The Romanian imperative is defective: it has genuine forms only for you (singular) and you (plural). There is no dedicated form for "let's go" or "let him wait." Romanian fills these empty slots with the conjunctiv — the să-form — and, in everyday speech, with one of the most frequent words in the entire language: hai. If you want to give commands the way Romanians actually do, this page matters as much as the imperative proper, because half of real-life "commanding" lives here.
"Let's …": the 1st-person plural
To say "let's do something," Romanian uses să + the conjunctiv 1pl, which for most verbs looks identical to the indicative 1pl.
| Verb | "Let's …" | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| a merge | Să mergem! | Let's go! |
| a pleca | Să plecăm! | Let's leave! |
| a mânca | Să mâncăm! | Let's eat! |
| a începe | Să începem! | Let's begin! |
| a se odihni | Să ne odihnim! | Let's rest! |
Să mergem, ne așteaptă toți.
Let's go, everyone's waiting for us.
E ora unu, hai să mâncăm ceva.
It's one o'clock, let's eat something.
Notice the reflexive Să ne odihnim — the clitic sits in its normal pre-verbal slot, exactly as it would in any să-clause.
"Let him / let them …": third-person commands
For a command aimed at someone who is not present — "let him wait," "let them come" — Romanian again reaches for să + the conjunctiv, this time in the 3rd person. Remember that the conjunctiv has a special 3rd-person form distinct from the indicative for most verbs (vine → să vină, stă → să stea).
| Indicative 3rd | Conjunctiv command | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| vine | Să vină! | Let him/her/them come! |
| stă | Să stea acolo! | Let him stay there! |
| așteaptă | Să aștepte! | Let them wait! |
| intră | Să intre! | Let him come in! |
Dacă vrea cartea, să vină să o ia.
If he wants the book, let him come and get it.
A sunat cineva? Să aștepte un minut.
Did someone call? Let them wait a minute.
Nu vrea să mănânce? Să stea flămând.
He won't eat? Let him stay hungry.
Negative hortative and jussive
To say "let's NOT" or "don't let him," just put nu before the să-clause as usual.
Să nu uităm cheile data viitoare.
Let's not forget the keys next time.
Să nu plece nimeni până nu terminăm.
Don't let anyone leave until we're done.
"Hai" — the spoken default for "come on / let's"
Here is the piece textbooks underplay. In real conversation, Romanians rarely open with a bare Să mergem. They say Hai! or Hai să mergem! The word hai (a borrowing from Turkish hayde) is one of the most frequent words in spoken Romanian — an all-purpose "come on / let's / let's go" particle. Learning hai is learning how Romanians actually rally each other to do things.
It comes in three shapes:
- Hai! — on its own: "come on! / let's go!"
- Hai să … — followed by a să-clause: "let's …" (the everyday "let's")
- Haide! / Haideți! — a fuller form; haide to one person, haideți to several or politely
| Form | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Hai! | "come on!" (urging, all-purpose) | Hai, că întârziem! |
| Hai să … | "let's …" (the natural 1pl command) | Hai să bem o cafea. |
| Haide! | "come on!" to one person | Haide, nu fi supărat. |
| Haideți! | "come on!" to several / polite | Haideți, vă așteptăm! |
Hai să plecăm, s-a făcut târziu.
Let's leave, it's gotten late.
Hai, că pierdem autobuzul!
Come on, we'll miss the bus!
Haide, încă puțin, aproape am ajuns.
Come on, a little more, we're almost there.
Haideți la masă, mâncarea se răcește!
Come on, everyone, to the table — the food is getting cold!
How this differs from English
English has a single tidy device for all of this: let. Let's go, let him wait, let them eat. Romanian splits the job. The "let's / let him / let them" meanings all funnel through the conjunctiv (să mergem, să aștepte, să mănânce), and on top of that everyday speech adds hai (să), which has no clean English equivalent — it is part "let's," part "come on," part a nudge of encouragement. English speakers consistently under-use hai and over-use the bare Să mergem, which is correct but sounds slightly stiff, like a stage direction rather than a friend pulling you out the door.
Common Mistakes
❌ Mergem! (intended as a command)
Incorrect for 'let's go!' — the bare indicative just states 'we go / we are going', not a hortative.
✅ Să mergem! / Hai să mergem!
Let's go!
❌ Lasă-l vină.
Incorrect — Romanian does not build 'let him come' with a 'let' verb plus bare verb; use the conjunctiv.
✅ Să vină.
Let him come.
❌ Să vine la mine.
Incorrect — the conjunctiv needs its special 3rd-person form vină, not the indicative vine.
✅ Să vină la mine.
Let him come to me.
❌ Hai mergem.
Incorrect — when hai introduces a clause it needs să: hai să mergem.
✅ Hai să mergem.
Let's go.
❌ Haide (addressing several people)
Incorrect for a group/polite address — use the plural haideți.
✅ Haideți!
Come on, everyone!
Key Takeaways
- The imperative is defective; the conjunctiv supplies "let's" (să mergem) and 3rd-person commands (să vină, să aștepte).
- The conjunctiv 3rd person uses its special form: vină, stea, not vine, stă.
- Hai (să …) is the everyday spoken "let's / come on" and is far more common than a bare să form — use Hai să … for a natural "let's."
- Haide addresses one person; haideți a group or politely.
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
- The Imperative: OverviewA2 — An introduction to the Romanian imperative — its two genuine forms (2sg familiar and 2pl/polite), and why everything else falls to the conjunctiv.
- Imperatives with Pronoun CliticsB1 — How object and reflexive clitics attach after affirmative imperatives with a hyphen, but move before negative ones.
- Standalone Conjunctiv: Commands and WishesB1 — How să + verb works on its own — with no governing verb — to give third-person commands, say 'let's', and utter blessings, curses, and wishes.
- Conjunctiv Present: FormationA2 — How to form the present conjunctiv — identical to the indicative except for the 3rd person, which flips the theme vowel.
- Softening Commands and Polite RequestsB1 — How Romanians soften bare imperatives with vă rog, the conditional, and question intonation — and why politeness lives outside the imperative paradigm.