Class IV Present: -î Verbs | Romanian Grammar

Class IV (conjugarea a patra) is the group whose infinitive ends in -i or -î. Most of it is the familiar -i type (a dormi, a citi) covered elsewhere. This page is about the much smaller -î subtype: a handful of verbs whose infinitive ends in the sound spelled î — a coborî (to descend), a omorî (to kill), a doborî (to knock down), a hotărî (to decide), a urî (to hate), a tăbărî (to set upon). The group is tiny, but it is responsible for a wildly disproportionate share of spelling mistakes, because it is the one place where two separate Romanian difficulties — the î/â orthographic rule and the optional -ăsc infix — bite at exactly the same time. Master these six verbs and you have closed one of the most persistent leaks in intermediate Romanian writing.

Two patterns hide in one ending

Before any endings, you have to know that -î verbs split into two behavioural types, just like the -i verbs do:

A plain type that adds endings directly to the stem: a coborî → cobor, cobori, coboară…
An -ăsc type that inserts the infix -ăsc-/-ăști-/-ăște- in the singular and 3pl: a hotărî → hotărăsc, hotărăști, hotărăște…

The infix here is -ăsc- (back vowel ă), not the -esc- you see in a citi → citesc. That is no accident: -î is a back vowel, so it pulls the infix to its back-vowel variant. (See the -esc / -ăsc infix for the full distribution.)

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You cannot predict from the infinitive alone whether an -î verb is plain or -ăsc. A coborî is plain; a hotărî takes -ăsc-. Learn the eu form with the verb — cobor versus hotărăsc — and the rest of the paradigm follows.

The orthographic rule that governs everything here

Romanian writes the same central vowel /ɨ/ two ways:

î at the start or end of a word, and across a prefix boundary in compounds (început, coborî, neînțeles, reîncepe).
â inside a word (român, cuvânt, coborâm).

The infinitive a coborî ends in the word, so it is spelled î. But the moment you add an ending — -âm, -âți — that vowel is no longer final; it sits inside the word, so it must be written â: coborâm, coborâți. This single fact, that the spelling of the stem vowel flips from î to â the instant an ending lands on top of it, is the heart of the -î class.

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The vowel does not change in sound between coborî and coborâm — it is the same /ɨ/ throughout. Only the spelling changes, because the rule is about position in the written word, not pronunciation. Writing coborîm with a medial î is a spelling error in modern (post-1993) orthography, even though it was correct before that reform.

Model verb (plain): a coborî — to descend, to get off

Drop the infinitive -î to find the stem cobor-, then attach the plain Class IV endings. Watch the vowel: it surfaces as â in the noi and voi forms, where it is now medial.

Person	Form	Meaning
eu	cobor	I descend / I get off
tu	cobori	you descend
el / ea	coboară	he / she descends
noi	coborâm	we descend
voi	coborâți	you (pl.) descend
ei / ele	coboară	they descend

Note two stem effects beyond the spelling: the eu form is the bare stem cobor (no ending, as everywhere in the present singular here), and the 3sg/3pl form shows the regular Class IV diphthongization o → oa under stress, giving coboară. The 3sg and 3pl are identical, as they so often are in Romanian.

Cobor la stația următoare, mă scuzați.

I'm getting off at the next stop, excuse me.

Cobori cu mine sau mergi mai departe?

Are you getting off with me, or going on further?

Coborâm pe scări, liftul iar e stricat.

We're taking the stairs down — the lift is broken again.

Prețurile coboară din nou înainte de sărbători.

Prices are dropping again before the holidays.

Model verb (-ăsc type): a hotărî — to decide

A hotărî is the verb everyone trips over, because it manages to use the -ăsc- infix and the î/â spelling shift in a single paradigm. The infix appears in the three singular persons and in 3pl; the noi and voi forms instead show the bare stem with the medial-â spelling.

