Breakdown of La întâlnire, discutăm despre planurile noastre de viitor.
Questions & Answers about La întâlnire, discutăm despre planurile noastre de viitor.
La întâlnire literally means at (the) meeting.
la = at / to. It’s the normal preposition used with:
- events: la întâlnire (at the meeting), la concert (at the concert)
- institutions/“places you go to do something”: la școală (at school), la serviciu (at work)
în = in / inside, used more for being physically inside a space:
- în casă (in the house), în cameră (in the room)
So:
- La întâlnire, discutăm… – At the meeting, we talk… (focus on the event)
- If you said în întâlnire, it would sound wrong; meetings are seen as events you go to, not containers you are inside.
La întâlnire is an introductory phrase that tells us when/where the action happens (a kind of adverbial phrase placed at the beginning). Romanian usually separates such fronted phrases with a comma:
- La școală, învățăm română. – At school, we learn Romanian.
- Duminică, mergem la bunici. – On Sunday, we go to our grandparents.
So the comma after La întâlnire marks a pause and separates the setting from the main clause discutăm despre planurile noastre de viitor.
discutăm is:
- present tense, indicative mood, 1st person plural of a discuta (to discuss / to talk about).
- It normally means we discuss / we are discussing (present).
However, just like in English “We meet tomorrow”, Romanian present can also refer to a scheduled or planned future:
- Mâine, discutăm despre proiect. – Tomorrow, we’ll discuss the project.
In your sentence, context will decide whether it’s:
- present habitual: At the meeting, we (usually) talk about our future plans
- or planned future: At the meeting, we’ll talk about our future plans
Romanian is a “pro-drop” language: subject pronouns are usually omitted, because the verb ending already shows the person:
- discut – I discuss
- discuți – you (sg) discuss
- discută – he/she discusses
- discutăm – we discuss
- discutați – you (pl/polite) discuss
- discută – they discuss
So discutăm by itself already means we discuss.
You can say Noi discutăm despre planurile noastre de viitor, but noi will usually add emphasis or contrast:
- Noi discutăm, nu ei. – We are the ones discussing, not them.
Both despre and de can relate ideas, but they’re used differently.
despre = about / regarding / on the subject of
It introduces the topic of discussion, thoughts, books, etc.- discutăm despre planuri – we discuss about plans
- vorbim despre film – we talk about the movie
- o carte despre istorie – a book about history
de is more like of / from / made of / about (in some fixed expressions)
It marks origin, possession, material, type, etc.:- cartea de istorie – the history book (book of history)
- ceai de mentă – mint tea (tea of mint)
- plan de afaceri – business plan
For “to talk about something”, you should use despre, not de:
- ✅ discutăm despre planuri
- ❌ discutăm de planuri (non‑standard / regional as “about”)
planuri = plans (indefinite plural)
planurile = the plans (definite plural, with the article -le attached)
In Romanian, the definite article is attached to the end of the noun:
- plan – plan
- planul – the plan
- planuri – plans
- planurile – the plans
Here we say planurile noastre because:
- We’re talking about specific plans, not just plans in general.
- When you use a possessive adjective like noastre (our), the noun is typically definite:
- cartea mea – my book (lit. the book my)
- mașina lui – his car (lit. the car his)
- planurile noastre – our plans (lit. the plans our)
You generally cannot say planuri noastre; it sounds wrong in standard Romanian.
noastre is the feminine plural form of our. Romanian possessive adjectives agree with the gender and number of the noun, not with the people:
- Masculine singular: nostru – prietenul nostru (our friend – masculine)
- Feminine singular: noastră – prietena noastră (our friend – feminine)
- Masculine plural: noștri – prietenii noștri (our friends – masculine)
- Feminine plural: noastre – prietenele noastre (our friends – feminine)
plan is a neuter noun:
- Singular: plan – behaves like masculine
- Plural: planuri – behaves like feminine
Neuter nouns take feminine forms in the plural, so planuri / planurile behave like feminine plural. Therefore we must use the feminine plural possessive:
- planurile noastre – our plans (feminine plural agreement)
Standard word order with a possessive in Romanian is:
[Noun + definite article] + [possessive adjective] + (other modifiers)
So:
- planurile noastre de viitor
- planurile – the plans
- noastre – our
- de viitor – for the future
Some patterns:
- cartea mea nouă – my new book
- mașinile lor vechi – their old cars
- planurile noastre importante – our important plans
Putting noastre before the noun (noastre planurile…) is not natural in modern standard Romanian, except in very marked, poetic, or archaic styles.
de viitor literally means of future / for the future. In this phrase:
- planurile noastre de viitor ≈ our plans for the future
You can also say:
- planurile noastre viitoare – literally our future plans
The nuance:
- de viitor emphasizes that the plans concern the future in general (plans for what will happen later in life).
- viitoare is an adjective meaning future / upcoming and is more like English future / upcoming:
- anul viitor – next year
- ședința viitoare – the next meeting
- proiectele noastre viitoare – our future projects
In most everyday contexts, planurile noastre de viitor is the more idiomatic expression for our plans for the future.
Yes, both are correct, but there is a nuance.
discutăm – present tense; can mean:
- we (usually) discuss (habit)
- we will discuss (scheduled / fixed plan, like a timetable)
vom discuta – future tense (with vom = we will):
- More explicitly future; sounds a bit more formal or more clearly planned.
Comparison:
- La întâlnire, discutăm despre planurile noastre de viitor.
– At the meeting, we (are going to) talk about our future plans. - La întâlnire, vom discuta despre planurile noastre de viitor.
– At the meeting, we will discuss our future plans (clear future, perhaps more deliberate).
In everyday speech, many Romanians prefer the present for near, scheduled future events, just like in English: We leave tomorrow.
- planul nostru de viitor = our plan for the future (one overall plan)
- planurile noastre de viitor = our plans for the future (several plans)
Use the singular if you think of a single, unified vision:
- La întâlnire, discutăm despre planul nostru de viitor.
– At the meeting, we discuss our (one) plan for the future.
Use the plural if you mean several specific plans:
- La întâlnire, discutăm despre planurile noastre de viitor: carieră, familie, călătorii…
– At the meeting, we discuss our future plans: career, family, travel, etc.
întâlnire is pronounced approximately like: [ɨn-təL-NEE-reh].
- î and â represent the same sound: a central vowel [ɨ], somewhat like the vowel in Russian ы. English has no exact equivalent; it’s a “central, tense, unrounded” sound.
Position rules:
- At the beginning or end of a word: Romanian uses î
- în, întâlnire, a hotărî
- In the middle of a word: Romanian usually uses â
- mâncare, România, cântă
But the sound is identical. So î in întâlnire and â in mâncare are pronounced the same.