A dura means to last or to take (time) — what English splits between "the film lasts two hours" and "the trip takes two hours," Romanian handles with this one verb. It belongs to the first conjugation, but to the -ez subclass: in the present, an -ez- infix is inserted into the stem, giving durează rather than the bare dură. And like other verbs about duration, it is essentially impersonal: a process, an event, a film lasts — a person does not. So you ask Cât durează? ("How long does it take / last?"), with the activity as subject, and you will almost never need a 1st- or 2nd-person form.
In practice this verb collapses to a handful of forms: the present durează (3sg and 3pl are identical), the imperfect dura / durau, the past a durat / au durat, and the question word cât ("how long, how much") in front. Master Cât durează? and Durează ... ore and you have the working core.
Prezent indicativ
Note the -ez- infix in the singular and 3rd person — this is the hallmark of the -ez subclass. The 1st- and 2nd-person forms are listed for completeness but do not occur in real Romanian, since durations are not people.
| Person | Form | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| eu | durez | does not occur |
| tu | durezi | does not occur |
| el / ea | durează | everyday |
| noi | durăm | does not occur |
| voi | durați | does not occur |
| ei / ele | durează | everyday |
Cât durează filmul?
How long is the film?
Durează două ore.
It lasts two hours.
Imperfect
The imperfect describes how long something used to last or was lasting; the living forms are dura (3sg) and durau (3pl). Note that the imperfect drops the -ez- infix — that infix only appears in the present and the subjunctive.
| Person | Form | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| el / ea | dura | everyday |
| ei / ele | durau | everyday |
Pe vremuri, drumul până la mare dura o zi întreagă.
Back in the day, the trip to the seaside took a whole day.
Perfect compus
The everyday past, formed with the auxiliary a avea plus the participle durat. In practice you meet only a durat (3sg) and au durat (3pl).
| Person | Form | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| el / ea | a durat | everyday |
| ei / ele | au durat | everyday |
Cât a durat operația?
How long did the operation take?
Ședința a durat mai mult decât ne așteptam.
The meeting lasted longer than we expected.
Mai-mult-ca-perfectul
The synthetic pluperfect on the participle stem durase-; in real use only durase (3sg) and duraseră (3pl) appear.
| Person | Form | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| el / ea | durase | everyday |
| ei / ele | duraseră | everyday |
Renovarea durase deja un an când ne-am mutat.
The renovation had already lasted a year by the time we moved in.
Viitor
The formal future is va dura; the colloquial everyday future is o să dureze (note the -ez- infix returns in the subjunctive form dureze).
| Person | Viitor (formal) | Colloquial (o să) |
|---|---|---|
| el / ea | va dura | o să dureze |
| ei / ele | vor dura | o să dureze |
Nu te speria, n-o să dureze mult.
Don't worry, it won't take long.
Conjunctiv prezent
The subjunctive 3rd person is (să) dureze — the -ez- infix stays, and the ending is -e. This is the form you need after expressions like e posibil să, nu vreau să, and in the colloquial future.
| Person | Form | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| el / ea | să dureze | everyday |
| ei / ele | să dureze | everyday |
E posibil să dureze câteva zile până primești răspunsul.
It may take a few days until you get a reply.
Condițional prezent
The conditional auxiliary (aș, ai, ar, am, ați, ar) plus the short infinitive dura. In living use you meet ar dura (3sg and 3pl).
| Person | Form | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| el / ea | ar dura | everyday |
| ei / ele | ar dura | everyday |
Cu mașina ar dura mai puțin decât cu trenul.
By car it would take less time than by train.
Imperativ
As an impersonal verb of duration, a dura has no imperative — you cannot command a process to last. This cell is empty in living Romanian.
Forme nepersonale
| Form | Romanian |
|---|---|
| Infinitiv | (a) dura |
| Gerunziu | durând |
| Participiu | durat |
| Supin | de durat |
Usage
The bread-and-butter use is asking and stating how long something takes, with the activity or event as subject:
Cât durează drumul până la aeroport?
How long does the trip to the airport take?
Concertul a durat aproape trei ore.
The concert lasted almost three hours.
The negative nu durează mult ("it doesn't take long") is a fixed reassurance you'll hear constantly:
Stai puțin, nu durează mult, promit.
Hang on, it won't take long, I promise.
Cât a durat? — Vreo zece minute, nu mai mult.
How long did it take? — About ten minutes, no more.
Source-language note for English speakers
English freely says "it takes me two hours" with the activity as subject and you as object — and Romanian agrees on the structure but uses a dura impersonally: Îmi ia două ore exists colloquially, but the cleanest and most idiomatic form keeps the event as subject: Drumul durează două ore ("the trip lasts two hours"). The English verb "take" in the time sense maps onto a dura, not onto Romanian a lua ("to take, to pick up"). And because durations aren't people, you'll essentially never conjugate a dura in the 1st or 2nd person.
Common Mistakes
❌ Cât dură filmul?
Incorrect — a dura is an -ez verb, so the present is durează, not the bare dură.
✅ Cât durează filmul?
How long is the film?
❌ Filmul ia două ore.
Incorrect — for duration use a dura, not a lua.
✅ Filmul durează două ore.
The film lasts two hours.
❌ Cât durezi tu la duș?
Incorrect — a dura is impersonal; the process lasts, not the person. Use Cât stai... or Cât îți ia...
✅ Cât durează un duș?
How long does a shower take?
❌ Sper că nu o să durează mult.
Incorrect — after o să you need the subjunctive form dureze, not the indicative durează.
✅ Sper că n-o să dureze mult.
I hope it won't take long.
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