A reflexive verb carries a little pronoun — a clitic — that travels with it everywhere: mă spăl (I wash myself), se gândește (he is thinking), îmi amintesc (I remember). For an English speaker, the first surprise is how many Romanian verbs need one of these clitics, and the second is that most of them are not "reflexive" in meaning at all. A se uita (to look) and a se duce (to go) describe nothing you do to yourself — the clitic is simply part of the verb, as fixed as the -s in English "needs." This page introduces the two clitic series and the three big families of reflexive verb, so that you stop hearing the clitic as optional decoration and start treating it as part of the word.
Two series of clitics
Romanian has two sets of reflexive clitics, and the difference between them is case. The accusative series marks a direct object ("I wash myself"); the dative series marks an indirect object ("I imagine to myself"). You must learn both, because a single verb is locked into one series or the other — you cannot mix them.
| Person | Accusative | Dative |
|---|---|---|
| 1sg (I) | mă | îmi |
| 2sg (you) | te | îți |
| 3sg (he/she) | se | își |
| 1pl (we) | ne | ne |
| 2pl (you) | vă | vă |
| 3pl (they) | se | își |
Notice that ne and vă are identical in both series — only the singular forms and the third-person plural tell you which case you are dealing with. The accusative se and the dative își are the giveaways: if a verb's dictionary entry shows a se (e.g. a se gândi), it is accusative-reflexive; if it shows a-și (e.g. a-și aminti), it is dative-reflexive.
The model verb: a se spăla (to wash oneself)
This is the textbook reflexive — a real action you perform on your own body. It uses the accusative series, because yourself is the direct object of wash.
| Person | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| eu | mă spăl | I wash myself |
| tu | te speli | you wash yourself |
| el / ea | se spală | he / she washes himself / herself |
| noi | ne spălăm | we wash ourselves |
| voi | vă spălați | you (pl.) wash yourselves |
| ei / ele | se spală | they wash themselves |
The verb itself is a perfectly ordinary Class I verb (a spăla); all the reflexive does is add the matching clitic in front. Strip the clitic and you have the transitive verb a spăla (to wash something or someone else).
Mă spăl pe mâini înainte de masă.
I wash my hands before the meal.
Copiii se spală singuri acum.
The kids wash themselves on their own now.
Family 1: true reflexives
In a true reflexive, the subject and the object are the same person — the action genuinely loops back. Here the clitic earns its keep, and you can usually drop it to get a normal transitive verb with a different object.
Mă îmbrac repede și plec.
I get dressed quickly and I leave. (literally: I dress myself)
Îl îmbrac pe copil, apoi mă îmbrac eu.
I dress the child, then I get dressed myself.
Te tai dacă nu ești atent cu cuțitul.
You'll cut yourself if you're not careful with the knife.
In that pair, îmbrac without a clitic means "I dress (someone else)," and mă îmbrac means "I dress myself." The reflexive is doing exactly what English does with -self.
Family 2: inherently reflexive verbs
This is the family that catches English speakers off guard. These verbs have no non-reflexive twin — the clitic is baked into the word and cannot be removed. There is no verb a gândi meaning "to think" floating around; the verb simply is a se gândi.
| Verb | Meaning | Series |
|---|---|---|
| a se gândi | to think (about) | accusative |
| a se uita | to look, to watch | accusative |
| a se duce | to go | accusative |
| a se naște | to be born | accusative |
| a-și aminti | to remember | dative |
| a-și imagina | to imagine | dative |
Mă gândesc la tine în fiecare zi.
I think about you every day.
Se uită la un film și nu răspunde.
He's watching a movie and won't answer.
Mă duc la piață, vrei ceva?
I'm going to the market, do you want anything?
There is no logic to extract here — you cannot reason your way to the conclusion that to look should be reflexive in Romanian. You memorize these as units, exactly as you memorize that to look takes at in English.
Family 3: dative reflexives
A smaller group uses the dative series (îmi, îți, își...). The clitic here is an indirect object — literally "to myself," "for myself" — even when English keeps it invisible. The two you will meet first are a-și aminti (to remember) and a-și imagina (to imagine).
| Person | a-și aminti | a-și imagina |
|---|---|---|
| eu | îmi amintesc | îmi imaginez |
| tu | îți amintești | îți imaginezi |
| el / ea | își amintește | își imaginează |
| noi | ne amintim | ne imaginăm |
| voi | vă amintiți | vă imaginați |
| ei / ele | își amintesc | își imaginează |
Nu îmi amintesc cum o cheamă.
I can't remember her name.
Îți imaginezi cât de scump a fost?
Can you imagine how expensive it was?
The dative clitic is also what lets Romanian say "I'm doing X for myself" with verbs that are otherwise not reflexive — for example îmi cumpăr o cafea (I buy myself a coffee). But for the core verbs above, the clitic is obligatory, not a stylistic choice.
Why Romanian leans so hard on reflexives
The deep point is that Romanian uses obligatory reflexives far more freely than English. Where English marks reflexivity with a separate, optional word (myself) only when it genuinely needs to, Romanian recruits the clitic for a whole range of jobs: real reflexive action, reciprocal action (se iubesc — they love each other), the middle voice (ușa se deschide — the door opens), and a large set of verbs where the clitic carries no detectable meaning at all. For the learner, the practical consequence is simple but unforgiving: the clitic is part of the dictionary entry. When you learn a verb, learn whether it comes with a se or a-și, the same way you learn a noun with its gender.
Common Mistakes
❌ Amintesc unde am pus cheile.
Incorrect — the obligatory dative clitic îmi is missing.
✅ Îmi amintesc unde am pus cheile.
I remember where I put the keys.
❌ Gândesc la vacanță tot timpul.
Incorrect — a gândi is not a stand-alone verb; it needs the accusative clitic.
✅ Mă gândesc la vacanță tot timpul.
I think about vacation all the time.
❌ Eu spăl pe mâini.
Incorrect — without the clitic this means 'I wash someone's hands', not my own.
✅ Eu mă spăl pe mâini.
I wash my hands.
❌ Speli te repede, te rog.
Incorrect — the clitic goes before the verb, not after it, in the indicative.
✅ Te speli repede, te rog?
Will you wash up quickly, please?
❌ Se amintesc de tine.
Incorrect — a-și aminti is dative-reflexive, so it must take își, not the accusative se.
✅ Își amintesc de tine.
They remember you.
Key Takeaways
- Romanian has two clitic series: accusative (mă, te, se, ne, vă, se) and dative (îmi, îți, își, ne, vă, își). A verb is locked into one.
- True reflexives (mă îmbrac) loop the action back onto the subject; you can drop the clitic to get a plain transitive verb.
- Inherently reflexive verbs (a se gândi, a se uita, a se duce) have no non-reflexive form — the clitic is part of the word and carries no "self" meaning.
- The clitic belongs in the dictionary entry. Learn each verb together with its a se or a-și, and put the clitic before the verb in the present.
Now practice Romanian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Transitive, Intransitive, and the ObjectB1 — How transitivity works in Romanian, the direct-object marker pe, clitic doubling, and verbs that govern the dative instead of the accusative.
- Present Indicative of Reflexive VerbsA2 — Conjugating reflexive verbs in the present — the clitic that sits before the verb and must agree with the subject, the high-frequency reflexives you meet first, and the classic error of freezing 3rd-person se.
- Person and Number: The Endings SystemA2 — The six person/number slots of the Romanian verb, why subject pronouns are usually dropped, and the recurring ending patterns — including the frequent syncretism of third singular and third plural.
- 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.