a crede — to believe | Romanian Grammar

A crede ("to believe, to think") is a third-conjugation verb (short infinitive in -e: a crede) and the everyday verb for holding an opinion — the Romanian equivalent of English "I think (that)…" far more often than a gândi. When a Romanian wants to say "I think it'll rain" or "I don't believe that's true," the verb is almost always a crede.

Two features deserve close attention. First, the stem shows a d → z alternation before the -i ending: cred but crezi, and this z surfaces again in the participle crezut and gerund crezând. Second, and more subtly, a crede governs a mood split in the clause that follows it: the affirmative cred că takes the indicative (you are asserting something you hold to be true), while the negative nu cred să typically takes the subjunctive (you are withholding belief, pushing the event into the realm of the doubtful). This contrast is one of the clearest windows into how Romanian uses mood to encode certainty.

For English speakers, the trap is that "I think" and "I don't think" use the identical structure in English — "I think he'll come" / "I don't think he'll come" — with no change to the verb that follows. Romanian instead lets the matrix verb's polarity reach into the subordinate clause and switch its mood. Affirmation projects the event onto the real timeline (indicative vine); negation pulls it back into the merely possible (subjunctive să vină). The same logic governs a spera and other verbs of mental attitude, so the habit you build here will generalise.

Prezent indicativ

Note the d → z shift in the tu form.

Person	Form
eu	cred
tu	crezi
el / ea	crede
noi	credem
voi	credeți
ei / ele	cred

💡

The tu form is crezi, not credi with a d: the stem-final d becomes z before -i. You will see the same d → z alternation in many class III verbs (a vinde → vinzi). The plural noi / voi forms keep the d: credem, credeți. As usual, eu cred and ei cred are identical.

Imperfect

Person	Form
eu	credeam
tu	credeai
el / ea	credea
noi	credeam
voi	credeați
ei / ele	credeau

Perfect compus

Auxiliary a avea plus the participle crezut (with the z).

Person	Form
eu	am crezut
tu	ai crezut
el / ea	a crezut
noi	am crezut
voi	ați crezut
ei / ele	au crezut

💡

The participle is crezut, carrying over the z from the tu form — not credut. This is the single most common spelling slip with this verb.

Mai-mult-ca-perfectul (pluperfect)

Person	Form
eu	crezusem
tu	crezuseși
el / ea	crezuse
noi	crezuserăm
voi	crezuserăți
ei / ele	crezuseră

Viitor (future)

Person	voi-future (formal)	o să-future (informal)
eu	voi crede	o să cred
tu	vei crede	o să crezi
el / ea	va crede	o să creadă
noi	vom crede	o să credem
voi	veți crede	o să credeți
ei / ele	vor crede	o să creadă

Conjunctiv prezent

The third person breaks the stem vowel to ea: să creadă.

Person	Form
eu	să cred
tu	să crezi
el / ea	să creadă
noi	să credem
voi	să credeți
ei / ele	să creadă

Condițional prezent

Person	Form
eu	aș crede
tu	ai crede
el / ea	ar crede
noi	am crede
voi	ați crede
ei / ele	ar crede

Imperativ

The singular imperative is crede! (identical to the 3rd-person present), plural credeți! It is used most often figuratively — crede-mă! ("believe me!"), nu mă crede ("he doesn't believe me").

Type	Singular (tu)	Plural (voi)
Affirmative	crede!	credeți!
Affirmative + clitic	crede-mă!	credeți-mă!
Negative	nu crede!	nu credeți!

Non-finite forms

Form	Romanian
Infinitive (short / long)	(a) crede / credere
Gerunziu	crezând
Participiu	crezut
Supin	de crezut

Usage

The short, ubiquitous answer cred că da / cred că nu ("I think so / I don't think so"):

— Vine și el la petrecere? — Cred că da.

— Is he coming to the party too? — I think so.

Affirmative cred că + indicative — asserting something you hold to be true:

Cred că plouă mai târziu, ia o umbrelă.

I think it'll rain later, take an umbrella.

Cred că vine cu trenul de seară.

I think he's coming on the evening train.

Negative nu cred să + subjunctive — withholding belief, marking the event as doubtful:

Nu cred să vină pe ploaia asta.

I don't think he'll come in this rain.

Nu cred să fie adevărat ce spun ei.

I don't think what they're saying is true.

"To believe / trust" a person, taking a direct object:

Nu te cred, ai mai spus asta și data trecută.

I don't believe you, you said that last time too.

The reflexive a se crede for "to think oneself / fancy oneself" (often with a critical edge):

Se crede mai deștept decât toți.

He thinks he's smarter than everyone.

The imperative crede-mă as an emphatic aside:

Crede-mă, nu merită efortul.

Believe me, it's not worth the effort.

Common Mistakes

❌ Tu crezi sau credi?

Clarification — the tu form is crezi with z; *credi does not exist.

✅ Tu crezi că merită?

Do you think it's worth it?

❌ Am credut că glumești.

Incorrect — the participle is crezut, with the z, not *credut.

✅ Am crezut că glumești.

I thought you were joking.

❌ Nu cred că vine pe ploaia asta.

Understandable but unidiomatic — after negated nu cred, native speakers prefer the subjunctive să vină to mark doubt.

✅ Nu cred să vină pe ploaia asta.

I don't think he'll come in this rain.

❌ Cred să plouă mâine.

Incorrect — affirmative cred că takes the indicative, not the subjunctive.

✅ Cred că plouă mâine.

I think it'll rain tomorrow.

❌ Vreau să crede toată lumea povestea.

Incorrect — the 3rd-person subjunctive breaks the vowel: creadă, not crede.

✅ Vreau să creadă toată lumea povestea.

I want everyone to believe the story.

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