Breakdown of Tu trebuie să iei o jachetă.
o
a / an (f)
tu
you
să
to (subjunctive marker)
trebui
to have to / to be needed (with a dative: to need)
lua
to take
jacheta
the jacket
Questions & Answers about Tu trebuie să iei o jachetă.
Why doesn't the verb trebuie have a special ending for the "you" form?
In Romanian, trebuie (must or have to) is a special impersonal verb. This means it never changes its form depending on who is doing the action. Whether it is "I must", "you must", or "they must", the word stays exactly the same: trebuie.
What is the purpose of the word să in this sentence?
The word să connects the main verb to the action that needs to happen. It works a lot like the English word "to" in the phrase "have to take". Whenever you use trebuie, it must be followed by să and the action verb.
If trebuie never changes, how do we know who has to take the jacket?
I learned that the verb "to take" is a lua. Why does it look like iei here?
The verb a lua is irregular in Romanian. While the dictionary form is a lua, the "you" form (for a single person you know well) changes completely to iei. So, combined with the connecting word, să iei simply means "that you take" or "to take".
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