The gerunziu is Romanian's adverbial verb form — the equivalent of English "-ing" in phrases like walking home or by doing that. It expresses an action that runs alongside the main action, supplying background or circumstance. It is built with one of two endings, -ând or -ind, and the single biggest challenge is knowing which one a given verb takes. The good news: the choice is not arbitrary. It is phonologically conditioned, so once you hear the pattern you can predict it.
The basic rule
Take the verb stem and add -ând or -ind. The ending you choose depends on the sound at the end of the stem:
- -ind appears after a front (i-like) environment — chiefly verbs whose stem ends in the high front vowel i (the -i verbs: citi, dormi, fugi, veni), and stems ending in a soft, palatalized consonant.
- -ând appears everywhere else — it is the default, after "harder" or back environments.
| Infinitive | Gerund | Ending | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| a cânta | cântând | -ând | singing |
| a lucra | lucrând | -ând | working |
| a face | făcând | -ând | doing |
| a vedea | văzând | -ând | seeing |
| a merge | mergând | -ând | going |
| a citi | citind | -ind | reading |
| a vorbi | vorbind | -ind | speaking |
| a dormi | dormind | -ind | sleeping |
| a fugi | fugind | -ind | running, fleeing |
| a veni | venind | -ind | coming |
Why the split is predictable
Historically the gerund continues Latin -andum / -endum / -indum. In modern Romanian the two surviving endings distribute by phonology. Listen to the stem-final consonant:
- After i-based stems (citi → citind, dormi → dormind, fugi → fugind, veni → venind), the high front vowel pulls the ending to -ind.
- After a soft, palatalized stem-final consonant, you also get -ind.
- After everything else — r (lucra), t (cânta), velar c/g (făcând, mergând), and most first-conjugation -a verbs — you get -ând.
This is why a face gives făcând (a back environment, so the c surfaces as a hard velar before â) while a fugi gives fugind (a front -i stem): the environments differ.
Mergând spre casă, am întâlnit-o pe Maria.
Walking home, I ran into Maria.
Citind atent contractul, am observat o greșeală.
Reading the contract carefully, I noticed a mistake.
Lucrând toată noaptea, am terminat raportul.
Working all night, I finished the report.
Gerunds worth knowing by heart
A few high-frequency verbs have gerunds you should simply memorize, either because they are irregular or because they are extremely common.
| Infinitive | Gerund | Note |
|---|---|---|
| a fi | fiind | "being" — irregular, very frequent |
| a avea | având | "having" |
| a ști | știind | double i: ști + ind |
| a scrie | scriind | double i: scri + ind |
| a lua | luând | "taking" |
| a da | dând | "giving" |
| a sta | stând | "staying, standing" |
| a bea | bând | "drinking" |
Note the double i in știind and scriind: the stem already ends in i, and the ending -ind adds another, so both are written and pronounced.
Fiind obosit, a renunțat la plimbare.
Being tired, he gave up on the walk.
Neavând bani, a rămas acasă.
Having no money, he stayed home.
Știind răspunsul, a ridicat mâna imediat.
Knowing the answer, she raised her hand at once.
The gerund never agrees
Unlike the participle, the gerund is completely invariable. It does not change for gender, number, or person. One form covers every subject.
Bărbatul, zâmbind, a deschis ușa.
The man, smiling, opened the door.
Femeile, zâmbind, au deschis ușa.
The women, smiling, opened the door.
The gerund zâmbind stays identical whether the smiler is one man or several women. This is a relief after the participle, which agrees like an adjective.
What the gerund is NOT
This is the trap for English speakers. The Romanian gerund is adverbial — it means "while / by / when doing" something. It is not the English progressive "be + -ing". To say "I am walking" you use the plain present, not the gerund.
| English | Romanian | |
|---|---|---|
| I am walking. | Merg. | present, not gerund |
| Walking home, I saw her. | Mergând spre casă, am văzut-o. | gerund = adverbial |
Acum citesc o carte.
Right now I'm reading a book. (present — NOT 'citind')
Citind, a adormit.
While reading, he fell asleep. (gerund — adverbial)
Common mistakes
❌ Eu sunt mergând la școală acum.
Incorrect — the gerund is not the English progressive; use the plain present.
✅ Eu merg la școală acum.
I'm going to school now.
❌ Citând cartea, a adormit.
Incorrect — 'a citi' takes -ind, not -ând.
✅ Citind cartea, a adormit.
While reading the book, he fell asleep.
❌ Fugând prin parc, a căzut.
Incorrect — 'a fugi' has a front/palatal stem, so it takes -ind.
✅ Fugind prin parc, a căzut.
While running through the park, he fell.
❌ Mergândă spre casă, ele au cântat.
Incorrect — the gerund never agrees; it has no feminine or plural form.
✅ Mergând spre casă, ele au cântat.
Walking home, they (f.) sang.
Key takeaways
- The gerunziu ends in -ând or -ind, and the choice is phonologically conditioned by the stem: front/palatal stems take -ind, the rest default to -ând.
- Memorize the high-frequency forms: fiind, având, știind, scriind, luând, dând, stând, bând.
- The gerund is invariable — no agreement, ever.
- It is adverbial ("while/by doing"), never the English be + -ing progressive. Use the plain present for "I am doing".
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Using the GerunziuB1 — The functions of the Romanian gerund — simultaneous action, manner, cause, and means — its shared-subject rule, and the distinctive way it fuses with clitics through a linking -u-.
- Gerund vs Relative Clause (the man walking / who walks)B2 — When Romanian uses the gerund (-ând/-ind) for a simultaneous or perceived action — Am văzut-o plecând; L-am găsit dormind — versus when it must use a full relative clause: 'the man walking' is omul care merge, never omul mergând. The gerund is adverbial and perceptual, never an attributive noun-modifier.
- Gerund with Clitics and Its Uses in WritingB2 — How clitic pronouns fuse onto the gerund enclitically through a linking -u- (văzându-l, gândindu-se, spunându-i), and how the gerund clause — Având în vedere că…, Ținând cont de… — became the signature of formal, administrative, and journalistic Romanian.
- Finite vs Non-Finite FormsB1 — The difference between Romanian's finite forms (which carry person, number, and tense) and its four non-finite forms — infinitive, gerund, participle, and the distinctively Romanian supine.
- 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.