A duce ("to carry, to lead, to take something somewhere") is a third-conjugation verb (short infinitive in -e: a duce) and one of the great workhorses of everyday Romanian. Transitively it means moving an object or a person away from where the speaker is — carrying the rubbish out, walking the dog, taking a child to school. Its present is regular for class III, and its only real surprise is the short, c-to-s participle dus and the diphthong in the third-person subjunctive să ducă.
The verb you will actually hear most, though, is the reflexive a se duce, which is the colloquial, ubiquitous way to say "to go" — far more common in speech than a merge for "I'm off to" somewhere. Mă duc la piață is exactly how a native says "I'm going to the market." Keep these two senses cleanly apart in your head: bare a duce = carry/take something; a se duce (with the reflexive clitic) = go.
Prezent indicativ
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | duc |
| tu | duci |
| el / ea | duce |
| noi | ducem |
| voi | duceți |
| ei / ele | duc |
Imperfect
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | duceam |
| tu | duceai |
| el / ea | ducea |
| noi | duceam |
| voi | duceați |
| ei / ele | duceau |
Perfect compus
Auxiliary a avea plus the short participle dus.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | am dus |
| tu | ai dus |
| el / ea | a dus |
| noi | am dus |
| voi | ați dus |
| ei / ele | au dus |
Mai-mult-ca-perfectul (pluperfect)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | dusesem |
| tu | duseseși |
| el / ea | dusese |
| noi | duseserăm |
| voi | duseserăți |
| ei / ele | duseseră |
Viitor (future)
| Person | voi-future (formal) | o să-future (informal) |
|---|---|---|
| eu | voi duce | o să duc |
| tu | vei duce | o să duci |
| el / ea | va duce | o să ducă |
| noi | vom duce | o să ducem |
| voi | veți duce | o să duceți |
| ei / ele | vor duce | o să ducă |
Conjunctiv prezent
The third person is irregular: să ducă (not să duce).
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | să duc |
| tu | să duci |
| el / ea | să ducă |
| noi | să ducem |
| voi | să duceți |
| ei / ele | să ducă |
Condițional prezent
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | aș duce |
| tu | ai duce |
| el / ea | ar duce |
| noi | am duce |
| voi | ați duce |
| ei / ele | ar duce |
Imperativ
The transitive singular imperative is du! (a short form — the stem drops to a single syllable), plural duceți! The reflexive "go!" attaches the clitic: du-te! ("go away! / get going!"), plural duceți-vă!
| Type | Singular (tu) | Plural (voi) |
|---|---|---|
| Affirmative (transitive) | du! | duceți! |
| Affirmative (reflexive 'go') | du-te! | duceți-vă! |
| Negative (transitive) | nu duce! | nu duceți! |
| Negative (reflexive) | nu te duce! | nu vă duceți! |
Non-finite forms
| Form | Romanian |
|---|---|
| Infinitive (short / long) | (a) duce / ducere |
| Gerunziu | ducând |
| Participiu | dus |
| Supin | de dus |
Usage
The core transitive sense — carrying or taking something away from here to there:
Duc gunoiul afară și mă întorc imediat.
I'm taking the rubbish out and I'll be right back.
Poți să duci copiii la școală mâine?
Can you take the kids to school tomorrow?
The reflexive a se duce as the everyday word for "to go":
Mă duc la piață, ai nevoie de ceva?
I'm going to the market, do you need anything?
S-a dus deja la culcare, e foarte târziu.
He's already gone to bed, it's very late.
The idiom a duce dorul ("to miss someone / something" — literally "to carry the longing"), which takes its complement in the genitive:
Duc dorul mâncării gătite de bunica.
I really miss my grandmother's home cooking.
The set question unde duce? for where a road or path leads:
Unde duce drumul ăsta? Pare să nu se mai termine.
Where does this road lead? It seems endless.
The figurative "to lead a life / get by" with a o duce:
O ducem bine, nu ne plângem.
We're doing well, we can't complain.
The subjunctive after a request, showing să ducă:
Roagă-l să ducă scrisoarea la poștă.
Ask him to take the letter to the post office.
Common Mistakes
❌ Merg la piață cu mașina și mă merg acasă.
Incorrect — for the colloquial 'I'm going', the reflexive is a se duce; you cannot make a merge reflexive.
✅ Mă duc la piață și apoi mă duc acasă.
I'm going to the market and then going home.
❌ Duc copilul la școală.
Not wrong, but if you mean 'I'm going', a learner often drops the reflexive — without the clitic this only means 'I'm taking the child'.
✅ Mă duc cu copilul la școală.
I'm going with the child to school.
❌ Am ducut gunoiul afară.
Incorrect — the participle is the short dus, not *ducut.
✅ Am dus gunoiul afară.
I took the rubbish out.
❌ Duce-te acasă!
Incorrect — the singular imperative is the short du, so the reflexive command is du-te.
✅ Du-te acasă!
Go home!
❌ Vreau să duce pachetul el.
Incorrect — the 3rd-person subjunctive is ducă, not duce.
✅ Vreau să ducă el pachetul.
I want him to carry the parcel.
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- a aduce — to bringA2 — Full conjugation of a aduce (to bring), a prefixed cousin of a duce, with its short imperative adu! and the reflexive idiom a-și aduce aminte (to remember).
- Class III Present: -e VerbsA2 — How to conjugate Class III (-e) verbs in the present indicative, with their stem stress, consonant alternations, and the irregularity-dense core verbs a face, a zice, and a duce.
- Accusative Reflexive VerbsA2 — The accusative reflexive clitics mă, te, se, ne, vă, se — true reflexives and the large class of verbs that are reflexive in form only.
- Motion Verbs (a merge, a veni, a pleca, a se duce)B1 — The high-frequency Romanian verbs of going, coming, leaving and arriving — their deixis, the obligatory reflexive on a se duce, and the right destination prepositions.
- Frequent Irregular ParticiplesB1 — A frequency-ordered reference of the must-know irregular past participles — the small set of verbs that covers most spoken-past usage.