The Romanian participiu (închis, vopsit, uscat, scris) has a double life. When it teams up with an auxiliary to build a compound tense, it is frozen and invariable — am închis, au venit — as covered on the participle as verb form. But the very same word can step out of the verb system and behave like an ordinary adjective. And when it does, it agrees in gender and number with its noun, exactly like frumos or mic. This page is about that adjectival life: the four-way agreement paradigm, the a fi passive, and — most importantly — the precise boundary where agreement switches on.
The four-way agreement
Romanian adjectives inflect for two genders and two numbers, giving up to four distinct forms. The participle, used adjectivally, follows the standard adjective endings: -Ø, -ă, -i, -e.
| Masculine | Feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | închis | închisă |
| Plural | închiși | închise |
un magazin închis
a closed shop (masc. sg. — închis)
o ușă închisă
a closed door (fem. sg. — închisă)
pereți vopsiți de curând
recently painted walls (masc. pl. — vopsiți)
flori uscate într-o carte
dried flowers in a book (fem. pl. — uscate)
The agreement is identical to any other adjective. Uscat (dried) gives uscat / uscată / uscați / uscate; vopsit (painted) gives vopsit / vopsită / vopsiți / vopsite. There is nothing special to learn beyond the regular adjective endings — what is special is knowing when the participle counts as an adjective. We come to that below.
As a modifier: before or after the noun
Used adjectivally, the participle most often follows its noun (the default position for Romanian adjectives), and it agrees with it.
Mâncarea încălzită nu mai are același gust.
Reheated food doesn't taste the same anymore. (fem. sg.)
Mi-am cumpărat o mașină folosită, dar în stare bună.
I bought a used car, but in good condition.
Documentele semnate sunt pe birou.
The signed documents are on the desk. (neuter/fem.-pattern plural — semnate)
It can also be fronted for emphasis or in a more literary register, where it still agrees:
Obosită de drum, s-a prăbușit în fotoliu.
Exhausted from the journey, she collapsed into the armchair. (fem. sg. — obosită)
The a fi passive — agreement is obligatory
This is the participle's biggest adjectival job. Romanian forms its analytic passive with a fi ("to be") + participle, and because a fi is a copula linking the subject to a state, the participle agrees with the subject, just like a predicate adjective.
| Subject | Passive | English |
|---|---|---|
| Casa (fem. sg.) | este construită | The house is built |
| Blocul (neut. sg.) | este construit | The building is built |
| Casele (fem. pl.) | sunt construite | The houses are built |
| Blocurile (neut. pl.) | sunt construite | The buildings are built |
Casa a fost construită de bunicul meu acum cincizeci de ani.
The house was built by my grandfather fifty years ago. (fem. — construită)
Hoțul a fost prins de poliție în aceeași seară.
The thief was caught by the police that same evening. (masc. — prins)
Toate ferestrele au fost vopsite în alb.
All the windows were painted white. (fem. pl. — vopsite)
This is a frequent stumbling block for English speakers, because English passives never inflect the participle: "is built / are built / was built" use the same built. In Romanian you must track the gender and number of the subject every time.
The boundary: same word, two behaviors
Here is the heart of the matter, and the reason this page sits right after the participle as verb. Take închis and watch it switch:
Am închis ușa la ora zece.
I closed the door at ten. (compound verb — INVARIABLE 'închis')
Ușa e închisă de la ora zece.
The door has been closed since ten. (predicate adjective — AGREES, fem. 'închisă')
Same participle, opposite behavior. The trigger is what it is teamed with:
| Construction | Auxiliary / context | Participle |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect compus | a avea (am, ai, a…) | invariable — am închis |
| a-fi passive | a fi as copula | agrees — ușa e închisă |
| Noun modifier | (attached to a noun) | agrees — o ușă închisă |
The rule is now crisp: the auxiliary a avea freezes the participle (it's doing verb work); the copula a fi and any noun it modifies make it agree (it's doing adjective work). The a fi passive is the place where the two systems brush right up against each other, so it is exactly the spot where you must apply the rule from the previous page in reverse: here, agreement is on.
Be careful not to confuse the a fi passive (agrees) with the a avea perfect (frozen). Both can translate into an English past, but they are different constructions:
Bunica a făcut tortul.
Grandma made the cake. (active perfect — făcut frozen)
Tortul a fost făcut de bunica.
The cake was made by Grandma. (passive — făcut agrees with masc. 'tortul', here -Ø)
In the second sentence făcut happens to look the same because tortul is masculine singular; swap in a feminine subject and the difference jumps out: Prăjitura a fost făcută de bunica ("făcută").
Common mistakes
❌ o ușă închis
Incorrect — adjectival participle must agree; feminine noun needs închisă.
✅ o ușă închisă
a closed door
❌ Florile au fost udat de grădinar.
Incorrect — in the passive the participle agrees with the subject 'florile' (fem. pl.).
✅ Florile au fost udate de grădinar.
The flowers were watered by the gardener.
❌ pereți vopsite
Incorrect — 'pereți' is masculine plural, so the participle is vopsiți, not vopsite.
✅ pereți vopsiți
painted walls
❌ Cartea este scris de un autor român.
Incorrect — passive with feminine subject 'cartea' needs scrisă.
✅ Cartea este scrisă de un autor român.
The book is written by a Romanian author.
❌ Obosit de drum, ea s-a culcat devreme.
Incorrect — the participle modifies a feminine subject, so it must be obosită.
✅ Obosită de drum, ea s-a culcat devreme.
Tired from the journey, she went to bed early.
Key takeaways
- Used adjectivally, the participle agrees in gender and number: închis / închisă / închiși / închise.
- In the a-fi passive the participle agrees with the subject — obligatory, unlike English.
- The trigger for agreement is the construction: a avea → frozen (verb), a fi copula / noun modifier → agrees (adjective).
- The same word închis is invariable in am închis but inflects in o ușă închisă. That boundary is the single most important thing to control in the whole participle system.
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