Inchoative and Completive Aspect

In languages with grammatical aspect, "to start eating" and "to finish eating" can be two inflected forms of the same verb. Romanian has no such inflection. Instead it does aspectual work lexically: it marks the start of an action with a small set of phase verbs (a începe să, a se apuca să, a se pune pe — "to begin / to set about / to get down to") and the completion with the frame a termina de + supine (am terminat de mâncat — "I've finished eating"). On top of that, the prefix în- quietly lexicalizes "become X" for a closed group of verbs (a înroși — "to redden," a adormi — "to fall asleep"). The verb root itself never changes to signal begin-vs-finish; the aspectual meaning lives in the helper or the prefix. This page maps those tools.

Marking the start: phase verbs

The most general way to say an action begins is a începe să ("to begin to"), followed by the subjunctive. It is neutral and works everywhere.

For a more colloquial, energetic "to set about / to get down to (doing)," Romanian uses the reflexive a se apuca — either a se apuca de + noun, or a se apuca să + subjunctive. It carries the sense of rolling up your sleeves and getting started, often after some delay.

A third, vivid option is a se pune pe + noun (or verbal noun), meaning "to launch into / fall to" an activity with sudden intensity. It is informal and expressive.

Marking completion: a termina de + supine

This is the construction English speakers most reliably get wrong, so it deserves the most attention. To say you have finished doing something, Romanian uses a termina ("to finish") + de + the supine (the verb's invariable -t/-s form, identical to the masculine participle). The pattern is am terminat de + supine: am terminat de mâncat — "I've finished eating."

The trap is that English uses an -ing gerund after "finish" ("finish eating"), and learners reflexively map that onto a Romanian infinitive — am terminat să mănânc or am terminat a mânca. Both are wrong. The fixed Romanian frame is de + supine: de mâncat, de citit, de scris, de spălat. The supine never changes for person or number, which makes the pattern mercifully regular once you commit to it.

A few synonyms of a termina work the same way or with their own frame. A isprăvi (to finish, slightly more colloquial/regional) also takes de + supine: am isprăvit de citit. The more literary a sfârși prin a + infinitive means "to end up (doing)," focusing on the final outcome of a process rather than the mere completion of an activity.

gata + participle: the done-state shortcut

Colloquially, Romanian signals completion with the invariable word gata ("ready / done") plus a past participle, or even gata on its own. This is the everyday "all done" register — quick, spoken, and very common.

The inchoative în- prefix: lexicalized "become X"

Beyond phase verbs, Romanian has a derivational tool for the start of a change of state. The prefix în- (with its allomorph îm- before b/p) turns many nouns and adjectives into verbs meaning "to become X" or "to make X" — a built-in inchoative. Crucially, this is lexicalized, not productive grammar: it applies to a closed, memorized set, and you cannot freely prefix în- onto any adjective to mean "become."

Notice that the prefix already contains the inchoative meaning — a adormi is "to fall asleep" (enter the state of sleep), as opposed to a dormi "to sleep" (be in the state). You do not add a phase verb on top: say a adormit, not a început să doarmă, when you mean the falling-asleep itself. Note also the spelling: înnegri and similar verbs keep a double n where the prefix în- meets a root in n- — a real orthographic point, not a typo. For the wider story of how în- and other prefixes build verbs, see verb prefixes; for prefixes that perfectivize (bound an action) rather than start it, see perfectivizing prefixes.

How tense interacts with these markers

Because the start and finish are carried lexically, the tense still does its normal job of locating the whole thing in time. The perfect compus reports a completed inception or completion as an event (a început să plouă — it started to rain); the imperfect frames the inception as an ongoing or backdrop process (începea să se întunece — it was beginning to get dark); the present states it as current (mă apuc de treabă — I'm getting down to work). The phase verb supplies the aspect; the tense supplies the time. They stack cleanly.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Romanian marks the start of an action with phase verbs: a începe să (neutral), a se apuca de/să (set about), a se pune pe (launch into).
• It marks completion with a termina de + supine — am terminat de mâncat — never with să
  • subjunctive or an infinitive.
• The supine in this frame is invariable: de mâncat, de citit, de spălat.
• Colloquially, gata
  • participle signals the done-state: gata, am terminat.
• The prefix în-/îm- lexicalizes "become X" for a closed, memorized set (a adormi, a înroși, a se îmbolnăvi, a îmbătrâni); it is vocabulary, not a productive rule.
• Tense and aspect stack: the phase verb supplies the start/finish, the tense locates it in time.