The imperfect — imperfectul — is Romanian's tense for the past as it was unfolding: actions that were ongoing, habitual, or simply forming the background to something else. Where the perfect compus (am mâncat — I ate / I have eaten) reports a finished event, the imperfect (mâncam — I was eating / I used to eat) leaves the action open, in motion, not yet wrapped up. If you picture the past as a film, the imperfect is the camera rolling — the scenery, the weather, the things that were going on — while the perfect compus is the snapshot, the single click that captures one completed moment. Learning to feel that contrast is the whole job of the past tense in Romanian, and it is where English speakers most often go wrong.
What the imperfect means
A single imperfect form covers three English translations at once, and which one you pick depends only on context:
- was/were doing — an action in progress (past continuous)
- used to do — a repeated or habitual past action
- was / were — a state or description in the past
Citeam când ai sunat.
I was reading when you called. (action in progress)
Mergeam la școală pe jos în fiecare zi.
I used to walk to school every day. (habit)
Afară era frumos și cald.
Outside it was beautiful and warm. (description)
These three uses — progressive, habitual, descriptive — are the imperfect's bread and butter. Notice that none of them is a single, finished event; each leaves the action either still running, repeated indefinitely, or framing a scene.
How it is formed: the -a- / -ea- theme plus endings
The imperfect is built from a theme vowel attached to the verb stem, followed by a set of personal endings that are the same for every verb in the language. Class I (-a) verbs use the theme -a-; the other classes use -ea-. The endings are:
| Person | Ending | a cânta (Class I) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | -m | cântam | I was singing / used to sing |
| tu | -i | cântai | you were singing |
| el / ea | — (∅) | cânta | he / she was singing |
| noi | -m | cântam | we were singing |
| voi | -ți | cântați | you (pl.) were singing |
| ei / ele | -u | cântau | they were singing |
So the bare endings are -m, -i, -∅, -m, -ți, -u, hung on the theme vowel. A Class II/III/IV verb like a merge (to go) takes the -ea- theme: mergeam, mergeai, mergea, mergeam, mergeați, mergeau.
Lucram la un proiect important pe atunci.
I was working on an important project back then.
Vorbeam mereu despre vacanță.
We were always talking about the holiday.
Copiii dormeau deja când am ajuns acasă.
The children were already asleep when I got home.
The 1sg = 1pl trap
There is one syncretism to watch: the eu form and the noi form are identical — cântam means both "I was singing" and "we were singing," because both take the -m ending on the same theme. Romanian resolves this exactly the way it resolves the present tense's 3sg/3pl overlap: through the subject pronoun or through context. When ambiguity would arise, you simply add eu or noi.
Eu cântam, iar voi dansați.
I was singing, and you were dancing. (pronouns disambiguate)
Noi cântam în cor, ei ascultau.
We were singing in the choir, they were listening.
The imperfect vs the perfect compus
This is the contrast that organizes the whole Romanian past, and it is worth stating plainly because resources often muddle it. Romanian does not encode past aspect through a Slavic-style perfective/imperfective verb-pair system. It does it through the choice between two tenses: the perfect compus for completed, bounded events, the imperfect for ongoing, unbounded background. The classic pairing puts both in one sentence — a rolling background interrupted by a snapshot event.
Dormeam când a sunat telefonul.
I was sleeping (imperfect, background) when the phone rang (perfect compus, event).
Mâncam liniștiți, când deodată s-a stins lumina.
We were eating quietly, when suddenly the lights went out.
Ploua, așa că am luat un taxi.
It was raining (background), so I took a taxi (event).
In each, the imperfect sets the scene that was already underway, and the perfect compus drops in the single completed thing that happened against that scene.
Why English speakers map it wrong
The trap is to translate the imperfect with the English simple past — "I read," "I walked," "it was" — which collapses the very distinction the imperfect exists to make. English does have the tools to render it: the past continuous ("I was reading") and used to ("I used to walk"). The discipline is to reach for those English forms, not the bare simple past, whenever you meet an imperfect. Citeam is "I was reading" or "I used to read," not the bland "I read," which would correspond to the perfect compus am citit.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ieri am citit toată ziua, când ai sunat.
Incorrect — the ongoing background of 'when you called' must be imperfect (citeam), not perfect compus.
✅ Citeam când ai sunat.
I was reading when you called.
❌ În copilărie am mers la școală pe jos în fiecare zi.
Incorrect — a daily habit ('every day') is imperfect (mergeam), not a single completed event.
✅ În copilărie mergeam la școală pe jos în fiecare zi.
As a child I used to walk to school every day.
❌ Cântai și cântai... cântau eu toată seara.
Incorrect person — 'I was singing' is 'cântam', not 'cântau' (that's 'they').
✅ Cântam toată seara.
I was singing all evening.
❌ Era frumos, așa că stăteam afară două ore și am plecat.
Mixed up — 'stayed for two hours' is a bounded event (am stat); the imperfect would imply it was ongoing/habitual.
✅ Era frumos, așa că am stat afară două ore.
It was nice out, so I stayed outside for two hours.
Key Takeaways
- The imperfect = the past camera rolling: ongoing, habitual, or descriptive action.
- One form, three English meanings: was/were doing, used to do, was/were.
- Endings on the theme vowel (-a- Class I, -ea- elsewhere): -m, -i, -∅, -m, -ți, -u → cântam, cântai, cânta, cântam, cântați, cântau.
- eu = noi (cântam); disambiguate with the pronoun when needed.
- It contrasts with the perfect compus (the snapshot); don't flatten it into the English simple past.
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Imperfect: Class I (-a) VerbsA2 — How to form the imperfect of Class I verbs ending in -a, including why present-tense -ez infixes disappear entirely in this tense.
- Imperfect of a fi (eram)A2 — The irregular imperfect of a fi — eram, erai, era — the single most frequent imperfect form in Romanian and the engine of all past description.
- Using the Imperfect in NarrativeB1 — How the Romanian imperfect paints the backdrop — time, weather, ongoing actions, states, age, and habits — against which perfect-compus events happen, plus its softening use in polite requests.
- Perfect Compus vs ImperfectB1 — How to choose between the perfect compus and the imperfect for the Romanian past — completed events vs background, plus the verbs that change meaning.
- Imperfect: Why It Is the Most Regular TenseA2 — A reassurance page — the Romanian imperfect runs on a single ending set glued to one fixed stem, with essentially only a fi → eram irregular and no stem changes, making it the most predictable tense in the language.