Subject-Verb Agreement | Romanian Grammar

A Romanian verb does not stand still. It changes its ending to match its subject in two dimensions at once: person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and number (singular, plural). Merg is "I go," mergem is "we go," merg (again) is "they go" — the ending tracks who and how many. English barely does this; it marks only the third-person singular with -s ("he goes" versus "I/you/we/they go") and otherwise leaves the verb unchanged. Because the Romanian ending carries so much information, it can do the pronoun's job by itself — which is exactly why Romanian drops the subject pronoun (see why Romanian drops subject pronouns). This page covers the agreement rule and the handful of cases where it gets tricky: conjoined subjects, collective subjects, and the polite dumneavoastră.

The basic rule: person and number must match

For every finite verb, you pick the form that matches the subject's person and number. Six combinations, six forms.

Subject	Person / Number	a merge (to go)
eu	1st singular	merg
tu	2nd singular	mergi
el / ea	3rd singular	merge
noi	1st plural	mergem
voi	2nd plural	mergeți
ei / ele	3rd plural	merg

The verb agrees with whatever noun or pronoun is its subject — not just with a pronoun, but with full noun subjects too.

Copilul doarme deja.

The child is already asleep. (3sg subject → 3sg verb)

Copiii dorm deja.

The children are already asleep. (3pl subject → 3pl verb)

Studenții pleacă mâine în excursie.

The students are leaving on a trip tomorrow. (3pl noun subject → 3pl verb)

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Agreement is the engine behind pro-drop. Because the ending alone names the subject (merg = "I go," mergem = "we go"), you don't need the pronoun — that's why Romanian leaves it out. Get agreement right and the pronoun becomes optional.

The ending identifies the subject — so it must be right

If you default to a 3rd-singular verb regardless of subject (a very common English-speaker shortcut, since English mostly leaves the verb alone), the sentence misfires. Noi merge is wrong; the noi needs -m: mergem. Because Romanian relies on the ending to signal the subject, a mismatched ending isn't a small slip — it actively points at the wrong subject.

Noi mergem la munte în weekend.

We're going to the mountains this weekend.

Voi veniți cu noi sau rămâneți?

Are you (all) coming with us or staying?

Conjoined subjects: resolve to the lowest person

What if the subject is more than one person joined by și ("and") — "you and I," "Maria and he"? Romanian, like the other Romance languages, follows a clear hierarchy: 1st person beats 2nd, and 2nd beats 3rd. The combined subject takes the verb form of the lowest-numbered person present, in the plural.

eu + (anyone) → 1st plural (noi): eu și tu → noi, eu și ei → noi
tu + 3rd person (no 1st present) → 2nd plural (voi): tu și el → voi

Eu și Maria mergem la film diseară.

Maria and I are going to a film tonight. (eu present → 1pl: mergem)

Tu și el sunteți colegi de cameră, nu?

You and he are roommates, aren't you? (no 1st person, tu present → 2pl: sunteți)

Eu și colegii mei lucrăm la același proiect.

My colleagues and I are working on the same project. (eu present → 1pl: lucrăm)

The mnemonic: whoever is "lowest" wins, and the verb goes plural. If eu ("I") is anywhere in the subject, the verb is 1st-plural (noi). If there's no eu but there's a tu ("you"), the verb is 2nd-plural (voi). Only if the subject is entirely 3rd-person does the verb stay 3rd-plural.

Ana și Mihai vin mai târziu.

Ana and Mihai are coming later. (both 3rd person → 3pl: vin)

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Think of it as "the speaker has priority." If eu is in the group, the group is "we" (1pl). If not but tu is, the group is "you all" (2pl). Otherwise it's "they" (3pl). This is the opposite of an English instinct, which has no person-resolution rule because its verbs barely change.

Collective and quantified subjects: singular or plural

Subjects like o mulțime de oameni ("a crowd of people"), majoritatea ("the majority"), o grămadă de ("a heap of"), jumătate din ("half of") sit between singular and plural. Romanian allows either agreement, and the choice reflects how you conceive the group: as one mass (singular) or as many individuals (plural).

O mulțime de oameni așteaptă în fața magazinului.

