Verbs of giving — give, offer, send, hand, bring — are ditransitive: they involve a giver (subject), a thing given (the direct object), and a recipient (the indirect object). English lets you arrange these two ways: I gave the book to Maria or I gave Maria the book. Romanian has one basic arrangement — the thing is accusative, the recipient is dative — and it adds something English never does: an obligatory doubling clitic that anticipates the recipient (I-am dat cartea Mariei, where i- doubles Mariei). This page covers the giving verbs, the receiving verb a primi, and the two-faced a împrumuta, which means both "lend" and "borrow."
The core frame: a da cuiva ceva
The model verb is a da ("to give"), cited in dictionaries as a da cuiva ceva — "to give to someone something." Cuiva is the dative indefinite ("to someone") and ceva is the accusative ("something"). That citation form is a template: recipient in the dative, thing in the accusative.
I-am dat cheile vecinei înainte să plec.
I gave the keys to the neighbor before I left.
Dă-mi telefonul tău o secundă.
Give me your phone for a second.
Le-a dat copiilor câte un măr fiecare.
She gave the children an apple each.
In each of these, the recipient (vecinei, -mi, copiilor) is dative and the thing (cheile, telefonul, un măr) is accusative. The recipient's case is identical to the genitive form — see the dative page for how those endings are built.
The doubling clitic is obligatory
This is the feature English speakers most reliably drop. When the recipient is a full noun (Mariei, copiilor, vecinului), Romanian still puts a dative clitic (îi for singular, le for plural) in front of the verb, doubling the noun. The clitic is not a translation of "to" — it's grammatical scaffolding the verb demands. Leaving it out (Am dat cartea Mariei) sounds clipped and foreign.
| Recipient | Clitic | Example |
|---|---|---|
| singular (Mariei, vecinului) | îi / i- | I-am dat cartea Mariei. |
| plural (copiilor, părinților) | le | Le-am dat cadouri copiilor. |
I-am dat cartea Mariei, nu lui Andrei.
I gave the book to Maria, not to Andrei.
Le-am trimis colete bunicilor de sărbători.
I sent packages to my grandparents for the holidays.
In I-am dat cartea Mariei, the clitic i- and the full dative Mariei refer to the same person — that's the doubling. Notice the clitic attaches to the auxiliary am in the past tense (i-am dat, le-am trimis). The full mechanics of where clitics land sit on the clitic doubling page.
The wider family: a oferi, a dărui, a trimite, a aduce
The same dative-recipient-plus-accusative-thing frame, with the same obligatory doubling, runs across the whole family of "transfer" verbs. They differ in register and nuance:
| Verb | Nuance / register | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a da | plain "give" (neutral) | Îi dau banii. |
| a oferi | "offer / present" (slightly formal, polite) | I-a oferit flori. |
| a dărui | "give as a gift / bestow" (literary, warm) | I-a dăruit un inel. |
| a trimite | "send" | Le-am trimis o scrisoare. |
| a aduce | "bring" | I-am adus o cafea. |
Firma le-a oferit angajaților o primă de Crăciun.
The company offered the employees a Christmas bonus.
I-a dăruit soției un buchet de bujori.
He gave his wife a bouquet of peonies (as a gift).
Adu-mi te rog un pahar cu apă.
Bring me a glass of water, please.
a oferi is what you reach for in polite or formal contexts (a oferi ajutor, a oferi o soluție — "offer help / a solution"), where plain a da would be a touch blunt. a dărui is reserved for gifts and has a warm, literary feel. A trimite and a aduce add a direction — away from you (send) versus toward you (bring) — but slot into exactly the same dative-plus-accusative frame.
Receiving: a primi
The mirror of giving is a primi ("to receive / to get"). Here the structure shifts: the receiver is the subject (nominative), the thing received is the accusative direct object, and the giver — if mentioned — comes in with de la ("from") + accusative, not the dative.
Am primit un colet de la sora mea.
I got a parcel from my sister.
A primit o veste bună azi-dimineață.
