoi tăiați carnea și castraveții în bucăți la fel de mici.
Then cut the meat and the pickles into equally small pieces.
Se adaugă mazărea și se amestecă totul ușor într-un castron mare.
The peas are added and everything is mixed gently in a large bowl.
După aceea, puneți maioneza, sare și piper după gust.
After that, add the mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste.
Se amestecă din nou, până când toate ingredientele sunt acoperite.
Mix again, until all the ingredients are coated.
La final, se decorează cu felii de ou fiert și se dă la rece două ore.
At the end, decorate with slices of boiled egg and chill for two hours.
Salata este gata de servit. Poftă bună!
The salad is ready to serve. Enjoy your meal!
Line by line
Two ways to command: imperative vs. impersonal se
This recipe deliberately mixes the two standard instruction styles, just as real Romanian cookbooks do.
- The 2pl imperative addresses the cook directly: Fierbeți ("Boil"), Tăiați ("Cut"), Puneți ("Add/Put"). It's the polite, all-purpose command form — the same one you'd use to a stranger — and it makes the recipe feel like someone talking you through it.
- The impersonal se removes the cook entirely: Se curăță ("are peeled / one peels"), Se taie ("are cut"), Se adaugă ("are added"). The reflexive se turns the verb impersonal, focusing on the action and the food rather than on "you." It reads more neutral and technical.
Tăiați ceapa mărunt.
Cut the onion finely. (imperative — direct)
Se taie ceapa mărunt.
The onion is cut finely. / One cuts the onion finely. (impersonal se)
Both mean the same instruction. They're interchangeable, and recipes flip between them freely — sometimes within one sentence.
Se taie / se adaugă — agreement of the impersonal se
A subtle point: with the se form, the verb agrees with the food, which is its grammatical subject. One thing is singular, several things are plural:
Se adaugă mazărea.
The peas are added. (mazărea is singular in form → adaugă)
Se curăță cartofii și morcovii.
The potatoes and carrots are peeled. (plural → curăță, here 3pl)
Se fierbe carnea.
The meat is boiled.
Se fierb ouăle zece minute.
The eggs are boiled for ten minutes. (plural ouăle → fierb)
So Se fierbe carnea (one item) but Se fierb ouăle (several). This is the same agreement logic as the se-passive vs. a fi passive.
200 de grame de făină — the number + de rule
Romanian inserts de between a number and its noun once the number is 20 or higher: 200 de grame, 500 de grame, 300 de grame de carne. Numbers 2 through 19 attach directly with no de: 4 morcovi, 3 linguri, două ore. This trips up English speakers, who use "of" only for the substance ("200 grams of flour"), not for the count.
| Number | Romanian | de? |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 linguri de maioneză | no de after the number |
| 4 | 4 morcovi | no de |
| 20 | 20 de grame | de required |
| 200 | 200 de grame de făină | de after the number AND de for "of flour" |
Adăugați 100 de grame de unt.
Add 100 grams of butter.
Folosiți 5 ouă și 2 linguri de zahăr.
Use 5 eggs and 2 spoonfuls of sugar.
Gata de servit / se dă la rece — the supine and set phrases
The closing line, Salata este gata de servit ("The salad is ready to serve"), uses the supine — a non-finite verb form that looks like the past participle (servit) and follows de to express purpose or readiness. It answers "ready for what?": gata de servit ("ready to serve / for serving"), bun de mâncat ("good to eat"), de copt ("for baking").
Aluatul este gata de copt.
The dough is ready to bake / for baking. (supine)
Legumele sunt bune de pus la cuptor.
The vegetables are good to put in the oven. (supine)
The phrase se dă la rece ("is put in the cold / chilled," from a da la rece) is a fixed cooking idiom for refrigerating, and după gust ("to taste," literally "after taste") tells you to season by preference.
Se dă la rece o jumătate de oră.
Chill for half an hour. (lit. 'is given to the cold')
Adăugați sare după gust.
Add salt to taste.
