A căuta means to look for or to search. It is a high-frequency A1 verb and a textbook plain first conjugation (-a) verb — no -ez infix — but it carries one feature that trips up beginners: an ă/a stem alternation. The first-person caut and the third persons caută keep the bare stem caut-/caut-, while the noi and voi forms restore the vowel to ă: căutăm, căutați. The same ă runs through the imperfect (căutam), the participle (căutat), the gerund (căutând), and the infinitive (a căuta).
The single most important fact about a căuta is syntactic, not morphological: it is transitive and takes a direct object with no preposition. English "look for my keys" has a preposition; Romanian caut cheile has none. Stamping a pentru in there (caut pentru chei) is the signature English-speaker error this page exists to kill.
Prezent indicativ
Note the vowel: the stem is caut- in the singular and 3pl, but the ă comes back in căutăm / căutați. The 1sg and 3pl are identical (caut ≠ caută though — 1sg is caut, 3sg/3pl is caută).
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | caut |
| tu | cauți |
| el / ea | caută |
| noi | căutăm |
| voi | căutați |
| ei / ele | caută |
Te caut de o oră, unde ai fost?
I've been looking for you for an hour, where were you?
Ce cauți acolo, ai pierdut ceva?
What are you looking for over there, did you lose something?
Imperfect
The ă stem throughout, with the regular Class I imperfect ending -am.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | căutam |
| tu | căutai |
| el / ea | căuta |
| noi | căutam |
| voi | căutați |
| ei / ele | căutau |
Tocmai te căutam, ce bine că ai venit!
I was just looking for you, how good that you came!
Perfect compus
Auxiliary a avea plus the regular Class I participle căutat.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | am căutat |
| tu | ai căutat |
| el / ea | a căutat |
| noi | am căutat |
| voi | ați căutat |
| ei / ele | au căutat |
Am căutat peste tot, dar nu am găsit nimic.
I looked everywhere, but I didn't find anything.
Mai-mult-ca-perfectul
Synthetic pluperfect built on the participle stem căutas-.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | căutasem |
| tu | căutaseși |
| el / ea | căutase |
| noi | căutaserăm |
| voi | căutaserăți |
| ei / ele | căutaseră |
O căutasem deja la birou când m-a sunat de pe drum.
I had already looked for her at the office when she called me from the road.
Viitor
| Person | Viitor (voi-form, formal) | Colloquial (o să) |
|---|---|---|
| eu | voi căuta | o să caut |
| tu | vei căuta | o să cauți |
| el / ea | va căuta | o să caute |
| noi | vom căuta | o să căutăm |
| voi | veți căuta | o să căutați |
| ei / ele | vor căuta | o să caute |
O să caut un apartament mai aproape de centru.
I'm going to look for an apartment closer to downtown.
Conjunctiv prezent
Identical to the indicative except in the 3rd person, where the subjunctive form is (să) caute — distinct from the indicative caută. This -e third person is the plain Class I subjunctive signature.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | să caut |
| tu | să cauți |
| el / ea | să caute |
| noi | să căutăm |
| voi | să căutați |
| ei / ele | să caute |
Trebuie să caut un dentist bun prin zonă.
I need to look for a good dentist in the area.
Condițional prezent
Conditional auxiliary plus the short infinitive căuta.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | aș căuta |
| tu | ai căuta |
| el / ea | ar căuta |
| noi | am căuta |
| voi | ați căuta |
| ei / ele | ar căuta |
În locul tău, aș căuta alt furnizor.
If I were you, I'd look for another supplier.
Imperativ
The affirmative singular is caută! (the 3sg present form), the plural căutați! The negative singular uses the bare infinitive: nu căuta!
| Affirmative | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| tu (sg.) | caută! | nu căuta! |
| voi (pl.) | căutați! | nu căutați! |
Caută-l pe Google, sigur apare ceva.
Look it up on Google, something's bound to come up.
Forme nepersonale
The gerund căutând carries the â; the supine de căutat is what you reach for in "there's still something to look for / to search."
| Form | Romanian |
|---|---|
| Infinitiv | (a) căuta |
| Gerunziu | căutând |
| Participiu | căutat |
| Supin | de căutat |
Usage
A căuta is transitive: the thing you are looking for is a plain direct object, attached with no preposition at all. Caut cheile — "I'm looking for the keys." When the object is a specific person, Romanian adds the personal-object marker pe (and a clitic): Te caut, îl caut pe Andrei — but that pe marks the animate object, not the English "for." The reflexive a-și căuta gives idioms like a-și căuta cuvintele ("to search for one's words"). For online search, a căuta pe Google / pe internet is the everyday phrasing.
Caut cheile de zece minute și nu le găsesc.
I've been looking for the keys for ten minutes and I can't find them.
L-am căutat pe Andrei toată ziua, dar avea telefonul închis.
I looked for Andrei all day, but his phone was off.
Caut-o pe Google, scrie acolo tot ce trebuie.
Look it up on Google, it says everything you need there.
Își căuta cuvintele, vizibil emoționat.
He was searching for his words, visibly moved.
Căutând o soluție rapidă, a stricat lucrurile și mai tare.
In searching for a quick solution, he made things even worse.
Source-language note for English speakers
English "look for" and "search for" are phrasal — the meaning lives partly in the particle for, and learners reflexively reach for a Romanian preposition to translate it. But a căuta already bundles the "for" into the verb itself; the object follows directly. So "I'm looking for a job" is caut un loc de muncă, with nothing between verb and object. The only preposition that ever appears is pe, and that is the animate-object marker that Romanian puts in front of people regardless of the verb — îl caut pe doctor — not a translation of English "for." Train yourself to drop the "for" entirely when the object is a thing.
Common Mistakes
❌ Caut pentru cheile mele.
Incorrect — a căuta takes a direct object; no pentru/for.
✅ Caut cheile.
I'm looking for my keys.
❌ Noi cautăm un apartament.
Incorrect — the plural restores the ă; the form is căutăm.
✅ Noi căutăm un apartament.
We're looking for an apartment.
❌ Anul trecut cautam de lucru.
Incorrect — the imperfect keeps the ă: căutam.
✅ Anul trecut căutam de lucru.
Last year I was looking for work.
❌ Vreau să caute Andrei adresa.
Incorrect — with a 1sg subject the subjunctive is să caut; this is confusing person agreement.
✅ Vreau să caut adresa.
I want to look up the address.
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Class I Present: Regular -a VerbsA1 — How to conjugate plain Class I (-a) verbs in the present indicative, including the bare-stem first person and the 3sg = 3pl syncretism.
- Class I Present: Stem Vowel Changes (e→ea, o→oa, a→ă)A2 — The predictable stressed-stem diphthongizations that reshape Class I (-a) verbs in the third person — e→ea, o→oa, and the a→ă alternation — and why they appear exactly where the ending is unstressed.
- Transitive, Intransitive, and the ObjectB1 — How transitivity works in Romanian, the direct-object marker pe, clitic doubling, and verbs that govern the dative instead of the accusative.
- a găsi — to findA2 — Full conjugation of a găsi (to find), a fourth-conjugation -esc verb, including the reflexive a se găsi meaning to be located or situated.
- a aștepta — to wait, to expectA1 — Full conjugation of the regular first-conjugation verb a aștepta, which takes a direct object (wait FOR someone with no preposition) and whose reflexive a se aștepta la means to expect.