Phase verbs (also called aspectual verbs) describe where in its lifespan an action is: just starting, still going, or finally over. Romanian builds these with a small set of verbs — a începe (to begin), a continua (to continue), a termina / a isprăvi (to finish), and a sfârși (to end) — but the trap is that they do not all take the same complement. Beginning and continuing take the subjunctive să; finishing famously takes the supine. Getting this split right is one of the clearest signals that a learner has internalized how Romanian really works rather than translating word by word from English.
a începe să — to begin to
The most common phase verb is a începe. When the thing you begin is another action, it is introduced by să + subjunctive, exactly as in English "begin to."
Începe să plouă.
It's starting to rain.
Copilul a început să meargă la zece luni.
The child started to walk at ten months.
Am început să învăț română anul trecut.
I started learning Romanian last year.
You can also begin a thing rather than an action, in which case a începe simply takes a direct object: Am început cartea (I've started the book). And there is a near-synonym, a se apuca de (to set about, to get down to), which is more colloquial and stresses rolling up your sleeves: M-am apucat de curățenie (I got down to the cleaning).
a continua să — to continue
A continua behaves like a începe: an action complement comes in with să.
Continuă să vorbească de parcă nu s-ar fi întâmplat nimic.
He keeps talking as if nothing had happened.
Dacă vom continua să cheltuim atât, rămânem fără bani până la vară.
If we keep spending this much, we'll be broke by summer.
Romanian also has a colourful colloquial alternative, a o ține (literally "to hold it"), for "to keep on" doing something — usually with a slightly exasperated tone:
O ține tot într-un râs de o oră.
She's been laughing nonstop for an hour.
a termina de + supine — to finish doing
Here is the construction English speakers almost always get wrong. To say you finished doing something, Romanian does not use să. It uses a termina de + the supine (the invariable verb form identical to the masculine singular past participle: de mâncat, de scris, de citit, de spălat).
Am terminat de mâncat.
I finished eating.
Când termini de scris raportul, trimite-mi-l.
When you finish writing the report, send it to me.
Abia am terminat de spălat vasele.
I've only just finished washing the dishes.
The synonym a isprăvi (slightly more colloquial / rural in flavour) works identically:
Nu am isprăvit încă de aranjat camera.
I haven't finished tidying the room yet.
Why the supine and not să? The supine here behaves like a verbal noun — "the eating," "the writing" — so a termina de mâncat is structurally closer to "to finish with the eating" than to "to finish to eat." The preposition de is what licenses the supine, and this is one of the very few places where the supine is still fully productive in everyday speech. (The same de + supine appears with a avea de — "to have to do" — covered on its own page.) Treat this construction as a fixed idiom and the error disappears.
a sfârși prin a — to end up (doing)
A sfârși means "to end / to finish," and in its phase use it most often appears in the idiom a sfârși prin a + infinitive: "to end up doing," "to finally do (after all)."
După atâtea ezitări, a sfârșit prin a accepta oferta.
After all that hesitation, he ended up accepting the offer.
Dacă tot amâni, vei sfârși prin a pierde trenul.
If you keep putting it off, you'll end up missing the train.
A more everyday way to say "end up" is a ajunge să + subjunctive, which carries the same "after a whole process, this is where it landed" sense:
Am ajuns să-mi placă orașul ăsta.
I've ended up liking this city.
The complementation split at a glance
| Phase verb | Meaning | Complement | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| a începe | to begin | să
| începe să cânte |
| a se apuca de | to get down to | de
| se apucă de scris |
| a continua | to continue | să
| continuă să citească |
| a termina / a isprăvi | to finish | de
| termină de citit |
| a sfârși | to end up | prin a
| sfârșește prin a ceda |
Notice that a se apuca sits on the de + supine side together with a termina — both frame the action as a packaged "job," so both prefer the supine. A începe and a continua frame it as an unfolding action, so both take să.
A note for English speakers
English uses the bare -ing form across the board: "begin eating," "continue eating," "finish eating." Romanian refuses to be that uniform. There is no single gerund-style complement that works for all three. The -ing form maps onto să + subjunctive for begin/continue, but onto the supine for finish. This is the single most important takeaway on this page: do not let English's tidy -ing lull you into using one Romanian form everywhere.
Common Mistakes
❌ Am terminat să mănânc.
Incorrect — a termina does not take să for 'finish doing'.
✅ Am terminat de mâncat.
I finished eating.
❌ Am terminat de mănânc.
Incorrect — after de you need the supine (mâncat), not a finite verb.
✅ Am terminat de mâncat.
I finished eating.
❌ Începe de plouă.
Incorrect — a începe takes să, not de.
✅ Începe să plouă.
It's starting to rain.
❌ A sfârșit să accepte oferta.
Incorrect for 'ended up' — use a sfârși prin a + infinitive.
✅ A sfârșit prin a accepta oferta.
He ended up accepting the offer.
❌ Continuă de citit cartea.
Incorrect — a continua takes să, not de + supine.
✅ Continuă să citească cartea.
He keeps reading the book.
Key Takeaways
- a începe să and a continua să take the subjunctive — "begin/continue to."
- a termina de
- supine and a isprăvi de
- supine are the idiomatic "finish doing." This is the construction learners most often break by swapping in să.
- supine and a isprăvi de
- a sfârși prin a
- infinitive means "to end up," with the everyday alternative a ajunge să.
- The supine after de is one of the last fully productive uses of the supine in spoken Romanian — master it here and you'll recognize it again with a avea de.
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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.
- 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.
- 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.
- a avea de + supine (have to / have something to)B1 — How Romanian uses a avea de plus the supine to express pending tasks — Am de scris un eseu — and how it differs from the pure obligation of a trebui.
- Using the GerunziuB1 — The functions of the Romanian gerund — simultaneous action, manner, cause, and means — its shared-subject rule, and the distinctive way it fuses with clitics through a linking -u-.