Uses of a avea in the Present (possession, age, idioms) | Romanian Grammar

The a avea page gives you the forms — am, ai, are, avem, aveți, au — and explains its second life as the compound-past auxiliary. This page is about what a avea means in the present, and the answer is far bigger than "to have." Romanian uses a avea to state your age, to describe physical and mental states (am dreptate, "I'm right"; am nevoie de, "I need"), to say what you feel like doing (am chef de), and even to express obligation (am de făcut, "I have things to do"). A huge slice of English "be," "need," and "must" lands on this one Romanian verb. If you only learn a avea as "have," you will miss half of what it does.

Possession: the obvious use

Start with the literal meaning. A avea + a noun says you possess, own, or are equipped with something. This is the use that maps cleanly onto English "have."

Am o casă mică la marginea orașului.

I have a small house on the edge of town.

Ai un încărcător pe care să mi-l împrumuți?

Do you have a charger you could lend me?

Au o grădină superbă în spatele casei.

They have a gorgeous garden behind the house.

So far, so familiar. The interesting territory is everything else a avea does — where English would use a completely different verb.

Age: you have years

This is the first idiom that catches every English speaker, because English age is "be" (I am twenty) but Romanian age is "have." You have a number of years: am douăzeci de ani, literally "I have twenty years."

Am treizeci de ani și încă învăț lucruri noi în fiecare zi.

I'm thirty and I still learn new things every day.

Câți ani ai?

How old are you? (literally: how many years do you have?)

Fata mea are șapte ani, începe școala la toamnă.

My daughter is seven, she starts school in the autumn.

Watch the little de: from 20 upward the number links to ani with de (douăzeci *de ani), but below 20 there is no *de (șapte ani, nouăsprezece ani). And never sunt … ani — that would mean "there are … years." (The other side of this boundary is on uses of a fi.)

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Age is always a avea: am … ani, ai … ani, are … ani. Burn this in early — it comes up in the very first conversation, and sunt … ani is one of the most recognizable beginner errors.

a avea + noun: states and conditions

Here is the rich seam. Romanian builds dozens of state-expressions from a avea + a bare noun, where English uses "be," "feel," or a separate verb. The noun names the state; a avea says you are in it.

Romanian	Literal	English
am dreptate	I have rightness	I'm right
am nevoie de	I have need of	I need
am chef de	I have a mood for	I feel like / I'm up for
am de gând (să)	I have a thought (to)	I intend to
am treabă	I have business	I'm busy / I have stuff to do
am noroc	I have luck	I'm lucky
am răbdare	I have patience	I'm patient

Ai dreptate, ar fi trebuit să întreb întâi.

You're right, I should have asked first.

Am nevoie de o pauză, lucrez de dimineață.

I need a break, I've been working since morning.

N-am chef de gătit azi, hai să comandăm.

I don't feel like cooking today, let's order in.

Am de gând să mă mut în Cluj anul viitor.

I intend to move to Cluj next year.

Two of these need a fixed preposition: a avea nevoie de (need of) and a avea chef de (in the mood for). The de is obligatory — am nevoie de un sfat, never am nevoie un sfat. (More on these state-expressions in feelings and states.)

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Think of a avea + noun as a productive pattern, not a list of unrelated phrases. Romanian repeatedly frames a state as something you "have": rightness, need, a mood, patience, luck. When English says "I'm X," check whether Romanian says "I have X-ness."

a avea de + supine: things to do

A avea combines with de + the supine (the -t verb form used like a noun) to express things there are to do. Am de făcut = "I have things to do / I have [stuff] to do"; am de scris un eseu = "I have an essay to write." The structure is a avea + de + supine, and what follows can take its own object.

Am de făcut o mie de lucruri înainte de plecare.

I have a thousand things to do before leaving.

Am de scris un eseu până luni.

I have an essay to write by Monday.

Ai ceva de mâncat în frigider?

