This is the lookup page. The other participle pages explain how the forms are built class by class; this one lays them all out in one place so you can find a form fast. There is a strategic reason to take the participle seriously beyond the perfect compus: it is the single most reusable form in the Romanian verb system. The same participle that gives you am mers (I went) also gives you the supine (de mers, "to go / for going"), the passive (a fost văzut, "was seen"), and the pluperfect (mersesem, "I had gone"). Learn one participle and you have unlocked four constructions. So if you commit any single form per verb to memory, make it this one.
The regular classes: -at, -ut, -it
The productive, predictable participles fall into three endings tied to the conjugation class. If a verb is regular, its participle is one of these — no guesswork.
| Class | Infinitive ending | Participle ending | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | -a (a cânta) | -at | cântat (sung) |
| II | -ea (a tăcea) | -ut | tăcut (kept silent) |
| III | -e (a bate) | -ut (when regular) | bătut (beaten) |
| IV | -i / -î (a dormi / a coborî) | -it / -ât | dormit / coborât |
Am cântat la nuntă toată noaptea.
I sang at the wedding all night.
Am dormit până la prânz, eram epuizat.
I slept until noon — I was exhausted.
Am coborât pe scări ca să nu aștept liftul.
I went down the stairs so as not to wait for the lift.
The Class III scatter
Class III (infinitive in -e: a merge, a pune, a rupe) is where the predictability breaks down. Its verbs split across three participle endings, and there is no surface rule that tells you which one a given verb takes — you memorize it per verb. This is the heart of the reference, so here is each group laid out.
Group A: -s participles
The largest irregular Class III group. The stem ends in -s (often replacing an infinitive -g-, -n-, or -d-).
| Infinitive | Meaning | Participle | Perfect (eu) |
|---|---|---|---|
| a merge | to go | mers | am mers |
| a pune | to put | pus | am pus |
| a rămâne | to remain | rămas | am rămas |
| a închide | to close | închis | am închis |
| a deschide | to open | deschis | am deschis |
| a spune | to say, tell | spus | am spus |
| a aduce | to bring | adus | am adus |
| a scrie | to write | scris | am scris |
| a zice | to say | zis | am zis |
Am pus cheile pe masă, dar acum nu le mai găsesc.
I put the keys on the table, but now I can't find them.
A rămas singur în casă toată seara.
He stayed home alone all evening.
Ți-am scris un mesaj lung, ai văzut?
I wrote you a long message — did you see it?
Group B: -t participles
A smaller group where the stem ends in -t. Several of these involve a consonant shift in the stem (the c/g of the infinitive becomes p in copt, fript).
| Infinitive | Meaning | Participle | Perfect (eu) |
|---|---|---|---|
| a rupe | to tear, break | rupt | am rupt |
| a coace | to bake | copt | am copt |
| a frige | to fry, grill | fript | am fript |
| a sparge | to break, shatter | spart | am spart |
Am rupt din greșeală pagina, îmi pare rău.
I accidentally tore the page — I'm sorry.
Mama a copt o pâine întreagă azi-dimineață.
Mom baked a whole loaf this morning.
Mi-a căzut paharul și s-a spart.
I dropped the glass and it shattered.
Group C: -ut participles (irregular stem)
These look like the regular -ut class, but the stem is irregular enough to be worth listing: a bea loses its e and shifts to bă-, a cădea shifts to că-.
| Infinitive | Meaning | Participle | Perfect (eu) |
|---|---|---|---|
| a bea | to drink | băut | am băut |
| a vrea | to want | vrut | am vrut |
| a cădea | to fall | căzut | am căzut |
Am băut o cafea în drum spre birou.
I drank a coffee on the way to the office.
Am căzut pe gheață, dar n-am pățit nimic.
I fell on the ice, but I wasn't hurt.
