Romanian verb forms divide cleanly into two camps. Finite forms are anchored to a subject: they carry person, number, and tense, and they can be the main verb of a clause — cânt ("I sing"), cânta ("he was singing"), am cântat ("I sang"). Non-finite forms float free of person and number; they name the action without saying who does it or when. Romanian has four of them, and one — the supine — has no real counterpart in English or in the other Romance languages. This page lays out the contrast and walks through all four non-finite forms with a single verb, a face ("to do, to make"), so you can see them side by side.
The quick answer
A form is finite if you can put a subject in front of it and it changes shape to agree (eu fac, noi facem, ei făceau). A form is non-finite if it stays the same regardless of who the subject is. Romanian's four non-finite forms are:
| Form | Romanian name | a face | Rough English match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | infinitiv | a face | "to do" |
| Gerund | gerunziu | făcând | "doing" (adverbial) |
| Participle | participiu | făcut | "done / made" |
| Supine | supin | de făcut | "(stuff) to do" — no clean match |
Finite forms: anchored to a subject
A finite form is the kind that fills the six person/number slots. It can stand as the main verb of a sentence and it locates the action in time. Everything in the indicative, conjunctiv, conditional, imperative, and presumptive is finite.
Fac o cafea, vrei și tu una?
I'm making a coffee, do you want one too? (finite present, 1sg)
Făceam ordine în casă când ai sunat.
I was tidying the house when you called. (finite imperfect, 1sg)
Ce vor face copiii la vară?
What will the kids do this summer? (finite future, 3pl)
Notice that each of those forms changes with the subject and pins down a tense. That's the hallmark of a finite form.
Non-finite form 1: the infinitive (a face)
The (short) infinitive names the action with no subject and no tense. It's the citation form, and it appears after a putea, a trebui, and prepositions like fără and înainte de. Crucially, in everyday Romanian the infinitive is often sidestepped in favor of the să-conjunctiv — covered in detail on the long and short infinitive page.
Nu știu ce să fac.
I don't know what to do. (note: even here, the natural form is the conjunctiv 'să fac')
A plecat fără a face vreun zgomot.
He left without making a sound. (preposition + infinitive)
Non-finite form 2: the gerund (făcând)
The gerund ends in -ând or -ind and expresses an action simultaneous with (or causally tied to) the main verb. It's adverbial — it describes the circumstances under which the main action happens. English usually translates it with an "-ing" clause: "doing X, she...", "while doing X."
Făcând curat, am găsit cheile pierdute.
While cleaning, I found the lost keys.
A intrat în cameră fluierând.
He came into the room whistling.
Mergând spre casă, m-am întâlnit cu un vechi prieten.
Walking home, I ran into an old friend.
The gerund is invariable — it never agrees with anyone. Făcând is făcând whether the doer is eu, noi, or ei. Be careful not to misuse it as a progressive: Romanian has no "to be + gerund" tense, so sunt făcând is not a way to say "I am doing." The gerund's home is the adverbial clause. See the gerund formation page.
Non-finite form 3: the participle (făcut)
The participle ends in -t or -s and is the busiest non-finite form. It does three big jobs:
- It builds the compound perfect with the auxiliary a avea: am făcut ("I did/have done").
- It builds the passive with a fi: a fost făcut ("it was made/done").
- It works as an adjective, and when it does, it agrees in gender and number with the noun, exactly like any adjective: un lucru făcut, o treabă făcută, lucruri făcute.
Am făcut tot ce mi-ai cerut.
I did everything you asked of me. (compound perfect)
Tortul a fost făcut de bunica.
The cake was made by Grandma. (passive)
O treabă bine făcută merită lăudată.
A job well done deserves praise. (participle as agreeing adjective — feminine 'făcută')
That third role — the agreeing adjective — is the detail to hold onto, because it's what separates the participle from the supine, which we turn to next.
Non-finite form 4: the supine (de făcut)
The supine is the one with no English equivalent, and the one that surprises learners most. It looks identical to the participle (făcut), but it's a different beast: it is invariable, it does not agree, and it typically governs a preposition — most often de. The supine expresses purpose, necessity, or the notion of "something to be done."
Am o grămadă de lucruri de făcut azi.
I have a ton of things to do today.
Mai e ceva de mâncare? Nu, dar e ceva de făcut la cină.
Is there anything to eat? No, but there's something to make for dinner.
E greu de spus dacă va ploua.
It's hard to say whether it'll rain.