She received good news this morning.
Copiii au primit cadouri de la bunici.
The children got presents from their grandparents.
So a da and a primi describe the same event from opposite ends: Maria îmi dă o carte ("Maria gives me a book") = Eu primesc o carte de la Maria ("I get a book from Maria"). With a da, the recipient is dative and doubled; with a primi, the source is de la + accusative and there's no doubling clitic.
a împrumuta: lend AND borrow in one verb
Here is the trap that catches every English speaker. Romanian's a împrumuta covers both "lend" and "borrow" — two opposite directions of the same transaction — and you tell them apart purely by the construction:
- lend (give a loan): a împrumuta cuiva ceva — dative recipient, with the doubling clitic, exactly like a da.
- borrow (take a loan): a împrumuta ceva de la cineva — source marked by de la, exactly like a primi.
I-am împrumutat lui Andrei o sută de lei.
I lent Andrei a hundred lei. (lend → dative recipient, doubled)
Am împrumutat o sută de lei de la Andrei.
I borrowed a hundred lei from Andrei. (borrow → de la source)
Poți să-mi împrumuți cartea ta de gramatică?
Can you lend me your grammar book? (lend → -mi dative)
Am împrumutat bicicleta de la un coleg pentru o zi.
I borrowed the bike from a colleague for a day. (borrow → de la)
The logic is clean once you see it: the verb names the loan transaction, and the construction tells you which direction it runs. A dative recipient (cuiva / a clitic) means you're the lender; a de la source means you're the borrower. Romanian also has the unambiguous a se împrumuta de la ("to borrow / take a loan from"), reflexive, used especially of borrowing money, which removes any doubt.
How this differs from English
Three reanalyses. First, the recipient of a giving verb is dative and almost always doubled by a clitic (I-am dat cartea Mariei) — English has no such doubling, so the instinct is to drop the îi/le, which sounds wrong to a native ear. Second, a primi flips the perspective: the source is de la + accusative, never a dative. Third — and this is the one that genuinely surprises learners — Romanian uses one verb, a împrumuta, for both "lend" and "borrow," disambiguated by cuiva versus de la, where English keeps two entirely separate verbs.
Common Mistakes
❌ Am dat cartea Mariei.
Incorrect in normal speech — the dative recipient must be doubled: I-am dat cartea Mariei.
✅ I-am dat cartea Mariei.
I gave Maria the book.
❌ Le-am dat copiii cadouri.
Incorrect — the recipient is dative (copiilor), not accusative (copiii).
✅ Le-am dat cadouri copiilor.
I gave the children presents.
❌ Am primit un colet de sora mea.
Incorrect — the source with 'a primi' is 'de la', not bare 'de'.
✅ Am primit un colet de la sora mea.
I got a parcel from my sister.
❌ Am împrumutat o sută de lei lui Andrei (meaning 'I borrowed from Andrei').
Incorrect for 'borrow' — a dative recipient means LEND. To borrow, use 'de la': de la Andrei.
✅ Am împrumutat o sută de lei de la Andrei.
I borrowed a hundred lei from Andrei.
❌ I-am oferit Mariei (with no clitic doubling intended) — Am oferit Mariei flori.
Incorrect — like all giving verbs, a oferi needs the doubling clitic: I-am oferit Mariei flori.
✅ I-am oferit Mariei flori.
I offered Maria flowers.
Key Takeaways
- Giving verbs are ditransitive: recipient in the dative, thing in the accusative, with an obligatory doubling clitic for the recipient (I-am dat cartea Mariei — i- doubles Mariei).
- The family a da, a oferi, a dărui, a trimite, a aduce all share this frame; they differ in register (a oferi polite, a dărui literary) and direction (a trimite away, a aduce toward).
- a primi ("receive") flips it: the receiver is the subject, the thing is accusative, and the source is de la
- accusative (no doubling).
- a împrumuta means BOTH "lend" and "borrow" — cuiva (dative, doubled) = lend; de la = borrow.
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