The frequent one-offs
A few of the most common verbs have participles that fit no neat group. They are also the verbs you use most, so they are worth memorizing first.
| Infinitive | Meaning | Participle | Perfect (eu) |
|---|---|---|---|
| a fi | to be | fost | am fost |
| a da | to give | dat | am dat |
| a lua | to take | luat | am luat |
| a sta | to stay, sit | stat | am stat |
| a avea | to have | avut | am avut |
Am fost la mare săptămâna trecută.
I was at the seaside last week.
I-am dat banii înapoi încă de luni.
I gave him the money back as early as Monday.
Am luat autobuzul greșit și am întârziat.
I took the wrong bus and was late.
The same participle powers four constructions
This is why the table earns its keep. Take one participle — văzut (seen) — and watch it run through the system:
| Construction | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| perfect compus | am văzut | I saw / I have seen |
| pluperfect | văzusem | I had seen |
| passive | a fost văzut | he was seen |
| supine | de văzut | to see / worth seeing |
Am văzut filmul aseară.
I saw the film last night. (perfect compus)
Văzusem deja filmul, așa că am citit în loc.
I had already seen the film, so I read instead. (pluperfect)
Mai am multe de văzut în orașul ăsta.
I still have a lot to see in this city. (supine)
One caveat about agreement: when the participle is used as an adjective or in the passive, it does agree with its noun (o ușă închisă "a closed door", ușile au fost închise "the doors were closed"). But in the perfect compus and the pluperfect it stays invariable. Same form, two behaviours — frozen as a verb tense, agreeing as an adjective.
Common Mistakes
❌ Am mergut la magazin.
Incorrect — a merge is irregular: the participle is 'mers', not a regular *-ut form.
✅ Am mers la magazin.
I went to the shop.
❌ Am punut cartea pe raft.
Incorrect — a pune takes -s: 'pus', not *punut.
✅ Am pus cartea pe raft.
I put the book on the shelf.
❌ Am coacut o pâine.
Incorrect — a coace takes -t with a stem shift: 'copt', not *coacut.
✅ Am copt o pâine.
I baked a loaf of bread.
❌ Am beut un ceai.
Incorrect — a bea shifts the stem to bă- and takes -ut: 'băut', not *beut.
✅ Am băut un ceai.
I drank a tea.
❌ Am cazut pe scări.
Incorrect — the stem vowel becomes ă: 'căzut', not 'cazut'.
✅ Am căzut pe scări.
I fell on the stairs.
Key Takeaways
- Regular participles take -at (Class I), -ut (Classes II/III), or -it / -ât (Class IV).
- Class III scatters across three endings — -s (mers, pus, închis, scris), -t (rupt, copt, fript, spart), and -ut (băut, căzut) — with no surface rule; memorize per verb.
- The frequent one-offs: a fi → fost, a da → dat, a lua → luat, a sta → stat, a avea → avut.
- The same participle feeds the perfect compus, pluperfect, passive, and supine — one form, four constructions.
- The participle is invariable as a verb tense but agrees as an adjective/in the passive (o ușă închisă).
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- Frequent Irregular ParticiplesB1 — A frequency-ordered reference of the must-know irregular past participles — the small set of verbs that covers most spoken-past usage.
- Past Participle: Classes II and III (-ut, -s, -t)B1 — The irregular-rich participles of Classes II and III — the -ut, -s, and -t patterns, their stem changes, and why they must be memorized.
- Past Participle: Class I (-at)A1 — How to form the perfectly regular past participle of Class I (-a) verbs by swapping -a for -at, and how that participle behaves invariably in the perfect but agrees as an adjective.
- Past Participle: Class IV (-it / -ât)A1 — How to form the past participle of Class IV verbs — the fully regular -it and -ât endings that build the perfect compus.
- Pluperfect: Formation Across ClassesB2 — How to build the Romanian pluperfect in every conjugation class — the participle stem plus -sem/-seși/-se/-serăm/-serăți/-seră — with the handful of irregulars (fusesem, avusesem, făcusem).