Mașina e bună de aruncat.
The car is fit for the scrapheap (literally: good for throwing away).
In lucruri de făcut, the noun lucruri is plural and feminine-ish in form, but the supine făcut doesn't budge — compare the participle lucruri făcute ("things that have been made"), which does agree. That contrast is the whole point of the next section.
Participle vs supine: they look the same, they behave differently
This is the insight learners most often miss. The forms are spelled identically (făcut and făcut), but they are functionally opposite in two ways:
| Property | Participle (participiu) | Supine (supin) |
|---|---|---|
| Agrees with the noun? | Yes — făcut / făcută / făcuți / făcute | No — always 'făcut' |
| Governs a preposition? | No | Yes — typically 'de' (de făcut) |
| Typical meaning | "done, completed" (result) | "to be done" (purpose/necessity) |
| Builds the perfect / passive? | Yes | No |
o lecție învățată
a lesson (that has been) learned — participle, agrees (feminine 'învățată')
o lecție de învățat
a lesson to be learned / to learn — supine, invariable, with 'de'
The minimal pair învățată (participle, agreeing) vs de învățat (supine, frozen) shows it cleanly: when the form agrees and stands alone, it's a participle reporting a completed result; when it's frozen and rides behind de, it's a supine pointing at something still to be done. Romanian also uses the supine to form certain nouns (fumat "smoking" in fumatul interzis "no smoking"), but its core feel is "this is for X-ing / this needs X-ing." The full treatment is on the supine page.
How Romanian splits the labor differently from English
In English, two forms shoulder almost all non-finite work: the to-*infinitive ("to do") and the -ing form, which is wildly overloaded — it serves as a gerund noun ("doing is hard"), a present participle ("the man doing the work"), and a progressive ("I am doing it"). Romanian spreads that load across *four distinct forms and refuses to let any one of them become a progressive. The English -ing maps onto the Romanian gerund only in its adverbial use; its noun-like use ("swimming is fun") lands on a Romanian noun or the să-conjunctiv (îmi place să înot); and its progressive use (I am swimming) simply collapses into the Romanian simple present (înot). The supine, finally, captures a meaning English usually expresses with a passive *to-*infinitive ("things to be done") and has no dedicated form of its own.
Common mistakes
❌ Sunt făcând temele acum.
Wrong — there is no 'to be + gerund' progressive in Romanian.
✅ Îmi fac temele acum.
Correct — the simple present covers 'I am doing my homework now'.
❌ Am multe lucruri de făcute.
Wrong — the supine after 'de' is invariable; it doesn't take a plural ending.
✅ Am multe lucruri de făcut.
Correct — the supine stays frozen as 'de făcut'.
❌ O treabă bine făcut.
Wrong — here 'făcut' is an adjectival participle and must agree (feminine).
✅ O treabă bine făcută.
Correct — the participle agrees with the feminine noun 'treabă'.
❌ E greu de spune. (intending 'it's hard to say')
Wrong — this purpose/evaluative construction takes the supine, not the infinitive.
✅ E greu de spus.
Correct — 'greu de + supine' ('de spus') is the fixed pattern.
Key takeaways
- Finite forms carry person, number, and tense and head a clause; non-finite forms don't.
- Romanian's four non-finite forms: infinitive (a face), gerund (făcând), participle (făcut), supine (de făcut).
- The gerund is adverbial and invariable; never use it to build a progressive.
- The supine looks like the participle but is invariable and governs de — it means "to be done," not "done."
Now practice Romanian
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- The Romanian Verb System: OverviewA1 — A map of the Romanian verb system — the four conjugation classes, the moods and non-finite forms, and the three features English speakers must internalize first.
- The Long and Short InfinitiveA2 — Romanian's two infinitives — the short infinitive with the particle 'a' (a cânta) used as the verbal infinitive, and the long infinitive (cântare) that has largely turned into a feminine noun.
- The Gerunziu: FormationB1 — How to form the Romanian gerund with -ând or -ind, why the choice is phonologically predictable, and why it is never the English be + -ing progressive.
- The Past Participle as Verb FormB1 — How the Romanian participle builds the compound perfect, future perfect, past conditional, and perfect subjunctive — and the master rule that it stays invariable in every compound verb form.
- The Supine (de + participle)B1 — Romanian's distinctively fourth non-finite form — identical in shape to the participle but invariable and preposition-governing — covering 'something to do', purpose after motion verbs, and after certain adjectives and nouns.