Imperfect Tense in Romanian

In Brief

The Romanian imperfect, imperfectul, presents a past situation from the inside: it was ongoing, repeated, habitual, or part of the background. English often uses “was doing,” “used to do,” or “would do,” but sometimes a simple past is the most natural translation. Typical forms end in -am, -ai, -a, -am, -ați, -au: citeam can mean “I was reading” or “I used to read.”

Overview

The imperfect is a past tense used when the beginning and end of an action are not the focus. It helps you set a scene, describe a state, talk about a repeated routine, or show an action already in progress when another event occurred. In Ploua când am plecat (“It was raining when I left”), ploua supplies the ongoing background, while am plecat reports the event that moves the story forward.

This is a core B1 topic because it works in partnership with the Romanian compound past, perfectul compus. A tense is a verb form that locates a situation in time. Here, the more important difference is also one of aspect—how the speaker chooses to view the situation. The imperfect looks within an unfolding or repeated past situation; the compound past usually presents an event as a completed whole.

There is no one-to-one conversion from English. “I read,” “I was reading,” “I used to read,” and habitual “I would read” may all point to Romanian imperfect forms in the right context. Choose the Romanian tense from the meaning of the whole sentence, not simply from the English verb form.

How It Works

The person endings

Most imperfect forms have the same six person endings. The stem (the part of the verb to which an ending is added) may include -a- or -ea-, depending on the verb.

Person	Typical ending	a cânta (to sing)	a vedea (to see)
eu (I)	-am	cântam	vedeam
tu (you, singular)	-ai	cântai	vedeai
el/ea (he/she)	-a	cânta	vedea
noi (we)	-am	cântam	vedeam
voi (you, plural/polite)	-ați	cântați	vedeați
ei/ele (they)	-au	cântau	vedeau

The first-person singular and plural forms are identical: eu cântam and noi cântam. The subject or context tells you whether the meaning is “I” or “we.” Romanian often omits subject pronouns, but using eu or noi can remove ambiguity when context is insufficient.

Common formation patterns

Romanian infinitives are conventionally cited with a, as in a lucra (“to work”). The following patterns cover many common verbs, although spelling and stem changes mean that learning frequent forms as complete words is safer than applying one mechanical rule to every verb.

Infinitive type	Model	Imperfect base	Example forms
many verbs in -a	a lucra (to work)	lucra-	lucram, lucrai, lucra, lucram, lucrați, lucrau
verbs in -ea	a vedea (to see)	vedea-	vedeam, vedeai, vedea, vedeam, vedeați, vedeau
many verbs in -e	a merge (to go)	mergea-	mergeam, mergeai, mergea, mergeam, mergeați, mergeau
many verbs in -i	a citi (to read)	citea-	citeam, citeai, citea, citeam, citeați, citeau
many verbs in -î	a coborî (to go down)	cobora-	coboram, coborai, cobora, coboram, coborați, coborau

For example, a dormi gives dormeam, not a form built directly by leaving the final i in place. Some verbs also show a stem change: a bate (“to beat”) gives băteam. Treat the model as a guide, then confirm unfamiliar forms in a reliable dictionary.

Essential forms of a fi

The verb a fi (“to be”) has an irregular imperfect and is extremely frequent in descriptions and age expressions.

Person	Form	English
eu	eram	I was
tu	erai	you were
el/ea	era	he/she was
noi	eram	we were
voi	erați	you were
ei/ele	erau	they were

Other very common verbs are worth memorizing in context: aveam (“I had”), voiam (“I wanted”), știam (“I knew”), stăteam (“I was staying/sitting”), and dădeam (“I was giving”).

The four central uses

1. A past habit or repeated action

Use the imperfect for something that regularly happened over an open period in the past. Expressions such as în fiecare zi (“every day”), de obicei (“usually”), and mereu (“always”) often support this reading.

Mergeam la școală în fiecare zi. — “I used to go to school every day.”

2. An action in progress

The imperfect can show what someone was doing at a particular past moment.

La ora opt, citeam. — “At eight o’clock, I was reading.”

