Breakdown of O să scriu o poezie scurtă diseară.
o
a
scurt
short
diseară
tonight
poezia
the poem
o să scriu
to be going to write
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Questions & Answers about O să scriu o poezie scurtă diseară.
What does O să mean, and how does it form the future tense?
O să is the most common spoken future marker in Romanian. It consists of o + să followed by the verb in the subjunctive mood (which often looks the same as the present indicative). It’s equivalent to will in English, marking an action that will happen.
Why is the verb scriu in this form? Is it present tense or something else?
After o să, Romanian uses the subjunctive mood. For the verb a scrie (to write), the first person singular subjunctive form is scriu. It looks identical to the present indicative, but the presence of o să signals that it’s future subjunctive, not present simple.
Could I say Voi scrie o poezie scurtă diseară instead? What’s the difference?
Yes. Voi scrie is the simple (synthetic) future tense and expresses the same idea. It’s more formal or literary, while o să scriu is the colloquial or spoken form of the future. Both are correct; o să scriu is simply more common in everyday conversation.
Why do we have an o before poezie, and why is scurtă placed after the noun?
O is the indefinite article for feminine singular nouns in Romanian (equivalent to a in English). Adjectives in Romanian normally follow the noun they modify, so poezie scurtă literally reads as poem short, i.e. short poem in English word order.
Why is scurtă spelled with an ă at the end?
Adjectives in Romanian agree in gender and number with the noun. Poezie is feminine singular, so scurt (short) takes the feminine singular ending -ă, yielding scurtă.
What part of speech is diseară, and could it go at the beginning of the sentence?
Diseară is an adverb of time meaning tonight or this evening. You can move it to the front: Diseară o să scriu o poezie scurtă. The meaning stays the same, though fronting diseară places slight emphasis on when the action will occur.
What’s the difference between diseară and astă seară?
Both mean this evening or tonight, but astă seară uses the demonstrative astă + noun seară (evening), while diseară is a single adverb. They are interchangeable in most contexts, though diseară is slightly more informal and concise.