Person	Form	Meaning
eu	hotărăsc	I decide
tu	hotărăști	you decide
el / ea	hotărăște	he / she decides
noi	hotărâm	we decide
voi	hotărâți	you (pl.) decide
ei / ele	hotărăsc	they decide

So in one verb you get both spellings of the central vowel: hotăr*ăsc uses ă* (a genuinely different vowel, the schwa) in the infix, while *hotărâ*m uses â (the /ɨ/ vowel) in the stem. They are not interchangeable. The infix carries ă; the stem vowel of the noi/voi forms is the original î now written â.

Eu hotărăsc unde mergem în vacanță, ca de obicei.

I decide where we go on holiday, as usual.

Voi hotărâți, eu vă susțin orice alegeți.

You all decide; I'll back you whatever you choose.

Hotărăște tu, mie chiar mi-e indiferent.

You decide — I genuinely don't mind.

A second example pair: a urî — to hate

A urî belongs to the -ăsc type, like a hotărî: the eu, tu, 3sg and 3pl carry the infix, while noi/voi show the bare stem with the medial-â spelling. Its forms are below.

Person	Form	Meaning
eu	urăsc	I hate
tu	urăști	you hate
el / ea	urăște	he / she hates
noi	urâm	we hate
voi	urâți	you (pl.) hate
ei / ele	urăsc	they hate

The point this verb makes is the same as a hotărî: the singular and 3pl carry the -ăsc- infix (urăsc, urăști, urăște), while noi/voi show the stem with medial â (urâm, urâți). The two vowels ă and â live side by side and must not be swapped.

Urăsc să aștept la coadă, dar nu am încotro.

I hate waiting in line, but I've no choice.

De ce ne urâm pentru un fleac ca ăsta?

Why are we hating each other over a trifle like this?

O urăște pentru că i-a luat locul.

He hates her because she took his job.

Why this small group punishes learners

Most Romanian spelling questions involve only the î/â choice, and most conjugation questions involve only the infix. The -î class is the rare spot where you must resolve both at once, in the same word, in opposite directions: pick ă for the infix vowel, â for the medial stem vowel, and remember that the dictionary headword still shows î because that vowel is word-final in the infinitive. There is no clever shortcut — the group is small enough that the honest advice is to memorise the six common members and their eu forms outright.

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A practical mnemonic: "î at the edges, â in the middle, ă in the infix." Coborî (edge) → coborâm (middle); hotăr*ă*sc (infix). Say that sentence to yourself the first dozen times you write one of these verbs and the rest becomes automatic.

Common Mistakes

❌ Noi coborîm la metrou.

Incorrect — the central vowel is now medial, so it must be spelled â: coborâm. Medial î is a spelling error.

✅ Noi coborâm la metrou.

We get off at the metro.

❌ Eu hotărâsc azi.

Incorrect — the infix vowel is ă (schwa), not â: hotărăsc. The â belongs only to the noi/voi stem.

✅ Eu hotărăsc azi.

I'll decide today.

❌ Voi hotărăți unde mergem.

Incorrect — the noi/voi forms drop the infix and keep the medial-â stem: hotărâți, not hotărăți.

✅ Voi hotărâți unde mergem.

You all decide where we go.

❌ El coboresc din tren.

Incorrect — a coborî is plain, with no infix at all: el coboară.

✅ El coboară din tren.

He's getting off the train.

❌ Te uresc. / Te urâsc.

Incorrect — the eu form is urăsc (ă infix). Neither *uresc nor *urâsc exists.

✅ Te urăsc.

I hate you.

Key Takeaways

The -î subtype of Class IV has two behaviours: plain (a coborî → cobor) and -ăsc (a hotărî → hotărăsc, a urî → urăsc). Learn each verb's eu form.
The infix is -ăsc- (back vowel), matching the back vowel of -î, not -esc-.
The stem vowel is the same /ɨ/ throughout; it is spelled î word-finally (in the infinitive) and â medially (once an ending follows): coborî → coborâm.
The trap is keeping ă (infix) and â (medial stem) straight inside the very same verb: hotăr*ăsc* but *hotărâ*m.
Writing a medial î (coborîm) is incorrect under post-1993 orthography.

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