The Compound Perfect
To talk about the past in Romanian, you use the perfect compus (compound perfect). Similar to English (e.g., "I have eaten"), it combines an auxiliary verb with a past participle. This lesson focuses on these auxiliary verbs—short forms derived from a avea (to have)—alongside high-frequency past participles like fost (been) and făcut (done).
Here is the past tense auxiliary. Notice that the forms for "I" and "we" are identical (am).
| Pronoun | Auxiliary |
|---|
| Eu (I) | am |
| Tu (You) | ai |
| El / Ea (He / She) | a |
| Noi (We) | am |
| Voi (You all) | ați |
| Ei / Ele (They) | au |
Helpful Time Words
When talking about the past, you will frequently use words indicating when the event happened. Let's look at two common ones before we build sentences:
First Person: I and We (am)
The auxiliary for both "I" and "we" is am. Context usually tells you whether the speaker means just themselves or a group.
Second Person: You (ai, ați)
Use ai for an informal singular "you", and ați for a plural or formal "you".
Third Person: He, She, It, and They (a, au)
Use a for singular subjects (he, she, or it) and au for plural subjects (they).
Contrasting Subjects
When multiple people do different things, you can see how the auxiliary shifts to match each subject. The past participle (the main action word) stays the same for that verb, no matter who is doing it.
