Learn Hardcore Romanian: O să plecăm cu metroul mâine dimineață. - We will leave by subway tomorrow morning.

O să is the periphrastic (compound) future marker in spoken Romanian. It combines o (a reduced form of voi, historically) with să plus a verb in the present subjunctive, and it means “will” or “going to.”

Why is the verb plecăm in this form?

After să you use the present-subjunctive form of the verb. For a pleca (“to leave”), the 1st-person-plural subjunctive is plecăm. So O să plecăm literally “We are going to leave.”

When would you use O să plecăm versus the simple future vom pleca?

O să plecăm is more common in everyday speech and informal writing.
Vom pleca uses the simple future formed with the auxiliary a vrea (“to want”) + infinitive and sounds more formal or bookish.
Both mean “we will leave,” but o să is preferred in conversation.

How do you pronounce O să plecăm cu metroul mâine dimineață?

Approximate phonetic guide:
o [sound “oh”]
să [sound “suh”]
plecăm [pleh-CUM]
cu [KOO]
metroul [meh-TROOL]
mâine [MUI-nuh]
dimineață [dee-mee-NEH-ah-tsuh]

What does cu indicate in cu metroul?

Here cu means “by” or “with” and marks the means of transport. In Romanian you always use cu + definite form of the vehicle noun to say “by train,” “by bus,” etc.

Why is metroul used instead of metrou?

Romanian attaches the definite article to the end of the noun (enclitic). metrou is “metro,” and metroul is “the metro.” Even after a preposition like cu, the noun remains definite: cu metroul = “by the metro.”

Why is there no preposition before mâine dimineață?

Time adverbials of this kind don’t need a preposition. mâine means “tomorrow” and dimineață means “morning.” Combined as mâine dimineață, it simply means “tomorrow morning.”

What are the diacritic marks ă and â, and how do they sound?

ă represents a mid-central vowel [ə], like the ‘a’ in English “sofa.”
â (and its allophone î) is a close central unrounded vowel [ɨ], without a direct English equivalent (somewhat like the Russian “ы”).

Can you put mâine dimineață at the beginning of the sentence? Would it change the meaning?

Yes. Mâine dimineață o să plecăm cu metroul. is equally correct and just shifts emphasis to the time. Romanian is fairly flexible with adverbial placement.