Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

### The Supine Form

The Romanian **supine** (*supinul*) is a versatile verb form used to express purpose, intention, or the nature of an action. Depending on the context, it translates to the English infinitive ("to clean") or gerund ("for cleaning").

You form the supine by combining a preposition (most commonly **de**, **la**, or **pentru**) with the invariable past participle of the verb (the basic form of the participle, which usually ends in *-t* or *-s*, like *curățat*, *folosit*, or *scos*).

### Describing Actions with *de*

The preposition **de** is frequently paired with adjectives to describe how easy, difficult, or possible an action is. Common triggers include **dificil** / **greu** (difficult), **imposibil** (impossible), and **gata** (ready).

{{item:1126915}}

{{item:1126919}}

{{item:1126933}}

You can also use **de** + supine directly after a noun to define the object's primary function, acting like a descriptive noun phrase in English (e.g., a "cutting tool").

{{item:1126936}}

### Utility and Function with *la*

Use the preposition **la** with the supine to explain the general utility of an object—what it is used for or what it is good at doing.

{{item:1126916}}

{{item:1126923}}

### Necessity and Purpose with *pentru*

To explicitly state the purpose or destination of an item for a specific task, use **pentru** (for). This is especially common when explaining what tools are necessary (**necesar**) for an activity.

{{item:1126922}}

{{item:1126932}}

The supine (de, la, pentru)

adjective

adverb

adverbial phrase

auxiliary

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The verb to be and definite articles (a fi, -ul, -le)

Feminine definite articles (-a, -ua)

Indefinite articles (un, o)

Negative sentences (nu)

Question words (ce, unde, cine)

The verb to have (a avea)

Masculine plural nouns (-i, -ii)

Feminine plural nouns (-e, -i, -le)

Neuter plural nouns (-uri, -e, -le)

Adjectives and agreement

Present tense of regular -a verbs

Present tense of -a verbs with suffix (-ez)

Present tense of regular -i and -î verbs

Present tense of -i and -î verbs with suffix (-esc / -ăsc)

Present tense of -ea and -e verbs

Reflexive pronouns (mă, te, se, ne, vă)

Accusative prepositions (în, la, pe, din, cu)

Likes and dislikes (îmi place)

Possessive adjectives (meu, tău, său)

Third-person possessives (lui, ei, lor)

Possessive articles (al, a, ai, ale)

Formal politeness (dumneavoastră)

Demonstrative adjectives (acest, acel)

Numbers 1 to 10

The number two (doi, două)

Numbers 11 to 20

Counting by tens to 100

Quantifying large numbers (de)

The subjunctive (să)

Third-person subjunctive (să)

Direct object pronouns (îl, o, îi, le)

Personal direct objects (pe)

Days of the week

Telling time (e ora...)

Months of the Year (January to June)

Months of the Year (July to December)

The Four Seasons

Weather Conditions

Rooms in a House

Basic Body Parts: Upper Body

Basic Body Parts: Limbs

Everyday Clothing

Basic Foods: Groceries

Fruits and Vegetables

Around Town

Getting Around

Setting the Table

A Colorful World

Common Animals

In the Wild

Jobs and Careers

Everyday Tech

Describing people (tânăr, bătrân, înalt)

Asking when and why (când, de ce, care)

Hello and goodbye (bună ziua, la revedere)

Coming and going (intra, sta, trece)

Where is it? (sub, lângă, între)

Knowing and thinking (știu că, cred că)

Sorry, welcome, congratulations (îmi pare rău, la mulți ani)

Introducing yourself (mă numesc, sunt din România)

How much and how many (puțin, prea, doar)

Can and may (pot merge, pot să merg)

If and whether (dacă)

At school and university

Irregular verbs in the present (vrea, lua, da, bea, sta)

Free time and sport

How much is it? (cât costă, câți, câte)

Before and after (înainte, după, până)

At the doctor (mă doare)

Meals of the day (micul dejun, prânzul, cina)

At the restaurant

Ability and permission (a putea să)

Obligation and necessity (trebuie să)

Desires and intentions (a vrea să)

Impersonal statements (se)

Adverbs of frequency (adesea, uneori)

Conjunctions for reasons and links (pentru că, deci)

Stressed accusative pronouns (pe mine, pe tine)

Indefinite pronouns (cineva, ceva)

Negative pronouns and double negation (nimeni, nimic)

The past tense auxiliary (am, ai, a)

The past tense (am, ai, a)

Regular past participles (-at, -it)

Regular past participles (-ut, -s, -t)

Negative past tense (nu am)

Question	Answer
the device (mechanism, gadget)	dispozitivul
impossible	imposibil
to (before a supine: hard to do, have to do, finished doing)	de
No device is impossible to repair.	Niciun dispozitiv nu este imposibil de reparat.
This device is used for cleaning.	Acest dispozitiv se folosește la curățat.
the stain	pata
difficult	dificil
This stain is very difficult to clean.	Această pată este foarte dificil de curățat.
the sponge	buretele
necessary	necesar
That sponge is necessary for removing the stain.	Acel burete este necesar pentru scos pata.
This sponge is good for wiping.	Buretele acesta este bun la șters.
The new project is difficult to finish.	Proiectul nou este dificil de finalizat.
the scissors	foarfeca
Do we need scissors for cutting the paper?	Avem nevoie de o foarfecă pentru tăiat hârtia?
the instrument	instrumentul
This instrument is necessary for the little painting table.	Acest instrument este necesar pentru măsuța de pictat.
That text is impossible to understand.	Acel text este imposibil de înțeles.
the paint	vopseaua
the paintbrush	pensula
The violet paint and the paintbrush are for painting.	Vopseaua violet și pensula sunt pentru pictat.
Is the small paintbrush ready to be used?	Pensula mică este gata de folosit?
This paint is hard to remove from the coat.	Această vopsea este greu de scos de pe haină.
The guitar is an instrument that is easy to use.	Chitara este un instrument ușor de folosit.
This scissors is an excellent cutting tool!	Această foarfecă este un instrument excelent de tăiat!

Contributors