A crowd of people is waiting in front of the shop. (singular — the crowd as one body)

O mulțime de oameni așteptau să intre.

A lot of people were waiting to go in. (plural — focusing on the individuals)

Majoritatea studenților au promovat examenul.

The majority of students passed the exam. (plural agreement, very common with majoritatea + plural noun)

In practice, when the quantifier is followed by a plural noun (o mulțime de oameni, majoritatea studenților), the plural verb is usually the more natural choice, agreeing with the people you can picture. The singular is available but feels more formal or abstract. There's no hard rule that makes one outright wrong; this is genuinely a place where both occur.

Polite dumneavoastră always takes a 2nd-plural verb

Here is the rule that catches every learner. The polite "you," dumneavoastră, is used to address one person respectfully — yet it always takes the 2nd-plural verb form (the voi form), exactly as if you were speaking to several people. The verb's plural shape signals deference, not actual plurality.

Dumneavoastră sunteți domnul Popescu?

Are you Mr. Popescu? (one person, formal — but verb is 2pl: sunteți)

Dumneavoastră ce credeți despre asta?

What do you think about this? (formal, to one person — credeți, 2pl)

Domnule director, aveți un minut?

Director (sir), do you have a minute? (formal address, 2pl verb aveți)

So dumneavoastră never pairs with a singular verb. Dumneavoastră ești and dumneavoastră credeți — the first is wrong (singular ești), the second is right (plural credeți). If you address a respected single person and conjugate the verb in the singular, you've broken the politeness system. For the full treatment of when to use tu versus dumneavoastră, see tu vs dumneavoastră.

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Memorize it as a fixed pair: dumneavoastră + 2nd-plural verb, even for one person. Dumneavoastră sunteți, never dumneavoastră ești. The plural verb is the marker of respect.

a fi agrees with the subject, not the predicate

A small but useful point with a fi ("to be"): the verb agrees with the subject, even when the thing on the other side of to be (the predicate noun) differs in number. English does the same ("My favourite thing is the books"), but learners sometimes wobble.

Problema sunt banii.

The problem is the money. (subject 'problema' is singular, but the verb often agrees with the plural predicate 'banii' here — both are heard)

Cadoul meu pentru tine este o carte.

My gift for you is a book. (subject 'cadoul' sg → este, sg)

When subject and predicate clash in number, Romanian usually agrees with the plural if one of them is plural and salient (problema sunt banii), which can feel odd to an English speaker expecting agreement with the grammatical subject. When in doubt, agree with the subject and you'll be understood.

Common Mistakes

❌ Noi merge la munte.

Wrong — defaulting to the 3sg verb. 'Noi' needs the 1pl ending -m: mergem.

✅ Noi mergem la munte.

We're going to the mountains.

❌ Dumneavoastră ești foarte amabil.

Wrong — dumneavoastră always takes the 2nd-plural verb, even for one person: sunteți.

✅ Dumneavoastră sunteți foarte amabil.

You are very kind. (formal)

❌ Eu și Maria merge la film.

Wrong — a conjoined subject with 'eu' resolves to 1st plural: mergem.

✅ Eu și Maria mergem la film.

Maria and I are going to a film.

❌ Tu și el mergeți... wait — using the tu (2sg) verb for a conjoined subject

Tricky — 'tu și el' (no 1st person) resolves to 2nd plural: mergeți. Make sure it's the plural form, not the singular mergi.

✅ Tu și el mergeți cu mașina, noi luăm trenul.

You and he go by car, we'll take the train.

Key Takeaways

The Romanian verb agrees with its subject in person AND number, so the ending alone names the subject — that is why the pronoun can be dropped.
Don't default to a 3rd-singular verb for every subject; noi needs -m, voi needs -ți, and so on.
Conjoined subjects resolve to the lowest person, in the plural: eu + anyone → 1pl (noi mergem); tu + 3rd person → 2pl (voi mergeți).
Collective / quantified subjects (o mulțime de oameni, majoritatea) allow singular or plural, often plural when a plural noun follows.
Polite dumneavoastră always takes the 2nd-plural verb (dumneavoastră sunteți), even when addressing a single person.

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