By now you know the four ways Romanian says "I will": o să vin (the spoken default), voi veni (formal/written), am să vin (colloquial, emphatic), and the bare present vin mâine (scheduled). Since they mean the same thing, choosing well is mostly a register judgement — and judgement is built by practice, not by re-reading rules. This page is the drill. It is deliberately different from the overview, which teaches the forms, and from choosing a future, which lays out the decision logic. Here you train the two reflexes that matter: forming each future correctly across conjugations, and selecting the right one for the situation in front of you.
Quick reference: the four futures of one verb
Keep this in view as you drill. One verb, a face (to do/make), in all four futures:
| Form | 1sg | 3sg | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| o să | o să fac | o să facă | spoken default |
| am să | am să fac | are să facă / o să facă | colloquial, emphatic |
| voi | voi face | va face | formal / written |
| bare present | fac (mâine) | face (mâine) | scheduled |
Remember the two formation pivots: o să and am să take the conjunctiv (3rd person facă, not face), while voi takes the short infinitive (the unchanging face).
Drill 1: form the o să future
Build the o să future for each verb and person. The o never changes; only the conjunctiv verb moves, and the 3rd person takes its special form. Cover the answers, produce yours, then check.
(eu, a pleca) → O să plec mai târziu.
I'll leave later.
(ei, a veni) → O să vină pe la opt.
They'll come around eight. (3pl conjunctiv: vină, not vin)
(noi, a mânca) → O să mâncăm acasă diseară.
We'll eat at home tonight.
(ea, a face) → Ce o să facă cu atâția bani?
What's she going to do with so much money? (3sg conjunctiv: facă)
The trap each time is the third person: vină / facă / meargă / spună, never the indicative vine / face / merge / spune.
Drill 2: form the synthetic (voi) future
Now the formal future: auxiliary (voi, vei, va, vom, veți, vor) + the bare short infinitive, which never inflects. This is what you'll write, so drill it for accuracy.
(noi, a lua) → Vom lua o decizie până vineri.
We will take a decision by Friday. (formal)
(comisia / ea, a analiza) → Comisia va analiza toate dosarele.
The committee will examine all the files. (journalistic)
(eu, a reveni) → Voi reveni cu detalii în scris.
I will follow up with details in writing. (formal email)
Drill 3: form the am să future
The am să future inflects the auxiliary (am, ai, are, avem, aveți, au) + conjunctiv. It is most idiomatic in the 1st/2nd person singular, where it sounds like a firm promise.
(eu, a se lăsa) → Am să mă las de fumat, m-am hotărât.
I'm going to quit smoking, I've made up my mind. (determined intention)
(tu, a vedea) → Ai să vezi că merită efortul.
You'll see it's worth the effort. (with insistence)
(eu, a spune) → Am să-ți spun totul când ne vedem.
I'll tell you everything when we meet.
Note that in the 3rd person, speech usually slides into o să anyway (o să facă rather than are să facă), so don't over-drill are să / au să for production.
Drill 4: choose the future for the situation
This is the real skill. The verb is given; you pick the register-appropriate future for each scenario. Read the situation label first, then commit to a form before checking.
(texting a friend you're running late) → Ajung în zece minute, scuze!
I'll be there in ten minutes, sorry! (scheduled/imminent → bare present)
(reassuring a worried friend) → Stai liniștit, o să fie bine.
Don't worry, it'll be fine. (casual → o să)
(a formal reply to a client) → Vă voi trimite oferta până la sfârșitul zilei.
I will send you the quote by end of day. (formal → voi)
(a heartfelt personal promise) → Am să-ți fiu mereu alături, îți promit.
I'll always be there for you, I promise. (emphatic promise → am să)
(a news headline) → Dobânda de referință va rămâne neschimbată.
The reference rate will remain unchanged. (journalistic → voi)
Notice the pattern in the corrections: the grammar of any of these would be acceptable, but the register makes one choice clearly right. Texting Vă voi ajunge sounds bookish; a news outlet writing O să rămână sounds too chatty.
Drill 5: recognize the future in context
Production is half the skill; the other half is hearing which future you're reading. Identify the form in each, and confirm they all express the future:
„Prețurile vor crește în 2027.\" → voi-future (formal/news).
Prices will rise in 2027.
„Hai că o să-ți placă, ai încredere.\" → o să future (spoken).
Come on, you'll like it, trust me.
„Sâmbătă mergem la munte.\" → present for the scheduled future.
On Saturday we're going to the mountains.
„N-am să te dezamăgesc.\" → negated am să future (emphatic).
I won't let you down.
If you spotted that the last one is am să (not o să) because the auxiliary contracted to n-am rather than n-o, your eye for these forms is already sharp.
Common Mistakes
These are the register mis-selections to watch — the errors are not in the grammar but in the social fit.
❌ (chatting) Te voi suna când ajung.
Too formal for casual speech — use o să te sun.
✅ O să te sun când ajung.
I'll call you when I arrive.
❌ (official notice) O să vă comunicăm rezultatul.
Too casual for a formal notice — use the voi-future.
✅ Vă vom comunica rezultatul.
We will communicate the result to you.
❌ El o să merge cu noi.
Form error — o să takes the conjunctiv (meargă), not the indicative.
✅ El o să meargă cu noi.
He'll come with us.
❌ Voi a pleca mâine.
Form error — the voi-future takes the BARE short infinitive: voi pleca.
✅ Voi pleca mâine.
I will leave tomorrow.
❌ Eu am o să fac asta.
Form error — never blend am and o; pick one system: am să fac OR o să fac.
✅ Am să fac asta. / O să fac asta.
I'll do that.
Key Takeaways
- The four futures mean the same thing — choosing well is a register decision.
- Form check: o să / am să take the conjunctiv (3rd person facă, vină); voi takes the bare short infinitive (face, veni).
- Select by asking: speaking or writing, casual or formal? → o să (casual speech), voi (formal writing), am să (emphatic promise), bare present (schedule).
- Never blend systems (✗ am o să) and never use the indicative after o să / am să (✗ o să merge).
- Train both directions: produce the right form for a situation, and recognize each future when reading or listening.
Now practice Romanian
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Choosing a Future (voi / o să / am să)B1 — Which Romanian future to use — o să for everyday speech, voi for formal writing, am să for emphatic intention — and why the choice is about register, not meaning.
- The Present for Scheduled FutureA2 — Why Romanian routinely uses the plain present for planned, scheduled, and imminent future events — and why, with a future time adverb, it sounds more certain than the o să future.
- The Romanian Futures: OverviewA2 — A map of Romanian's four ways to talk about the future — voi merge, o să merg, am să merg, and the bare present — and, crucially, which register each one belongs to.
- The Colloquial Future (o să + conjunctiv)A2 — How to form and use the everyday spoken future with invariable 'o' plus 'să' and the conjunctive — the default future of conversational Romanian.
- The Literary Future (voi + infinitive)B1 — How to form Romanian's formal future — the auxiliary voi/vei/va/vom/veți/vor plus the bare short infinitive — where it belongs (news, literature, officialdom), and how clitics attach to it.
- The Future with am să / ai săB1 — The personally-inflected colloquial future built from 'a avea' plus 'să' plus the conjunctive — am să plec, ai să vezi — and how it differs from the invariable o-să future.