The Romanian gerund (mergând, citind, văzând) does two things that no other verb form does, and they often happen at once. First, when a clitic pronoun joins it, the clitic attaches enclitically — onto the end of the gerund — glued on with a linking vowel -u-: văzându-l ("seeing him"), gândindu-se ("thinking"), spunându-i ("telling him"). Second, the gerund clause that results is the unmistakable signature of formal, written, administrative, and journalistic Romanian: Având în vedere că… ("Considering that…"), Ținând cont de… ("Taking into account…"). This page is about both: the exact mechanics of the -u- linker, and how to deploy the gerund clause to write Romanian that reads like a contract, an editorial, or a careful essay. For the gerund's basic adverbial functions, see using the gerunziu.
Clitics go on the end — the opposite of the finite verb
Here is the structural surprise. With an ordinary finite verb, the clitic sits in front: îl văd ("I see him"), se gândește ("he thinks"), îi spun ("I tell him"). The clitic is proclitic — it leans on the verb from the left. But the gerund flips this. With the gerund the clitic becomes enclitic — it leans on the verb from the right and is written as one word with it. The two forms of the same pronoun even look different:
| Finite (proclitic) | Gerund (enclitic) | English |
|---|---|---|
| îl văd | văzându-l | I see him / seeing him |
| se gândește | gândindu-se | he thinks / thinking |
| îi spun | spunându-i | I tell him / telling him |
| îmi dă | dându-mi | he gives me / giving me |
| le aduc | aducându-le | I bring them / bringing them |
Notice that îl becomes -l, îmi becomes -mi, îi becomes -i: the clitic drops its prop-vowel î- once it is attached on the right, because the linking -u- now does the propping. This enclisis is shared with only one other context — the affirmative imperative (spune-i!) — which makes the gerund + clitic shape an immediate visual signal of which form you are reading. English speakers, who have no clitic pronouns at all ("seeing him" keeps "him" as a separate, unchanged word), have to build this reflex from scratch.
The linking -u-: mandatory, and not part of the gerund
The -u- between the gerund and the clitic is obligatory and it is not a part of the bare gerund. Văzând on its own has no -u-; it appears only to glue a clitic on. Phonologically, it props apart the -nd ending and the following consonant, which would otherwise crash together (*văzând-l is unpronounceable). So the rule is a fixed template:
gerund (-ând / -ind) + -u- + clitic
Văzându-l atât de obosit, i-am propus să amânăm ședința.
Seeing him so tired, I suggested we postpone the meeting.
Gândindu-se mai bine, a hotărât să nu semneze încă.
Thinking it over, she decided not to sign yet.
Spunându-i adevărul, am riscat să-l supăr.
By telling him the truth, I risked upsetting him.
Dându-mi seama de greșeală, am sunat imediat clientul.
Realizing the mistake, I called the client immediately.
The single exception: feminine o
The feminine accusative clitic o ("her / it") does not take the -u-, because o is itself a vowel and needs no prop. It hooks straight on with a hyphen:
Întâlnind-o la conferință, mi-am amintit de proiectul nostru.
Running into her at the conference, I remembered our project.
Citind-o cu atenție, am observat o eroare în primul paragraf.
Reading it [the letter] carefully, I noticed an error in the first paragraph.
So you write văzându-l (masculine, with -u-) but văzând-o (feminine, without). This asymmetry is one of the small things that betrays a non-native writer when it goes wrong.
Stacked clitics
When two clitics join a gerund — a dative plus an accusative — both ride on the end, and the -u- sits before the first one:
Dându-mi-l înapoi, a spus că nu mai are nevoie de el.
Giving it back to me, he said he no longer needed it.
Spunându-le-o pe un ton calm, a evitat un conflict.
Saying it to them in a calm tone, she avoided a conflict.
The order inside the cluster (dative before accusative here) follows the general clitic order, simply reversed onto the right side of the verb.
The gerund clause as written register
Now the payoff. A gerund opening a sentence — Văzând…, Având…, Ținând… — compresses a whole subordinate clause into a tight participial phrase. In speech, Romanians usually unpack this into a finite clause (Fiindcă am văzut că… "Because I saw that…"). In writing — especially legal, administrative, academic, and journalistic prose — the gerund clause is everywhere, because it is concise, formal, and impersonal-sounding.
| Gerund clause | Literal | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Având în vedere că… | Having in view that… | "Considering that / Given that" — preamble |
| Ținând cont de… | Holding count of… | "Taking into account…" |
| Luând în considerare… | Taking into consideration… | "Considering / In view of…" |
| Reieșind din… | Emerging from… | "It follows from… / On the basis of…" |
| Pornind de la… | Starting from… | "Starting from / Based on…" |
These are fixed openers. Având în vedere că introduces the premises of a decision — you will see it at the top of nearly every official document, court ruling, and company memo in Romania. Ținând cont de and Luând în considerare weigh factors. Reieșind din and Pornind de la are the connective tissue of academic argument.
