Negating a future in Romanian is mechanically simple once you see the one principle that governs all of them: nu sits at the very front of the whole future construction, ahead of every auxiliary and particle. You do not negate the verb buried inside — you negate the entire block from the outside. So "I won't come" is Nu voi veni, N-o să vin, or N-am să vin, with nu leading each time. The only extra thing to learn is that with the o să and am să futures, nu glues to the front in everyday speech, producing the ubiquitous n-o să and n-am să. Get the placement right and the contraction follows naturally.
The one rule: nu goes first
Romanian builds nu into the very front of the verb complex (see the negator nu and its placement). In a future, the "front of the complex" is whatever leads the construction — the auxiliary voi/vei/va, or the particle o, or the auxiliary am/ai. nu goes before that, not before the main verb.
| Future form | Affirmative | Negative (full) | Negative (spoken) |
|---|---|---|---|
| voi | voi veni | nu voi veni | nu voi veni |
| o să | o să vin | nu o să vin | n-o să vin |
am să
| am să vin | nu am să vin | n-am să vin |
| bare present | vin mâine | nu vin mâine | nu vin mâine |
Nu voi merge la ședință mâine.
I won't go to the meeting tomorrow. (formal / written)
N-o să merg la ședință mâine.
I won't go to the meeting tomorrow. (everyday spoken)
N-am să merg la ședință mâine.
I won't go to the meeting tomorrow. (colloquial, a touch firmer)
Notice that nu never lands inside the construction. Nu attaches to the head — voi, o, or am — and the rest of the future trails behind unchanged.
The synthetic future: nu voi, nu vei, nu va…
With the formal voi-future, nu simply precedes the auxiliary, and there is no contraction — nu voi, nu vei, nu va stay as separate words (the auxiliary starts with a consonant, so there is nothing to elide into). This is the future of formal writing, and its negative is correspondingly tidy.
| Person | Negative (a veni) |
|---|---|
| eu | nu voi veni |
| tu | nu vei veni |
| el / ea | nu va veni |
| noi | nu vom veni |
| voi | nu veți veni |
| ei / ele | nu vor veni |
Comisia nu va lua o decizie înainte de luni.
The committee will not take a decision before Monday. (formal / journalistic)
Nu vom tolera astfel de întârzieri pe viitor.
We will not tolerate such delays in the future. (formal)
Clitics still slot before the auxiliary, and nu leads the lot: nu te voi uita, nu îi voi spune (often written nu-i voi spune).
Nu te voi uita niciodată.
I will never forget you. (literary / solemn)
The o să future: nu o să → n-o să
With the o să future, nu precedes the particle o. In careful or written form you may see the full nu o să, but in everyday speech the u of nu elides before the vowel o and the two fuse into n-o să. This is the form you will hear constantly — treat n-o să as the normal spoken shape.
N-o să-ți spun niciodată, oricât m-ai ruga.
I'll never tell you, no matter how much you beg. (a flat refusal)
N-o să meargă șefa la conferință anul ăsta.
The boss isn't going to the conference this year. (3rd person — still n-o să)
Note the clitic in n-o să-ți spun: the construction is nu → o → să → clitic îți (→ -ți) → verb. The negator is at the front; the clitic stays where it always sits in the o să future, hugging the verb after să.
The am să future: nu am să → n-am să
The am să future leads with the auxiliary am/ai/are… from a avea, every form of which begins with a vowel. So nu elides exactly as it does in the perfect compus (nu am → n-am), giving n-am să, n-ai să, n-are să, and so on. Again, the full nu am să is possible in careful speech, but n-am să is the living spoken form.
N-am să uit ce ai făcut pentru mine.
I won't forget what you did for me. (colloquial, heartfelt)
N-ai să mă convingi, m-am hotărât.
You won't convince me, I've made up my mind. (colloquial, firm)
Negative futures for refusals and predictions
The negated future does a lot of expressive work in Romanian. It states refusals (often blunt and final), firm denials, and negative predictions — and it pairs naturally with the negative-concord words (niciodată, nimic, nimeni, nicăieri), which add a second negative without cancelling the first (see negative concord).
N-o să-ți cer niciodată să mă ierți.
I'll never ask you to forgive me. (refusal + concord niciodată)
Nu vor mai exista astfel de probleme după actualizare.
There won't be such problems anymore after the update. (formal prediction)
N-am să spun nimănui, îți promit.
I won't tell anyone, I promise. (am să + concord nimănui)
Common Mistakes
❌ O nu să vin.
Incorrect — nu cannot sit between o and să; it goes at the very front: N-o să vin.
✅ N-o să vin.
I won't come.
❌ O să nu vin mâine.
Incorrect — you don't negate the inner verb; nu leads the whole construction: N-o să vin mâine.
✅ N-o să vin mâine.
I won't come tomorrow.
❌ Voi nu veni la petrecere.
Incorrect — nu precedes the auxiliary, not the infinitive: Nu voi veni.
✅ Nu voi veni la petrecere.
I won't come to the party.
❌ Nu o să spun nimic. (read as two careful words in casual speech)
Understandable but stiff in conversation — everyday speech contracts to n-o să.
✅ N-o să spun nimic.
I won't say anything.
❌ Am nu să-i spun.
Incorrect — nu leads the auxiliary and contracts: N-am să-i spun.
✅ N-am să-i spun.
I won't tell him/her.
Key Takeaways
- nu goes at the very front of every future — before voi, before o, before am — negating the whole block from the outside.
- The synthetic future shows no contraction: nu voi veni, nu va veni (consonant-initial auxiliary).
- The o să and am să futures contract in speech: nu o să → n-o să, nu am să → n-am să — the same nu
- vowel elision you use in the perfect.
- Clitics keep their normal slot; nu just leads: n-o să-ți spun, n-am să-i spun, nu te voi uita.
- Negative futures carry refusals and predictions, and combine with concord words: N-o să spun niciodată nimic.
Related Topics
- The Negator 'nu' and Its ContractionsA1 — Where nu goes and how it contracts. The negator sits strictly BEFORE the verb, ahead of any object pronouns (Nu te văd, Nu îmi place). Before a vowel it elides to n- (nu am → n-am), and before clitics it fuses (nu îmi → nu-mi, nu îl → nu-l, nu este → nu-i). This page drills the placement and the everyday contractions in the present and perfect.
- 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.
- 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.
- Negative Concord (Double Negation)A1 — Romanian piles up negatives that all agree, and the verbal nu is non-negotiable. Where English uses one negative ('I never tell anyone anything'), Romanian marks every element negative AND keeps nu on the verb: Nu spun nimănui niciodată nimic. What English calls a 'double-negative error' is the REQUIRED form here. This page teaches the system and how the negatives stack.