Breakdown of Ieri am văzut un semafor stricat și am așteptat lângă el.
un
a
ieri
yesterday
și
and
a vedea
to see
Questions & Answers about Ieri am văzut un semafor stricat și am așteptat lângă el.
Why does Romanian use am văzut and am așteptat instead of single-word past-tense forms?
These are forms of the very common Romanian past tense called the perfectul compus.
It is built with:
- the auxiliary a avea in the present tense
- plus the past participle of the main verb
So:
In this sentence, Romanian uses this tense for completed actions in the past, just as English often uses the simple past.
What does am mean here?
Am is the 1st person singular form of the auxiliary verb a avea used in the compound past.
So in:
the word am tells you the subject is I.
That is why Romanian can leave out the pronoun eu. The verb form already makes the subject clear.
Why is ieri at the beginning of the sentence?