If you have worked through the rest of the Modal subgroup — a putea, a trebui, a vrea, the permission and obligation pages — this page is your single place to look it all up. English packs modality into a closed set of helper words (can, must, should, may, might, need, want) that sit directly in front of a bare verb: I must go. Romanian does something more transparent and, once you see the pattern, more predictable: it uses an ordinary modal verb plus a finite să-clause that carries the person. Trebuie să plec — literally "it-is-necessary that I-leave." This page maps each English modal onto its Romanian expression, gives the form, and — crucially — names the complement each one governs, so you never again have to guess whether a verb takes să, an infinitive, or a noun.
The one structural fact behind everything
Almost every Romanian modal expression is built the same way: modal element + să + conjugated verb. The modal element may be a real verb (pot, vreau), an invariable impersonal (trebuie), or a whole impersonal frame (e posibil, s-ar putea). What stays constant is that the person and tense of the action live inside the să-clause, not in the modal. This is the reverse of English, where must, should, and can are frozen and the following verb is a bare stem.
Trebuie să plecăm acum.
We have to leave now. (person 'we' lives in plecăm, not in trebuie)
Pot să te ajut mâine.
I can help you tomorrow.
The master table
This is the reference. Each row maps an English modal to its Romanian expression, gives the literal sense, and names the complement it governs.
| English | Romanian | Meaning / nuance | Complement |
|---|---|---|---|
| can (ability / permission) | a putea — pot, poți, poate… | be able to; be allowed to | să-clause OR bare infinitive (pot să merg / pot merge) |
| must / have to | trebuie | obligation, necessity — invariable | să-clause (trebuie să plec) |
| should / ought to | ar trebui | advice — conditional of trebuie, also invariable | să-clause (ar trebui să plec) |
| be allowed to / may | a avea voie — am voie, ai voie… | have permission | să-clause (am voie să intru) |
| need (a thing) | a avea nevoie de | need something | noun (am nevoie de bani) |
| need (to do) | a avea nevoie să / a-i trebui | need to do; (something) is needed by me | să-clause / noun (am nevoie să dorm; îmi trebuie o cheie) |
| want | a vrea — vreau, vrei, vrea… | wish, desire | să-clause (vreau să plec) OR noun (vreau o cafea) |
| might / may (possibility) | s-ar putea | it might be that — conditional of a se putea | să-clause (s-ar putea să plouă) |
| it is possible to / that | e posibil | impersonal possibility | să-clause (e posibil să întârzii) |
| it is necessary to | e necesar | impersonal necessity (formal twin of trebuie) | să-clause (e necesar să semnați) |
| it is good / a good idea to | e bine să / ar fi bine să | recommendation | să-clause (e bine să bei apă) |
The rest of this page walks the rows that hide the most traps.
Ability and permission: a putea
A putea is the one fully conjugated modal that English speakers find easy, because it behaves like can: it covers both ability ("I'm able to") and permission ("I'm allowed to"). It is also the only common modal that lets you drop să and use a bare short infinitive. Both pot să merg and pot merge mean "I can go," and they are equally natural. See a putea in full for the conjugation.
Nu pot să-mi găsesc cheile, le-ai văzut tu?
I can't find my keys, have you seen them?
Poți să închizi geamul? E curent.
Can you close the window? There's a draft.
Aici nu poți parca, e loc rezervat.
You can't park here, it's a reserved spot. (permission sense, bare infinitive)
Obligation: trebuie is invariable
This is the single biggest trap on the page, so it gets its own warning. Trebuie ("must / have to") does not conjugate for person. There is no trebuiu for "I", no trebuiem for "we". The form is trebuie for everybody, and the person sits in the să-clause. The same goes for its conditional ar trebui ("should"). For the full impersonal logic — including why trebuie is grammatically subjectless — see the deep dive on impersonal trebuie.
Trebuie să mă trezesc devreme mâine.
I have to get up early tomorrow.
Copiii trebuie să fie la școală la opt.
The children have to be at school at eight.
Ar trebui să-i spui adevărul.
You should tell him the truth. (conditional = advice, also invariable)
Need: three different structures
"Need" is messy in Romanian because three patterns split the work depending on whether you need a thing or to do something.
- a avea nevoie de
- noun — "to need (something)." The most general.
- a avea nevoie să
- să-clause — "to need to (do something)."
- a-i trebui — "(something) is needed by me," with the needer in the dative. This frames the need as the thing being lacking, not as you doing the needing.
Am nevoie de o pauză, lucrez de șase ore.
I need a break, I've been working for six hours.
Am nevoie să dorm, nu mai pot ține ochii deschiși.
I need to sleep, I can't keep my eyes open anymore.
Îmi trebuie o șurubelniță, ai una?
I need a screwdriver, do you have one? (dative: 'a screwdriver is-needed to-me')
The a-i trebui construction matches no English verb directly — see a avea nevoie for the full breakdown. Note that îmi trebuie agrees with the thing needed (îmi trebuie o cheie singular, îmi trebuie două chei plural), exactly like îmi place.
