a spera — to hope | Romanian Grammar

A spera ("to hope") is a plain first-conjugation verb in -a, morphologically as regular as they come: the stem sper- takes the ordinary class-I endings with no infix and no stem change. As with a prefera, the whole interest of the verb lies in how it links to what follows it — and here Romanian draws a clean, meaningful line that English blurs.

There are three constructions, and the choice between them is not arbitrary. A spera să + subjunctive expresses hope for an action you want to come true — sper să reușesc ("I hope to succeed"), where success is a wish, not yet a fact. A spera că + indicative expresses confidence that something is or will be the case — sper că vii ("I hope you're coming"), treating the coming as a near-fact you're counting on. And a spera la + noun means "to hope for" a thing — sperăm la mai bine ("we're hoping for better"). The să/că contrast mirrors the deep logic of the Romanian subjunctive: să marks the unrealised and desired, că marks the asserted. English collapses all three into "hope to," "hope that," and "hope for," but the grammar barely shifts; Romanian forces you to commit to one frame, and choosing the wrong one subtly changes the meaning — sper să vii frames your arrival as a wish, sper că vii frames it as something you're confidently expecting.

Prezent indicativ

Stem sper- with regular class-I endings.

Person	Form
eu	sper
tu	speri
el / ea	speră
noi	sperăm
voi	sperați
ei / ele	speră

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First-person singular equals the bare stem: sper. Third singular and plural are identical: el speră / ei speră. No -ez- infix — a spera is a plain class-I verb, like a intra or a lucra.

Imperfect

Person	Form
eu	speram
tu	sperai
el / ea	spera
noi	speram
voi	sperați
ei / ele	sperau

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The imperfect speram ("I was hoping / I had hoped") is the natural tense for a hope that was held over time, often one that went unfulfilled: Speram că vii și tu ("I was hoping you'd come too" — but you didn't).

Perfect compus

Auxiliary a avea plus the participle sperat.

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

Mai-mult-ca-perfectul (pluperfect)

Person	Form
eu	sperasem
tu	speraseși
el / ea	sperase
noi	speraserăm
voi	speraserăți
ei / ele	speraseră

Viitor (future)

Person	voi-future (formal)	o să-future (informal)
eu	voi spera	o să sper
tu	vei spera	o să speri
el / ea	va spera	o să spere
noi	vom spera	o să sperăm
voi	veți spera	o să sperați
ei / ele	vor spera	o să spere

Conjunctiv prezent

The third person is să spere (final -e, distinct from indicative speră).

Person	Form
eu	să sper
tu	să speri
el / ea	să spere
noi	să sperăm
voi	să sperați
ei / ele	să spere

Condițional prezent

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

Imperativ

The imperative is uncommon but used in the encouraging set phrase speră! ("keep hoping!").

Type	Singular (tu)	Plural (voi)
Affirmative	speră!	sperați!
Negative	nu spera!	nu sperați!

Non-finite forms

Form	Romanian
Infinitive (short / long)	(a) spera / sperare
Gerunziu	sperând
Participiu	sperat
Supin	de sperat

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The supine appears in the fixed phrase e de sperat că… ("it is to be hoped that…"), a slightly formal way to voice a collective wish: E de sperat că lucrurile se vor îmbunătăți.

Usage

A spera să + subjunctive — hoping for an action, treated as a wish:

Sper să reușesc la examen, am învățat mult.

I hope to pass the exam, I studied a lot.

Sperăm să ne vedem mai des de acum încolo.

We hope to see each other more often from now on.

A spera că + indicative — hoping that something is the case, treated as near-certain:

Sper că vii și tu la petrecere.

I hope you're coming to the party too.

Sper că totul e în regulă cu tine.

I hope everything's all right with you.

A spera la + noun — hoping for a thing:

După atâta muncă, sperăm la un rezultat bun.

After so much work, we're hoping for a good result.

Nu mai sperăm la nimic de la ei.

We're no longer hoping for anything from them.

A bare optimistic interjection — sper alone, or the very common să sperăm că… ("let's hope that…"), which uses the noi subjunctive as a softener:

Să sperăm că nu plouă mâine la nuntă.

Let's hope it doesn't rain at the wedding tomorrow.

The imperfect, for a hope that didn't pan out:

Speram să apuc trenul de șapte, dar l-am pierdut.

I was hoping to catch the seven o'clock train, but I missed it.

Common Mistakes

❌ Sper că să reușesc.

Incorrect — don't stack că and să; choose one. For a hoped-for action use să alone.

✅ Sper să reușesc.

I hope to succeed.

❌ Sper să vii la petrecere.

Not wrong, but it frames your arrival as a mere wish; speakers expecting you say că vii.

✅ Sper că vii la petrecere.

I hope you're coming to the party.

❌ Sperăm pentru mai bine.

Incorrect — 'hope for' uses la, not pentru: sperăm la mai bine.

✅ Sperăm la mai bine.

We're hoping for better.

❌ Vreau ca ea să speră.

Incorrect — the 3rd-person subjunctive ends in -e: să spere.

✅ Vreau ca ea să spere.

I want her to keep hoping.

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