Având în vedere că termenul a expirat, contractul se consideră reziliat.
Considering that the deadline has expired, the contract is deemed terminated. (administrative/legal)
Ținând cont de toate aceste argumente, instanța a respins cererea.
Taking all these arguments into account, the court rejected the petition. (legal)
Luând în considerare situația economică, guvernul a amânat reforma.
Taking the economic situation into consideration, the government postponed the reform. (journalistic)
Pornind de la datele colectate, autorii ajung la o concluzie surprinzătoare.
Starting from the collected data, the authors reach a surprising conclusion. (academic)
The shared-subject rule still applies
Even in this elevated register, the gerund obeys the iron rule from the usage page: its implied subject must match the main clause's subject. Având în vedere presents a special case — it is so lexicalized that it often reads as impersonal ("Given that…"), with the real subject of the gerund understood as a generic "one / the authority deciding." But with ordinary gerund clauses (Văzându-l…, Citind raportul…) the subject must agree, or the sentence dangles exactly as it would in careful English.
Citind raportul, directorul a cerut clarificări.
Reading the report, the director asked for clarifications. (the director both reads and asks)
Common Mistakes
❌ Îl văzând, am zâmbit.
Incorrect — the clitic cannot sit before the gerund; it attaches to the end with the linking -u-.
✅ Văzându-l, am zâmbit.
Seeing him, I smiled.
❌ Văzând-l obosit, am plecat.
Incorrect — the masculine clitic 'l' needs the linking -u-: văzându-l, not văzând-l.
✅ Văzându-l obosit, am plecat.
Seeing him tired, I left.
❌ Gândindu-mă, gândindu-u-se… (inventing -u- before 'o')
Misconception — feminine 'o' takes NO -u-; it attaches directly: întâlnind-o, văzând-o.
✅ Întâlnind-o pe stradă, am salutat-o.
Running into her on the street, I greeted her.
❌ Având în vedere că termenul a expirat — spus colegului la cafea.
Register error — gerund-clause connectives like 'având în vedere că' are administrative/written; they sound absurd in casual speech. Say 'Fiindcă a expirat termenul…'.
✅ Fiindcă a expirat termenul, hai să anulăm.
Since the deadline's passed, let's cancel. (spoken register)
❌ Citind raportul, mi-a cerut clarificări directorul.
Dangling gerund — if the director is the one reading AND asking, the subjects must align; here 'mi-a cerut' shifts focus and reads as if I read. Keep the subject consistent.
✅ Citind raportul, directorul a cerut clarificări.
Reading the report, the director asked for clarifications.
Key Takeaways
- Clitics attach enclitically to the gerund, glued on by a mandatory linking -u-: văzându-l, gândindu-se, spunându-i, dându-mi — the mirror image of the proclitic finite verb (îl văd).
- The feminine clitic o is the lone exception: it attaches directly, with no -u- (văzând-o, întâlnind-o).
- The -u- belongs only to the fused form; the bare gerund (văzând) never carries it.
- The gerund clause (Având în vedere că…, Ținând cont de…, Luând în considerare…) is a hallmark of formal, written, administrative, and journalistic Romanian — concise and impersonal, but stiff in conversation.
- The shared-subject rule still governs gerund clauses, even in elevated register.
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- 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-.
- The Gerunziu: FormationB1 — How to form the Romanian gerund with -ând or -ind, why the choice is phonologically predictable, and why it is never the English be + -ing progressive.
- Clitics and the Verbal ComplexB2 — Romanian object clitics form one tight, fixed-order cluster glued to the verb: negation – dative – accusative – reflexive – auxiliary – verb. The whole block normally sits BEFORE the verb (proclisis: nu mi-l dă, să mi-l dea) but flips to AFTER it with a hyphen on affirmative imperatives and gerunds (enclisis: dă-mi-l, văzând-o). In the compound past the auxiliary 'splits' the cluster: mi l-a dat. The cluster moves and reorders as one unit around the verb.
- Clitic Ordering: Dative + Accusative TogetherB1 — When a verb carries both a dative and an accusative clitic, the order is always DATIVE then ACCUSATIVE, fused into one word: mi-l dă, mi-o dă, mi le dă; ți-l, i-l, ni-l, vi-l, li-l. The 3sg dative îi becomes i-, the 3pl le becomes li-, and the feminine 'o' jumps behind the participle in the perfect compus (mi-a dat-o).
- Non-Finite Forms: Reference TableB1 — A consolidated reference table of Romanian's four non-finite verb forms across the conjugation classes — the infinitive (a cânta), the gerund (cântând), the participle (cântat), and the supine (de cântat) — with formation, primary function, and a natural example for each, so the four stop blurring together.