A fi — "to be" — is the first verb you need and the last one you fully master. It is Romanian's most irregular verb and its most frequent, the backbone of identity, location, description, and several compound constructions. The good news for English speakers is enormous: where Spanish forces you to choose between ser and estar, Romanian has one verb for both. The bad news is that its present-tense forms look nothing like the infinitive and must simply be memorised. Fortunately there are only six, and you will hear them in your first conversation.
The present-tense forms
| Person | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| eu | sunt | I am |
| tu | ești | you are |
| el / ea | este (e) | he / she / it is |
| noi | suntem | we are |
| voi | sunteți | you (pl.) are |
| ei / ele | sunt | they are |
Nothing about sunt, ești, este derives from the infinitive a fi. This is suppletion — the same phenomenon that gives English "is / was / be" from three unrelated roots — and there is no rule to recover it. Treat the six forms as vocabulary.
Sunt student la Cluj, în anul doi.
I'm a student in Cluj, in my second year.
Ești obosit? Arăți cam tras la față.
Are you tired? You look a bit drawn.
Maria este sora mea mai mare.
Maria is my older sister.
One verb does the work of two
This is the single most important thing for a learner who already knows, or expects, the Spanish ser/estar split. Romanian does not split. A fi covers permanent identity, temporary state, profession, nationality, location, and weather alike. You never have to decide which "to be" you mean.
| Meaning | Romanian | (Spanish would split) |
|---|---|---|
| identity / profession | Sunt profesor. | (ser) |
| temporary state | Sunt obosit. | (estar) |
| location | Sunt acasă. | (estar) |
| characteristic | Ea este înaltă. | (ser) |
Sunt profesoară de zece ani și încă îmi place.
I've been a teacher for ten years and I still love it.
Azi sunt foarte ocupat, te sun mâine.
I'm very busy today, I'll call you tomorrow.
este vs e — same word, different register
The 3sg form is written este, but in everyday speech it is almost always reduced to e. Both are correct; the difference is register, not grammar. Este sounds careful, written, or emphatic; e sounds natural and conversational. In a text message to a friend you will write e; in a formal report you will write este.
E târziu, hai să mergem acasă.
It's late, let's go home. (everyday e)
Aceasta este concluzia comisiei.
This is the committee's conclusion. (formal este)
— Cine e? — Sunt eu, deschide.
— Who is it? — It's me, open up. (colloquial e)
The trap: sunt is both "I am" and "they are"
Look again at the table: sunt appears twice — for eu (I) and for ei/ele (they). Romanian does not distinguish them on the verb. Context, and usually the subject pronoun, tells you which is meant:
Eu sunt din Iași, dar locuiesc în București.
I'm from Iași, but I live in Bucharest. (eu sunt = I am)
Ei sunt vecinii noștri de la etajul trei.
They are our neighbours from the third floor. (ei sunt = they are)
Because this one form is doubly used, a fi is one of the verbs where you most often keep the subject pronoun, even though Romanian normally drops it. When you say sunt acasă with no pronoun, the listener assumes "I am home"; "they are home" would almost always come with ei (or a noun subject) to head off the ambiguity.
a fi as an auxiliary
Beyond standing alone, a fi helps build other constructions. Two are worth knowing early:
- The passive: a fi
- past participle, agreeing like an adjective — Cartea este scrisă în română ("The book is written in Romanian").
- The presumptive/reported flavour you will meet later, where a fi combines with other forms to mark something assumed rather than witnessed.
Magazinul este închis duminica.
The shop is closed on Sundays. (passive: este + participle închis)
Aceste case sunt construite din lemn și piatră.
These houses are built of wood and stone. (passive plural: sunt + construite)
Questions and negation
To ask a yes/no question, you do not invert or add a helper verb the way English does. The word order stays the same; intonation (rising) carries the question, often with the verb fronted for emphasis.
Ești acasă acum sau mai ești la birou?
Are you home now, or still at the office?
Sunteți gata de plecare?
Are you (all) ready to go?
To negate, place nu directly before the verb (see negating the present):
Nu sunt aici, am ieșit puțin.
I'm not here, I've stepped out for a bit.
Nu e adevărat, cineva ți-a spus o minciună.
It's not true, someone told you a lie.
Pronunciation notes
- ești ends in a whispered -i — the i palatalises the t-cluster but is not a full vowel. The word is one syllable, roughly "yeshtʲ," not "esh-ti."
- sunt / suntem / sunteți are pronounced with the vowel /u/ in standard Romanian (the old spelling sînt is obsolete; you will still see sunt universally now).
- e for este is just the bare vowel — short and unstressed, leaning on the next word.
Common Mistakes
❌ Eu suntem acasă.
Incorrect — suntem is the noi form. The eu form is sunt.
✅ Eu sunt acasă.
I'm at home.
❌ Tu este obosit?
Incorrect — este is 3sg. The tu form is ești.
✅ Tu ești obosit?
Are you tired?
❌ Sunt profesor și sunt cansat. (using two 'be' verbs as if Spanish)
Incorrect — there is no ser/estar choice in Romanian; both use a fi. (Also: 'tired' is obosit, not cansat.)
✅ Sunt profesor și sunt obosit.
I'm a teacher and I'm tired.
❌ Voi este gata?
Incorrect — the voi form is sunteți.
✅ Voi sunteți gata?
Are you (all) ready?
❌ Nu este eu, este vecinul.
Incorrect — 'it's not me' uses sunt with eu: nu sunt eu. The verb agrees with the pronoun eu.
✅ Nu sunt eu, e vecinul.
It's not me, it's the neighbour.
Key Takeaways
- The forms are sunt, ești, este/e, suntem, sunteți, sunt — irregular, learned as vocabulary.
- One verb covers everything English (and Spanish ser/estar) splits: no ser/estar choice exists.
- este is the careful form; e is the everyday reduction. îs/-s are colloquial/regional.
- sunt is both 1sg and 3pl — keep the subject pronoun to disambiguate (eu sunt vs ei sunt).
- A fi also serves as the passive auxiliary: este + participle.
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- The Verb a avea (to have): PresentA1 — The present forms of a avea — the possession verb that is also the engine of the compound past, plus the idioms where Romanian 'has' what English 'is'.
- Uses of a fi in the Present (identity, location, existence)A1 — What the present-tense forms of a fi actually do — identity and predication, location, existence, the mi-e feeling-idioms, time and impersonal expressions — and where the boundary with a avea lies.
- The Auxiliary Verbs: a fi, a avea, a vreaA2 — How Romanian's three auxiliary verbs — a fi, a avea, and a vrea — build the compound tenses, and why their auxiliary forms differ from the full verbs.
- Negating the Present: nu + verbA1 — How to negate any present-tense verb with the preverbal particle nu, its spoken contractions, and Romanian's obligatory double negation with nimic, nimeni, and niciodată.
- a fi vs a avea for States (E frig / Mi-e frig / Am dreptate)A2 — How Romanian expresses physical sensations and states — bodily feelings use a fi + a dative clitic (Mi-e frig, Mi-e foame), ambient conditions use bare a fi (E frig afară), and a few states like 'be right' and 'need' use a avea (Am dreptate, Am nevoie).