Romanian does not need an equivalent of English “was” plus an -ing form here. The single word citeam carries the past ongoing meaning.

3. Background, description, or state

Weather, appearance, age, feelings, possession, knowledge, and other states commonly appear in the imperfect when they describe a past scene.

Era frig și aveam zece ani. — “It was cold and I was ten years old.”

4. An ongoing situation interrupted by an event

Use the imperfect for the situation already underway and the compound past for the completed event that occurred within it.

Dormeam când a sunat telefonul. — “I was sleeping when the phone rang.”

Here, a clause (a part of a sentence containing a verb) in the imperfect establishes the ongoing situation; the clause in the compound past marks the event.

Imperfect or compound past?

The same verb may occur in either tense. The choice changes the viewpoint rather than simply changing the date of the action.

Meaning	Imperfect	Compound past
activity in progress	Citeam când ai intrat. — I was reading when you came in.	Am citit articolul. — I read the article.
repeated, open-ended habit	În copilărie citeam seara. — As a child, I used to read in the evening.	Săptămâna trecută am citit în fiecare seară. — Last week, I read every evening.
descriptive state	Casa era liniștită. — The house was quiet.	Petrecerea a fost liniștită. — The party was quiet.
background versus event	Ploua când am ieșit. — It was raining when I went out.	A plouat două ore. — It rained for two hours.

Time expressions do not select the tense by themselves. A bounded period can still contain an action viewed as ongoing, and a repeated action can be summarized as a completed series. Ask whether you are opening up the scene from within (imperfect) or reporting the situation as a complete event or block (compound past).

Negation is simple: put nu before the verb—nu citeam (“I was not reading/used not to read”). Questions usually keep the same word order and rely on intonation or a question word: Citeai ceva? (“Were you reading something?”), Ce făceai? (“What were you doing?”).

Examples in Context

Romanian	English	Note
Mergeam la școală în fiecare zi.	I used to go to school every day.	Repeated past routine
Citeai ceva?	Were you reading something?	Action in progress
Era frumos afară.	It was beautiful outside.	Background description
Când eram mic, jucam fotbal.	When I was little, I played football.	Past state plus habit
La ora șase, pregăteam cina.	At six, I was preparing dinner.	Activity at a past moment
Dormeam când a sunat telefonul.	I was sleeping when the phone rang.	Ongoing background plus completed event
Pe atunci, locuiam în Brașov.	Back then, I lived in Brașov.	Continuing past situation
Bunica ne spunea povești în fiecare seară.	Grandma would tell us stories every evening.	Repeated action; English “would”
Nu știam răspunsul.	I didn’t know the answer.	Past mental state
Aveam douăzeci de ani și lucram la un hotel.	I was twenty and worked at a hotel.	Age and background situation
În timp ce tu găteai, eu puneam masa.	While you were cooking, I was setting the table.	Two simultaneous actions
Ce făceați când s-a oprit curentul?	What were you doing when the power went out?	Polite/plural “you”; interruption
Copiii se jucau, iar părinții vorbeau.	The children were playing, while the parents were talking.	Parallel background actions
Voiam să plec, dar ploua tare.	I wanted to leave, but it was raining heavily.	Intention and weather as background

Common Mistakes

Building an English-style continuous form

• Wrong: Eram citind când ai venit.
• Right: Citeam când ai venit.
• Why: Romanian normally expresses “was reading” with the single imperfect form citeam. Do not translate English “was + -ing” word for word.

Using the imperfect for the interrupting event

• Wrong: Dormeam când telefonul suna. (if you mean one ring/event)
• Right: Dormeam când a sunat telefonul.
• Why: Dormeam is the activity in progress. The single completed event is normally in the compound past. The imperfect suna would instead suggest ongoing or repeated ringing, depending on context.

Assuming every English simple past needs the compound past

• Wrong: Când am fost mic, am jucat fotbal în fiecare zi. (for a general childhood background and habit)
• Right: Când eram mic, jucam fotbal în fiecare zi.
• Why: English simple past covers meanings that Romanian separates. A childhood state and open-ended routine naturally use the imperfect.

