The supin is the non-finite form that surprises every learner, because almost no other European language has a dedicated form for it. It is identical in shape to the past participle (făcut, spus, mâncat, rezolvat), but it is a genuinely different beast: it is invariable, it governs a preposition (almost always de), and it expresses the idea of an action that is to be done, available, or evaluated. English has no clean parallel — it patches the same meaning together with "to do," "to be done," "for -ing," and "to," depending on the sentence. Romanian wraps all of that into one form. This is Romanian's true fourth non-finite form, alongside the infinitive, gerund, and participle.
What the supine looks like
There is no new form to memorize: the supine is de + the participle. The work is in recognizing it as a separate thing.
| Verb | Participle | Supine | English feel |
|---|---|---|---|
| a face | făcut | de făcut | to do / to be done |
| a spune | spus | de spus | to say |
| a mânca | mâncat | de mâncat | to eat / for eating |
| a rezolva | rezolvat | de rezolvat | to solve / to be solved |
| a spăla | spălat | de spălat | for washing |
Use 1: "something to do" — the to-be-done supine
This is the supine's flagship use and the one with no English form of its own. After a noun or an indefinite (ceva, nimic, mult, o grămadă), de + supine means "X to do," "X to be done."
Am o grămadă de lucruri de făcut azi.
I have a ton of things to do today.
Mai am de lucru până diseară.
I still have work to do until tonight.
Nu mai e nimic de spus.
There's nothing left to say.
E un raport de scris și două e-mailuri de trimis.
There's a report to write and two emails to send.
Notice mai am de lucru — "I still have work (left) to do." This phrasing is everyday Romanian, heard dozens of times a day, and it is built on the supine, not on any infinitive or să-clause. There is no natural way to say it word-for-word in English.
Use 2: evaluative — "hard / easy to do"
After adjectives like greu (hard), ușor (easy), imposibil, bun (good for), and gata (ready), Romanian uses de + supine to say what the thing is hard/easy/good to do. The construction is subjectless and impersonal.
E greu de spus dacă va veni sau nu.
It's hard to say whether he'll come or not.
Rețeta asta e ușor de făcut chiar și pentru începători.
This recipe is easy to make even for beginners.
Ciupercile astea nu sunt bune de mâncat.
These mushrooms aren't good to eat.
Mașina e bună de aruncat — nu mai merită reparată.
The car is fit for the scrapheap — it's not worth repairing anymore.
Crucially, the supine here stays invariable even when the subject is feminine or plural. Ciupercile (fem. pl.) does not pull de mâncat into de mâncate — see the Common Mistakes section.
Use 3: purpose after verbs of motion
After motion verbs (a merge, a se duce, a pleca) Romanian uses la + supine to express the purpose of going somewhere — the equivalent of English "to go fishing / swimming / shopping."
Mă duc la pescuit weekendul ăsta.
I'm going fishing this weekend.
Au plecat la cules de ciuperci în pădure.
They went mushroom-picking in the forest.
Mergem la cumpărături după ce te trezești.
We'll go shopping after you wake up.
Here the preposition is la, not de. The pattern la + supine names the activity you set out to do.
Use 4: after nouns — naming a device or function
The supine also forms fixed noun-modifying phrases that name what something is for. This is how Romanian builds the names of many appliances and tools: de + supine = "for -ing."
| Romanian | Literal | English |
|---|---|---|
| mașină de spălat | machine for washing | washing machine |
| mașină de cusut | machine for sewing | sewing machine |
| perie de dinți | brush for teeth | toothbrush |
| fier de călcat | iron for ironing | (clothes) iron |
Mi s-a stricat mașina de spălat și e plină casa de rufe.
My washing machine broke down and the house is full of laundry.
Unde e fierul de călcat? Cămașa asta e toată șifonată.
Where's the iron? This shirt is all wrinkled.
