Agreement in the Singular
Because the passive voice is formed using the verb a fi (to be) + the past participle, the participle acts like an adjective. This means it must always agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence.
For singular subjects:
- Masculine and Neuter: Use the base participle form (usually ending in a consonant, like -t or -s).
- Feminine: Add -ă (making endings like -tă or -să).
| The agricultural soil is irrigated. | Pământul agricol este irigat. |
| The seed is planted in the spring. | Sămânța este plantată primăvara. |
Agreement in the Plural
When the subject is plural, the endings change. Remember that neuter nouns behave like masculine nouns in the singular, but like feminine nouns in the plural!
For plural subjects:
- Masculine: Add -i (often changing a final -t to -ți).
- Feminine and Neuter: Add -e (often changing -tă to -te).
Notice how the masculine plural noun cartofii (the potatoes) uses the masculine plural ending -ți:
| The potatoes are imported from another country. | Cartofii sunt importați din altă țară. |
For feminine plural nouns like tone (tons), the participle takes the feminine plural ending -te:
| Ten tons of corn are exported annually. | Zece tone de porumb sunt exportate anual. |
Multiple Verbs and Different Tenses
The agreement rules apply no matter what tense the verb a fi is in. If the action happened in the past, the auxiliary verb changes (e.g., a fost or au fost), but the participle still agrees with the subject.
| The harvest was destroyed because of the storm. | Recolta a fost distrusă din cauza furtunii. |
If a single subject has multiple passive actions applied to it, every past participle in the sequence must agree in gender and number with that subject.
Below, the neuter plural subject produsele takes the feminine/neuter plural ending -te for both of its verbs:
| The agricultural products are imported and transported by train. | Produsele agricole sunt importate și transportate cu trenul. |