Romanian has a small family of verbs for what goes on inside your head — believing, thinking, remembering, forgetting, knowing. They look harmless, but each one comes with its own grammatical baggage: some demand a reflexive pronoun, some demand a preposition, and one of them switches the mood of the following clause depending on whether you affirm or doubt. This page sorts them out so that you stop saying gândesc la tine (a real error) and start saying mă gândesc la tine.
a crede — to believe, to think (an opinion)
A crede is the verb you reach for when stating an opinion or assessment — the English "I think" of I think it's going to rain. When you assert the belief, the clause after că ("that") stays in the indicative, because from your point of view you are presenting the content as true.
Cred că vine și el la petrecere.
I think he's coming to the party too.
Credeam că ai plecat deja.
I thought you had already left.
— Plouă afară? — Cred că da.
— Is it raining outside? — I think so.
Note that bare cred with no pronoun is the normal way to say "I think" — the ending -d already tells you the subject is eu. Adding eu (Eu cred că...) is only for contrast: I think, as opposed to you.
The mood flip: cred că vine vs. nu cred să vină
Here is the subtle point English speakers miss. When you negate belief, Romanian very often abandons că + indicative and switches to să + conjunctiv (subjunctive). The logic is that doubting or denying something pushes its content out of the realm of fact and into the realm of the merely possible — exactly the territory the conjunctiv marks.
Cred că vine mâine.
I think he's coming tomorrow.
Nu cred să vină mâine.
I doubt he'll come tomorrow.
The first sentence (affirmed) takes the indicative vine. The second (negated) takes the conjunctiv să vină. You can also say Nu cred că vine — that is grammatical and means something closer to a flat "I don't think he's coming" — but nu cred să vină is the idiomatic way to express genuine doubt, and it is the construction that sounds native.
Nu cred să fie acasă la ora asta.
I doubt she's home at this hour.
a gândi vs. a se gândi (la) — to think (about)
This is the trap. Romanian has two related verbs:
- a gândi (non-reflexive) means "to think" in the sense of to have the capacity for thought, to reason, to formulate thoughts. It is fairly abstract and not what you use for "thinking about" a topic.
- a se gândi (la) (reflexive + the preposition la) is the everyday verb for "to think about / to be thinking of / to consider" something.
For "I'm thinking about you," "I'm thinking about the future," "let me think about it" — you need a se gândi la, with both the reflexive pronoun and la.
Mă gândesc la tine tot timpul.
I'm thinking about you all the time.
Ne gândim să ne mutăm la țară.
We're thinking of moving to the countryside.
Lasă-mă să mă gândesc puțin.
Let me think about it for a bit.
| Person | a se gândi (present) |
|---|---|
| eu | mă gândesc |
| tu | te gândești |
| el / ea | se gândește |
| noi | ne gândim |
| voi | vă gândiți |
| ei / ele | se gândesc |
When the thought is a plan ("thinking of doing something"), a se gândi is followed by să + conjunctiv: Mă gândesc să plec (I'm thinking of leaving). When it is a topic, it is followed by la + noun: Mă gândesc la examen (I'm thinking about the exam).
M-am gândit toată noaptea la ce mi-ai spus.
I thought all night about what you told me.
a-și aminti — to remember (dative reflexive)
A-și aminti ("to remember") is a dative reflexive verb: the pronoun is the dative clitic (îmi, îți, își, ne, vă, își), not the accusative one. So "I remember" is îmi amintesc, never mă amintesc. What you remember is introduced by de (or stated as a că-clause).
Îmi amintesc de tine de la facultate.
I remember you from university.
Nu-mi amintesc unde am pus cheile.
I don't remember where I put the keys.
Îți amintești că am fost aici acum doi ani?
Do you remember we were here two years ago?
There is also the simpler a-și aduce aminte (literally "to bring to oneself remembrance"), used identically: Nu-mi aduc aminte = "I don't recall."
| Person | a-și aminti (present) |
|---|---|
| eu | îmi amintesc |
| tu | îți amintești |
| el / ea | își amintește |
| noi | ne amintim |
| voi | vă amintiți |
| ei / ele | își amintesc |
a uita — to forget
A uita ("to forget") is, in the standard construction, not reflexive when it means "to forget" — you simply say Am uitat ("I forgot"). What you forget is a direct object or a că/să-clause or de-phrase. (Beware the homograph: a se uita la with the reflexive means "to look at / to watch" — an entirely different verb.)
Am uitat cum te cheamă, scuze.
I forgot your name, sorry.
Nu uita să cumperi pâine!
Don't forget to buy bread!
A uitat complet de întâlnire.
He completely forgot about the meeting.
a ști — to know (a fact or how to)
A ști is "to know" a fact, information, or a skill ("know how to"). For knowing a person or place, Romanian uses a cunoaște instead — the same fact/acquaintance split as French savoir/connaître or German wissen/kennen. After a ști, a fact-clause takes că + indicative; "know how to" takes the bare conjunctiv-less infinitive sense via să.
Știu că ai dreptate, dar tot nu-mi place.
I know you're right, but I still don't like it.
Știi să înoți?
Do you know how to swim?
Nu știu unde e gara, mă scuzați.
I don't know where the train station is, excuse me.
Common Mistakes
❌ Gândesc la tine.
Incorrect — 'a gândi' without the reflexive and 'la' cannot mean 'think about you'.
✅ Mă gândesc la tine.
I'm thinking about you.
❌ Mă amintesc de vacanță.
Incorrect — 'a-și aminti' is dative reflexive, not accusative.
✅ Îmi amintesc de vacanță.
I remember the vacation.
❌ Nu cred că vină mâine.
Incorrect — mixing 'că' with a conjunctiv form; use either 'că vine' or 'să vină'.
✅ Nu cred să vină mâine.
I doubt he'll come tomorrow.
❌ Mă uit cum te cheamă.
Incorrect — 'a se uita' means 'to watch', not 'to forget'.
✅ Am uitat cum te cheamă.
I forgot your name.
❌ Știu Maria de mulți ani.
Incorrect — for knowing a person, use 'a cunoaște', not 'a ști'.
✅ O cunosc pe Maria de mulți ani.
I've known Maria for many years.
Key Takeaways
- a crede
- că
- indicative when you affirm a belief; nu cred
- să
- conjunctiv when you doubt it.
- să
- indicative when you affirm a belief; nu cred
- că
- "Think about" is obligatorily a se gândi la — reflexive pronoun and the preposition la. Bare a gândi will not do.
- a-și aminti ("remember") uses the dative clitic: îmi amintesc, not mă amintesc.
- a uita ("forget") is plain; a se uita la ("watch") is reflexive — don't confuse them.
- Split "to know": a ști for facts and skills, a cunoaște for people and places.
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