Mai întâi, apoi, după aceea, la final — sequencing
Recipes are chronological, and Romanian threads the steps with a small set of connectors. Knowing them lets you follow any procedure:
| Connector | Meaning |
|---|---|
| mai întâi / întâi | first |
| apoi | then |
| după aceea | after that |
| după ce (+ verb) | after / once (something happens) |
| între timp | meanwhile |
| la final / în final | at the end, finally |
Mai întâi spălați legumele, apoi tăiați-le.
First wash the vegetables, then cut them.
După ce s-au răcit, se curăță.
Once they've cooled, they're peeled.
Între timp, pregătiți sosul.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.
Notice după ce s-au răcit ("after they cooled"): după ce introduces a finished prior action with a real tense (here the perfect compus s-au răcit), whereas după aceea is just an adverb ("after that") needing no clause.
Common Mistakes
Forgetting de with numbers 20 and up:
❌ 200 grame de făină
Wrong — numbers ≥ 20 need de: 200 de grame de făină.
✅ 200 de grame de făină
200 grams of flour.
Adding de with small numbers, over-applying the rule:
❌ 4 de morcovi
Wrong — numbers 2–19 take the noun directly: 4 morcovi.
✅ 4 morcovi
4 carrots.
Treating the impersonal se as needing a subject pronoun:
❌ El se taie ceapa.
Wrong — impersonal se has no personal subject: Se taie ceapa.
✅ Se taie ceapa.
The onion is cut. / One cuts the onion.
Failing to make the se-verb agree with a plural food:
❌ Se fierbe ouăle.
Wrong — ouăle is plural, so: Se fierb ouăle.
✅ Se fierb ouăle.
The eggs are boiled.
Using a plain infinitive where Romanian uses the supine:
❌ Salata este gata a servi.
Unnatural — use the supine: Salata este gata de servit.
✅ Salata este gata de servit.
The salad is ready to serve.
Key Takeaways
- Recipes mix two instruction styles: the direct 2pl imperative (Tăiați, Fierbeți) and the impersonal se-passive (Se taie, Se fierbe). Both are standard.
- The se verb agrees with the food (its subject): Se fierbe carnea but Se fierb ouăle.
- Numbers 2–19 take the noun directly; 20 and up insert de (200 de grame). The "of the substance" de is separate.
- The supine (gata de servit, de copt) expresses readiness/purpose after de.
- Sequence with mai întâi → apoi → după aceea → la final; use după ce
- a real tense for "after something happened."
Now practice Romanian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Affirmative Imperative: voi (2pl) and PolitenessA2 — The plural imperative equals the present indicative 2pl (cântați!, mergeți!) — and because Romanian has no dedicated polite-singular command, this same form carries politeness with dumneavoastră.
- Choosing the Passive: se vs a fiB2 — A decision guide for Romanian's two passives — the se-passive for generic, agentless, habitual statements, and a fi + participle for a specific completed event with a nameable agent.
- The Supine (de + participle)B1 — Romanian's distinctively fourth non-finite form — identical in shape to the participle but invariable and preposition-governing — covering 'something to do', purpose after motion verbs, and after certain adjectives and nouns.
- Numbers in Age, Time, and MeasurementA2 — Romanian states age with 'a avea' + de + ani (Am treizeci de ani = 'I have thirty years'), not 'a fi'; clock time, distances, weights, and prices all obey the same number-plus-'de' threshold at twenty (cinci ani but douăzeci de ani).
- The Impersonal se (one/you/they)B1 — How Romanian uses se for fully generic statements with no specific subject — the natural rendering of English 'one', 'you', 'they', and 'people'.
- Spoken vs Written RomanianB2 — Medium (spoken vs written) and formality (informal vs formal) are two independent axes. Spoken Romanian favors the o-să future, ăsta/asta, dropped final -l, clitic fusion, fillers, repair, and dislocation (Cartea, am citit-o); written Romanian favors the voi-future, acesta, full forms, dense subordination, and — in narrative — the perfectul simplu. Crucially, even a formal SPEECH keeps some spoken features that a formal LETTER would not, so 'spoken vs written' is not the same cut as 'informal vs formal'.