Do you have anything to eat in the fridge? (de + supine 'mâncat')

This a avea de + supine is one of the engines of expressing obligation in Romanian without a modal verb. "I have an essay to write" carries the sense "I must write an essay," with the obligation built right into the have structure — exactly as English "I have a report to finish" implies you must finish it.

Obligation: a avea de / a avea (de) a

Building on the supine pattern, a avea de expresses what you are obliged or scheduled to do. The everyday version is simply a avea de + supine (as above); a more formal register uses a avea a + infinitive (nu am a mă plânge, "I have no cause to complain" — literary/formal). For ordinary obligation, learners should reach for a avea de + supine or, more often, trebuie să.

Am de rezolvat două probleme urgente azi.

I have two urgent problems to sort out today.

N-ai de ce să-ți faci griji.

You have no reason to worry. (set phrase: n-ai de ce)

Nu am a mă plânge, mi-a mers bine anul ăsta.

I've nothing to complain about, this year has gone well for me. (literary register)

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n-ai de ce ("don't mention it / no need") and n-am de ce are frozen, extremely common conversational phrases built on this a avea de pattern. Learn them as units — — Mulțumesc! — N-ai de ce! is the everyday "Thanks!" / "You're welcome!"

Where a avea does NOT reach: the a fi boundary

For balance: a avea is greedy, but it does not swallow everything. The bodily-sensation idioms — hunger, thirst, cold, sleepiness, fear — go to a fi + dative, not a avea: mi-e foame ("I'm hungry"), not am foame. So the mapping is not a tidy "English be → Romanian have." Age and the dreptate/nevoie/chef states take a avea; the foame/sete/frig/somn/frică sensations take a fi. There is no rule that predicts the split — it is lexical, learned idiom by idiom. (See uses of a fi.)

Mi-e foame, dar n-am chef de gătit.

I'm hungry, but I don't feel like cooking. (foame → a fi; chef → a avea)

Mi-e frică de înălțimi, dar am curaj la apă.

I'm afraid of heights, but I'm brave in the water. (frică → mi-e; curaj → am)

That last pair is the boundary in miniature: frică (fear) takes mi-e, but curaj (courage) takes am. You cannot reason it out; you memorize which idiom takes which verb.

Common Mistakes

❌ Sunt douăzeci de ani.

Incorrect — age uses a avea: Am douăzeci de ani.

✅ Am douăzeci de ani.

I'm twenty years old.

❌ Am nevoie un sfat.

Incorrect — a avea nevoie requires de: am nevoie de un sfat.

✅ Am nevoie de un sfat.

I need a piece of advice.

❌ Am foame.

Incorrect — hunger is a fi + dative: Mi-e foame. (a avea is not used for foame/sete/frig.)

✅ Mi-e foame.

I'm hungry.

❌ Sunt dreptate. (trying to say 'I'm right')

Incorrect — 'to be right' is a avea + noun: Am dreptate.

✅ Am dreptate.

I'm right.

❌ Am scris un eseu de mâine. (intending 'I have an essay to write')

Wrong structure — 'have to do' is a avea de + supine: am de scris un eseu. (am scris = 'I wrote', the past.)

✅ Am de scris un eseu.

I have an essay to write.

Key Takeaways

A avea means far more than "have": it expresses possession, age (am … ani), states (am dreptate, nevoie de, chef de), and obligation (am de făcut).
Age is always a avea (am … ani); de links to ani from 20 up (douăzeci de ani).
A avea + noun is a productive pattern for states English frames with "be / feel": am dreptate (I'm right), am noroc (I'm lucky), am chef de (I feel like).
A avea de
- supine expresses "things to do" and carries obligation: am de scris un eseu; the frozen n-ai de ce = "you're welcome."
The boundary with a fi: bodily sensations (foame, sete, frig, somn, frică) take a fi + dative (mi-e foame), not a avea.

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