Learn Hardcore Romanian: Vreau apă caldă.

Vreau is the first-person singular present tense of the verb a vrea, which means “to want.” So Vreau apă caldă literally means “I want warm (or hot) water.” In Romanian, the subject eu (“I”) is usually omitted because the verb ending -eu already tells you it’s first person singular.

Why isn’t there a subject pronoun eu before vreau?

Romanian is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns (eu, tu, el/ea, etc.) are optional when verb endings make the subject clear. Saying Eu vreau is not wrong, but in everyday speech Romanians simply say Vreau.

Why is there no indefinite article before apă? Wouldn’t that be o apă?

Apă (“water”) is an uncountable noun in this context, so Romanians often drop the indefinite article when requesting it. You could say Vreau o apă caldă, but it sounds odd unless you’re treating water as a countable item (for instance, bottles of water). In most cases, Vreau apă caldă is more natural.

Why does caldă end with -ă, and why does it come after apă?