Wanting: a vrea
A vrea ("want") takes either a să-clause ("want to do") or a plain noun ("want something"). Unlike English, there is no infinitive option: vreau să plec, never *vreau a pleca.
Vreau să învăț să gătesc mâncare românească.
I want to learn to cook Romanian food.
Vrei o cafea sau un ceai?
Do you want a coffee or a tea? (noun complement)
Possibility: s-ar putea, e posibil
For "might / may" in the sense of possibility (not permission), Romanian reaches for the conditional of a se putea — s-ar putea să — or the impersonal e posibil să. Both govern a să-clause and both are invariable: the person is in the să-verb. This contrasts with a putea (ability/permission), which conjugates. See s-ar putea in detail.
S-ar putea să plouă diseară, ia o umbrelă.
It might rain tonight, take an umbrella.
E posibil să întârzii puțin, e trafic.
I may be a little late, there's traffic.
Impersonal recommendation and necessity frames
A family of impersonal e + adjective + să frames does the work of "it is X to": e bine să (it's good to), e necesar să (it is necessary to — a more formal twin of trebuie), e important să, e greu să. They are all invariable and all govern să.
E bine să bei multă apă pe căldura asta.
It's good to drink a lot of water in this heat.
E necesar să completați toate câmpurile.
It is necessary to fill in all the fields. (formal)
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu trebuiesc să plec.
Incorrect — trebuie never conjugates for person. There is no first-person form.
✅ Trebuie să plec.
I have to leave.
❌ Vreau a merge la mare.
Incorrect — a vrea takes a să-clause, not the infinitive. (A Romance transfer error.)
✅ Vreau să merg la mare.
I want to go to the seaside.
❌ Am nevoie de dorm.
Incorrect — to need TO DO something, use 'am nevoie să', not 'de' + verb. 'De' takes a noun.
✅ Am nevoie să dorm.
I need to sleep.
❌ Aș trebui să plec acum.
Incorrect — ar trebui is invariable; there is no first-person aș trebui. The person is in the să-clause.
✅ Ar trebui să plec acum.
I should leave now.
❌ S-ar putea plouă diseară.
Incorrect — s-ar putea governs a să-clause: s-ar putea SĂ plouă.
✅ S-ar putea să plouă diseară.
It might rain tonight.
Key Takeaways
- Romanian modality runs on a compact set of modals plus a finite să-clause that carries the person: modal + să + conjugated verb.
- a putea (can) is the one common modal that also allows a bare infinitive: pot merge = pot să merg.
- trebuie (must) and ar trebui (should) are invariable — never conjugate them; the person lives in să.
- "Need" splits three ways: a avea nevoie de
- noun, a avea nevoie să
- clause, and the dative a-i trebui ("is needed by me").
- noun, a avea nevoie să
- Possibility "might" is s-ar putea să / e posibil să, both impersonal and invariable — distinct from ability a putea, which conjugates.
Now practice Romanian
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Modal Meanings in Context: Possibility, Necessity, PermissionB1 — A consolidation page mapping English's modal soup onto Romanian's handful of verbs — a putea (can/may), trebuie să (must), ar trebui să (should), a avea voie (be allowed), a avea nevoie / a-i trebui (need), s-ar putea (might) — with the rule that each governs a să-clause, plus targeted drills.
- Expressing Should and Ought (ar trebui, ar fi bine)B1 — How Romanian softens obligation into advice — the conditional ar trebui să ('you should') against the blunt indicative trebuie să ('you must'), the alternatives ar fi bine să / e bine să / ai face bine să, and the stacked past ar fi trebuit să ('should have').
- Permission and Prohibition (a avea voie, e interzis)B1 — How Romanian grants and refuses permission — a avea voie (să) as the unambiguous 'be allowed', se poate? for 'may I?', the prohibition frames e interzis / nu e voie, a lăsa pe cineva să for 'let', and why a putea covers both ability and permission like English 'can'.
- The Many Faces of trebuieB2 — trebuie is invariable and impersonal — never eu trebui — yet it wears many hats: trebuie să plec 'I must go' (the person lives in the să-clause), trebuie făcut 'it needs doing', evidential trebuie că doarme 'he must be asleep', and the dative îmi trebuie 'I need'. Plus the past forms trebuia să (was supposed to), ar trebui să (should), and a trebuit să (had to).
- Conjunctiv After Modals: a putea, a trebui, a vreaA2 — How modal and control verbs (a vrea, a putea, a trebui, a încerca, a reuși, a spera) force a să-clause where English uses an infinitive, and the one verb that still tolerates the infinitive.
- Expressing Possibility (se poate, s-ar putea, poate)B1 — Romanian's gradient of 'maybe' — poate (că) + indicative as a neutral adverb, se poate să for 'it's possible/allowed', s-ar putea să for the tentative 'it might', e posibil să — and the rule that every 'possible' frame governs a să-clause, so 'it might rain' is s-ar putea SĂ plouă, never an infinitive.