A tăcea ("to be silent, to keep quiet, to stop talking") belongs to the small second conjugation — the handful of verbs whose short infinitive ends in stressed -ea (like a vedea, a părea, a plăcea). It is the verb you reach for when someone should stop speaking, when a person falls silent, or when you yourself decide that saying nothing is the wiser move. English has no single verb that covers all of this; we patch together "be quiet," "shut up," "fall silent," and "say nothing," and the register of each is very different. Romanian does it all with one root.
Two things make this verb worth a dedicated page. First, the stem vowel alternates between a and ă depending on the ending: you say tac but tăcem, tace but tăceam. Second, the bare singular imperative Taci! is one of the most frequent and most loaded words in spoken Romanian — it can be a gentle "hush" to a child or a sharp "shut up," entirely depending on tone.
Prezent indicativ
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | tac |
| tu | taci |
| el / ea | tace |
| noi | tăcem |
| voi | tăceți |
| ei / ele | tac |
Imperfect
The imperfect is built on the tăc- stem with the class II/III endings in -eam.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | tăceam |
| tu | tăceai |
| el / ea | tăcea |
| noi | tăceam |
| voi | tăceați |
| ei / ele | tăceau |
Perfect compus
Auxiliary a avea plus the participle tăcut.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | am tăcut |
| tu | ai tăcut |
| el / ea | a tăcut |
| noi | am tăcut |
| voi | ați tăcut |
| ei / ele | au tăcut |
Mai-mult-ca-perfectul (pluperfect)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | tăcusem |
| tu | tăcuseși |
| el / ea | tăcuse |
| noi | tăcuserăm |
| voi | tăcuserăți |
| ei / ele | tăcuseră |
Viitor (future)
| Person | voi-future (formal) | o să-future (informal) |
|---|---|---|
| eu | voi tăcea | o să tac |
| tu | vei tăcea | o să taci |
| el / ea | va tăcea | o să tacă |
| noi | vom tăcea | o să tăcem |
| voi | veți tăcea | o să tăceți |
| ei / ele | vor tăcea | o să tacă |
Conjunctiv prezent
The distinctive 3rd-person form is să tacă — note the final -ă and the full a in the stem.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | să tac |
| tu | să taci |
| el / ea | să tacă |
| noi | să tăcem |
| voi | să tăceți |
| ei / ele | să tacă |
Condițional prezent
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| eu | aș tăcea |
| tu | ai tăcea |
| el / ea | ar tăcea |
| noi | am tăcea |
| voi | ați tăcea |
| ei / ele | ar tăcea |
Imperativ
The singular is taci!, identical to the 2sg present. The plural is tăceți! The negative singular uses the infinitive: nu tăcea!
| Type | Singular (tu) | Plural (voi) |
|---|---|---|
| Affirmative | taci! | tăceți! |
| Negative | nu tăcea! | nu tăceți! |
Non-finite forms
| Form | Romanian |
|---|---|
| Infinitive (short / long) | (a) tăcea / tăcere |
| Gerunziu | tăcând |
| Participiu | tăcut |
| Supin | de tăcut |
Usage
The plain "be quiet / stop talking," most often in the imperative:
Taci! Nu se aude nimic din cauza ta.
Be quiet! Nobody can hear anything because of you.
The sense "to fall silent, to say nothing" — a deliberate choice not to speak:
A tăcut tot drumul, n-a scos un cuvânt.
He stayed silent the whole way, didn't say a single word.
The proverbial wisdom that silence is sometimes the better option (a very common turn of phrase):
Mai bine taci decât să spui o prostie.
Better to keep quiet than to say something stupid.
In the gerund, describing how someone reacted — by saying nothing:
A primit vestea tăcând, fără să comenteze.
She took the news in silence, without commenting.
The reflexive-free intransitive in a narrative imperfect, setting a scene:
Toți tăceau și așteptau să vadă ce se întâmplă.
Everyone was silent, waiting to see what would happen.
A gentle, softened command to a child:
Taci, puiule, nu mai plânge, totul e bine.
Hush, sweetheart, don't cry anymore, everything's fine.
Common Mistakes
❌ Noi tacem când vorbește profesorul.
Incorrect — the stress shifts to the ending, so the stem reduces to ă: tăcem.
✅ Noi tăcem când vorbește profesorul.
We keep quiet when the teacher is speaking.
❌ Sper să tace în sfârșit.
Incorrect — the 3rd-person subjunctive is să tacă, with final -ă.
✅ Sper să tacă în sfârșit.
I hope he'll finally be quiet.
❌ Am tăcit toată seara.
Incorrect — the participle is tăcut, not *tăcit.
✅ Am tăcut toată seara.
I stayed silent all evening.
❌ El este foarte tăcea de felul lui.
Incorrect — the adjective 'quiet (by nature)' is the participle tăcut, not the infinitive.
✅ El este foarte tăcut de felul lui.
He's a very quiet person by nature.
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
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