The "Îmi vine să" Construction
Sometimes our bodies react before our brains can stop them. To describe a sudden, involuntary urge—like needing to sneeze, yawn, or burst into laughter—Romanian uses a specific construction that translates to "I feel like..." or, more literally, "It comes to me to...".
To build this, use a dative clitic pronoun (showing who has the urge) followed by the fixed verb vine (from a veni, to come). Then, use the conjunction să and conjugate the action verb in the subjunctive mood.
Changing the Experiencer
Because the impulse "comes" to the person, the verb vine stays locked in the 3rd-person singular form regardless of who is acting. To change who is experiencing the urge, you only change the dative pronoun and the final subjunctive verb.
| Person | Dative Pronoun | Fixed Verb | Subjunctive | Meaning |
|---|
| I | îmi | vine | să casc | I feel like yawning |
| You | îți | vine | să râzi | You feel like laughing |
| He/She | îi | vine | să plângă | He/She feels like crying |
| We | ne | vine | să vomităm | We feel like vomiting |
| You (pl.) | vă | vine | să izbucniți | You feel like bursting out |
| They | le | vine | să înjure | They feel like swearing |
Awkward Situations and Restraint
Social situations often require us to hold back these sudden reactions. The reflexive verb a se abține means "to restrain oneself" or "to hold back".
When specifying exactly who is having the urge using a noun (like "my colleague" or "the client"), that noun must take the dative case. As with standard Romanian dative constructions, you still include the clitic pronoun îi right before the verb.
Extreme Impulses
This construction isn't just for yawns and sneezes. You can use it to express intense emotional impulses, like suddenly feeling the urge to swear (a înjura), explode (a exploda), or burst out laughing or crying (a izbucni).