These are lexicalized — mașină de spălat is a single dictionary entry — but they are built on exactly the same supine pattern, which is why a learner who knows the supine can decode and even coin them.
De + supine vs the să-clause
Many supine sentences have a să-clause alternative, but they are not always interchangeable. The supine is the idiomatic choice in the to-be-done and evaluative frames; the să-clause becomes necessary when you want to spell out a subject or a tense.
| Supine (idiomatic) | să-clause | Note |
|---|---|---|
| E greu de spus. | E greu să spui. | both fine; supine more idiomatic |
| Am ceva de făcut. | Am ceva ce trebuie să fac. | supine far more natural |
| — (no supine) | Vreau să mănânci tot. | subject-bearing → must be să |
E greu de spus, dar cred că are dreptate.
It's hard to say, but I think he's right. (supine — idiomatic)
The full comparison of supine, infinitive, and conjunctiv is on supine vs infinitive vs conjunctiv.
The trap: supine is NOT the participle
This is the error that defines the form. Because the supine and participle are spelled identically, learners reflexively make the supine agree — but it never does.
o problemă greu de rezolvat
a problem that's hard to solve (supine — INVARIABLE 'rezolvat')
o problemă rezolvată
a solved problem (participle — AGREES, feminine 'rezolvată')
Same word, two grammars. De rezolvat is the supine (frozen, with de, meaning "to be solved"); rezolvată is the participle (agreeing, no preposition, meaning "already solved"). The presence of de and the frozen ending mark the supine; agreement and no preposition mark the participle. See the participle as adjective for the other side.
Common mistakes
❌ Am multe lucruri de făcute.
Incorrect — the supine is invariable; no plural ending after 'de'.
✅ Am multe lucruri de făcut.
I have many things to do.
❌ Ciupercile nu sunt bune de mâncate.
Incorrect — the supine doesn't agree with the feminine plural subject.
✅ Ciupercile nu sunt bune de mâncat.
The mushrooms aren't good to eat.
❌ o problemă greu de rezolvată
Incorrect — in the 'greu de' frame the form is the invariable supine, not the agreeing participle.
✅ o problemă greu de rezolvat
a problem that's hard to solve
❌ Mă duc de pescuit.
Incorrect — purpose after a motion verb uses 'la', not 'de'.
✅ Mă duc la pescuit.
I'm going fishing.
❌ E greu de spune ce s-a întâmplat.
Incorrect — 'greu de' takes the supine 'spus', not the infinitive 'spune'.
✅ E greu de spus ce s-a întâmplat.
It's hard to say what happened.
Key takeaways
- The supine = de + participle in shape, but it is invariable and preposition-governing — a genuine fourth non-finite form.
- Core uses: to-be-done (ceva de făcut, mai am de lucru), evaluative (greu / ușor / bun de
- supine), purpose after motion (la pescuit), and device nouns (mașină de spălat).
- It never agrees — that is the line between supine (de rezolvat) and participle (rezolvată).
- The to-be-done supine is everyday Romanian with no clean English equivalent; learn mai am de lucru as a model.
Now practice Romanian
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Start learning Romanian →Related Topics
- 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.
- The Past Participle as Verb FormB1 — How the Romanian participle builds the compound perfect, future perfect, past conditional, and perfect subjunctive — and the master rule that it stays invariable in every compound verb form.
- The Past Participle as AdjectiveB1 — How the Romanian participle agrees in gender and number like any adjective — its four-way paradigm, its role in the a-fi passive, and the exact boundary where agreement switches on.
- Finite vs Non-Finite FormsB1 — The difference between Romanian's finite forms (which carry person, number, and tense) and its four non-finite forms — infinitive, gerund, participle, and the distinctively Romanian supine.
- Conjunctiv vs Infinitive: The Balkan ChoiceB1 — When Romanian uses a să-conjunctiv where its Romance cousins use the infinitive, and the handful of constructions where the infinitive survives — the structural signature of Romanian.