Confusing identical first-person forms

• Unclear: Mergeam acasă.
• Clear when needed: Eu mergeam acasă. / Noi mergeam acasă.
• Why: Mergeam can mean either “I was going” or “we were going.” Usually context is enough, but include the pronoun when the listener cannot identify the subject.

Applying the -a- pattern to every verb

• Wrong: citiam for “I was reading”
• Right: citeam
• Why: Many verbs in -i use an imperfect base in -ea-. Learn models such as citeam and dormeam, and notice stem changes in frequent verbs.

Usage Notes

The imperfect is common in both speech and writing. In conversation it appears naturally in memories, explanations, and questions such as Ce făceai? (“What were you doing?”). In narratives it builds the setting before completed events advance the story.

The English translation “would” works only for repeated actions, not for states. Bunica venea duminica can be “Grandma would come on Sundays,” but eram obosit is “I was tired,” not “I would be tired” unless the wider English context genuinely describes a repeated state. “Used to” can cover both: “I used to be tired” and “I used to visit.”

Romanian often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending usually identifies the person. With -am, however, first-person singular and plural coincide. Speakers still omit the pronoun when the situation makes the subject obvious; this is not informal or careless Romanian.

Words such as când (“when”) and în timp ce (“while”) are clues, not automatic rules. Când eram copil uses the imperfect for a state, whereas când am ajuns uses the compound past for “when I arrived.” Always interpret the event structure.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

Viewpoint can change the tense

Imperfect does not mean that an action was never completed. It means its endpoint is not being asserted at that moment. Scriam un e-mail când ai sunat (“I was writing an email when you called”) says nothing by itself about whether the email was eventually finished. Am scris un e-mail presents the writing as a completed event.

Likewise, repetition does not force the imperfect. Compare:

• În vacanță, mergeam des la mare. — “On holiday, I often used to go to the seaside.” The speaker evokes a routine from within that period.
• În vacanța aceea, am mers la mare de cinci ori. — “During that holiday, I went to the seaside five times.” The visits are counted and presented as a completed set.

This choice lets skilled speakers control narrative focus. Several imperfects can slow the story down and paint a scene; a compound-past verb can then introduce the decisive event: Era târziu, vântul bătea și oamenii dormeau. Deodată, cineva a bătut la ușă. (“It was late, the wind was blowing, and people were asleep. Suddenly, someone knocked at the door.”)

Polite and softened requests

In conversational Romanian, an imperfect of intention or desire can make a request sound less abrupt: Voiam să vă întreb ceva literally means “I wanted to ask you something,” but often functions like the polite English “I wanted to ask you something.” The past viewpoint creates distance and softens the approach; it does not necessarily mean the wish has ended.

States can become events

Some verbs commonly describe states in the imperfect, but the compound past may mark a change, realization, or bounded experience. Știam adevărul means “I knew the truth”; am aflat adevărul means “I found out the truth.” With a fi, era liniște describes the background (“it was quiet”), while a fost liniște două minute can package the quiet as a completed, measured interval (“there was quiet for two minutes”). The intended viewpoint remains more reliable than a memorized list of “imperfect verbs.”

Practice Tips

1. Build scenes in two layers. Write three background facts in the imperfect—weather, location, and activity—then add one interrupting event in the compound past: Ploua. Eram acasă. Citeam. A sunat Maria.
2. Learn forms by model. Conjugate one frequent verb from each pattern aloud: lucram, vedeam, mergeam, citeam, coboram, plus irregular eram. Include the subject with eu/noi until the identical forms feel familiar.
3. Retell a routine and a single day. First describe a childhood routine with de obicei and imperfect forms. Then describe what happened on one specific day with the compound past. This forces you to practice viewpoint rather than translate English tense labels.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Compound Past Tense — contrasts completed events with the imperfect’s ongoing, habitual, and background viewpoint.
• Next step: Pluperfect Tense — places one past event before another past reference point.