Breakdown of Trebuia să aliniez marginea.
să
to (subjunctive marker)
trebui
to have to / to be needed (with a dative: to need)
alinia
to align
marginea
the edge
Questions & Answers about Trebuia să aliniez marginea.
Why do we use the imperfect trebuia here instead of the perfect compus a trebuit?
The imperfect form trebuia is used for unfulfilled or ongoing obligations in the past—things you were supposed to do, but perhaps didn't. If you used the perfect compus a trebuit să aliniez, it would indicate a completed necessity: "I had to align the edge (and I actually did it)."
If the sentence means "I was supposed to," why doesn't the verb trebuia have an "I" ending?
The verb a trebui (to have to / must) is impersonal in Romanian, so it usually stays in the 3rd person singular form, which is trebuia here. To show who has to do the action, you conjugate the second verb. să aliniez is the "I" form, which tells us that "I" am the one who was supposed to do the aligning.
Why does the second verb have the -ez ending (să aliniez)?
The dictionary form is a alinia (to align). Like many other verbs ending in -a (such as a lucra), it uses the -ez suffix for the "I" form in the present subjunctive. So, "that I align" becomes să aliniez.
How is the word marginea formed?
The base dictionary word is margine (edge/margin), which is a feminine noun. To say "the edge," you add the feminine definite article -a to the end of the word, giving us marginea.