Romanian has a beautifully compact way to say "I have something to do": the verb a avea (to have) plus de plus the supine. Am de scris un eseu literally lines up word for word with English "I have an essay to write," and the parallel is no accident — both languages turned the verb have into an expression of pending tasks. But Romanian draws a finer line than English does between having a task on your plate (a avea de) and being obligated (a trebui). Learning to feel that difference is what this page is about.
The basic pattern: a avea + de + supine
Conjugate a avea normally for the subject, then add de + the supine (the invariable verb form: de scris, de făcut, de citit, de spălat). The object, if there is one, follows.
Am de scris un eseu până mâine.
I have an essay to write by tomorrow.
Are de învățat pentru examen toată săptămâna.
She has studying to do for the exam all week.
Avem de rezolvat o grămadă de probleme.
We have a ton of problems to solve.
The whole point of the construction is pending work: things that are queued up, waiting to be done. It paints a picture of a to-do list rather than a command from above.
"Still have to": mai am de
Add the little adverb mai ("still, yet more") and you get the very common "I still have ... to do" — emphasising that the work isn't finished.
Mai am de lucru până diseară.
I still have work to do until tonight.
Mai avem de mers vreo doi kilometri.
We still have about two kilometres to walk.
Mai ai mult de citit?
Do you still have a lot to read?
Note de lucru and de mers in those examples: the supine works whether or not there is an explicit object. Am de lucru ("I have work to do") is an everyday fixed phrase.
The idiom n-am ce face — there's nothing I can do
A high-frequency relative of this construction swaps de for a question word like ce ("what"), unde ("where"), or cu cine ("with whom"), giving "have something / nothing to ...". The negative n-am ce face ("I have nothing to do / there's nothing I can do about it") is one of the most idiomatic phrases in spoken Romanian — a verbal shrug.
N-am ce face, trebuie să aștept.
There's nothing I can do, I have to wait.
N-am ce să-ți spun, nu știu nimic.
I have nothing to tell you, I don't know anything.
Nu am unde să mă duc la ora asta.
I have nowhere to go at this hour.
Notice that with a question word, you'll usually hear să (n-am ce să spun), whereas with the bare de you get the supine (am de spus). Both are alive in the language; de + supine feels more about a fixed task, ce să more about a possibility or option.
a avea de versus a trebui
This is the distinction fluent speakers observe instinctively. A trebui is pure, often externally imposed obligation ("must, have to"), with no implication of a queue of tasks. A avea de describes the tasks themselves, the backlog, what's waiting in your inbox. They overlap, but they are not interchangeable.
| a trebui | a avea de | |
|---|---|---|
| Core meaning | obligation / necessity ("must") | pending task ("have ... to do") |
| Source | often external (rules, demands) | internal workload / to-do list |
| Complement | să | de
|
| Example | Trebuie să scriu un eseu. | Am de scris un eseu. |
| Nuance | "I'm obliged to write an essay." | "I've got an essay to write (it's on my list)." |
Trebuie să plec acum, mă așteaptă șeful.
I have to leave now, my boss is waiting for me.
Am de terminat două rapoarte, așa că rămân peste program.
I have two reports to finish, so I'm staying late.
In the first, an external force (the boss) creates the obligation — a trebui is natural. In the second, the speaker is describing the contents of their workload — a avea de fits. Swap them and a native ear notices: Am de plecat acum would oddly frame "leaving" as a task on a list, and Trebuie să termin două rapoarte shifts the feel toward "I'm obliged to," losing the to-do-list flavour.
Don't confuse a avea de with a avea să (the future)
This is the calque trap. English "I have to do X" tempts learners to reach for a avea să, but in Romanian a avea + să + subjunctive is one of the spoken future auxiliaries (am să fac = "I will do"), not an obligation at all. To express "have to do," you need a trebui (obligation) or a avea de (pending task) — never a avea să.
Am să scriu un eseu mâine.
I will write an essay tomorrow. (future — a plan, not an obligation)
Am de scris un eseu.
I have an essay to write. (a pending task)
The two differ by a single word — să versus de — but they live in completely different grammatical worlds: one is the future tense, the other a present statement about your workload.
Common Mistakes
❌ Am să scriu un eseu până mâine.
Incorrect for 'I have to write' — am să is the future ('I will write'), not an obligation.
✅ Am de scris un eseu până mâine.
I have an essay to write by tomorrow.
❌ Am de să scriu un eseu.
Incorrect — you cannot combine de and să; choose de + supine.
✅ Am de scris un eseu.
I have an essay to write.
❌ Am de scriu un eseu.
Incorrect — after de you need the supine (scris), not a finite verb.
✅ Am de scris un eseu.
I have an essay to write.
❌ Nu am ce de făcut.
Incorrect — the idiom is n-am ce face, with no de.
✅ N-am ce face.
There's nothing I can do.
❌ Mai am de lucru să termin.
Incorrect — don't tack să onto the supine phrase; the supine already names the task.
✅ Mai am de lucru până termin.
I still have work to do until I finish.
Key Takeaways
- a avea + de + supine = "to have (something) to do," framed as a pending task: Am de scris, mai am de lucru.
- The supine is invariable; only a avea is conjugated.
- a avea de ≠ a trebui: the former is your to-do list, the latter is obligation/necessity. Both are real, idiomatic, and not interchangeable.
- Beware the calque: a avea + să is the spoken future ("I will"), not "have to." For "have to," use a trebui or a avea de.
- N-am ce face ("there's nothing I can do") is a must-know fixed idiom built on this same have-something-to-do logic.
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- The Supine (de + participle)B1 — Romanian's distinctively fourth non-finite form — identical in shape to the participle but invariable and preposition-governing — covering 'something to do', purpose after motion verbs, and after certain adjectives and nouns.
- a trebui (must / have to)A2 — The invariable modal trebuie for obligation and probability, the past a trebuit să, and the high-value imperfect trebuia să for 'should have / was supposed to'.
- Phase Verbs: beginning, continuing, finishingB1 — How a începe, a continua, a termina and a sfârși express the start, middle, and end of an action — and why finishing takes the supine, not the subjunctive.
- The Future with am să / ai săB1 — The personally-inflected colloquial future built from 'a avea' plus 'să' plus the conjunctive — am să plec, ai să vezi — and how it differs from the invariable o-să future.
- Supine vs Infinitive vs ConjunctivB2 — A decision guide to Romanian's three ways of expressing a complement action — the supine for subjectless evaluations, the conjunctiv for subject-bearing complements, and the infinitive in fixed prepositional frames.