The Verb *A Avea* (To Have) in Romanian

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concept: ro-a1-a-avea-prezent lang: ro ui: en title: Romanian A Avea (To Have): Present Tense description: >- Learn Romanian a avea in the present tense: am, ai, are, avem, aveți and au, with possession, age, everyday expressions and common mistakes. generation: article: version: native-ui-reference-v3.1 model: openai-codex/gpt-5.6-sol at: 2026-07-11T18:48:20Z reviews: spell-check: status: clean at: 2026-07-11T18:48:20Z score: 0 score-english: null score-coverage: null criteria: v7 language-mixing: status: clean at: 2026-07-11T18:53:16Z criteria: v2

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In Brief

Romanian a avea means “to have.” Its present-tense forms are am, ai, are, avem, aveți, au: Am o carte means “I have a book.” Besides possession, Romanian uses this verb for age and in common expressions such as a avea nevoie de (“to need”).

Overview

A avea is an essential A1 verb. You need it to talk about belongings, family, time, money, plans, questions, and many other parts of everyday life. It is also used to state someone’s age: Romanian says that a person “has” a number of years rather than that the person “is” that age.

The verb is irregular, meaning that its forms do not follow one completely predictable ending pattern. It is best to learn the six present forms as a set. Fortunately, each form is short and highly frequent. Romanian also commonly leaves out the subject pronoun—the word that identifies “I,” “you,” “she,” and so on—because the verb form usually makes the subject clear.

English “have” is a useful starting point, but the two verbs do not match in every expression. Romanian may use a avea where English uses “be” or another verb, as in are 25 de ani (“is 25 years old”) and are dreptate (“is right”). On the other hand, an English expression with “have” may need a different Romanian construction. Learn frequent phrases as whole units rather than translating one word at a time.

How It Works

Present-tense forms

The infinitive (the basic dictionary form of a verb) is a avea. In a sentence, it is normally conjugated, which means that its form changes to match the subject—the person or thing that has something.

Person	Subject pronoun	Form	Basic meaning
first-person singular	eu	am	I have
second-person singular, informal	tu	ai	you have
third-person singular	el / ea	are	he / she has
first-person plural	noi	avem	we have
second-person plural	voi	aveți	you all have
third-person plural	ei / ele	au	they have

Memorize the rhythm: am — ai — are — avem — aveți — au. Notice the Romanian letter ț in aveți. Writing aveti without the diacritic is common in informal typing when a Romanian keyboard is unavailable, but aveți is the correct spelling.

Pronouns can be omitted

Romanian is a pro-drop language, meaning that a subject pronoun can often be left unspoken when the verb already shows who the subject is:

• Eu am timp. — I have time.
• Am timp. — I have time.
• Noi avem două bilete. — We have two tickets.
• Avem două bilete. — We have two tickets.

The shorter versions are natural when the subject is already understood. State the pronoun for contrast or emphasis: Eu am cheia, nu el (“I have the key, not him”). With are, context may be needed because the subject could be el, ea, or a singular noun. With au, it could be ei, ele, or a plural noun.

Possession and ordinary “having”

The basic sentence pattern is:

subject + present form of a avea + object

The object is the person or thing that is had. In Mara are o mașină, Mara is the subject and o mașină is the object.

• Eu am o carte. — I have a book.
• Tu ai timp. — You have time.
• El are bani. — He has money.
• Noi avem prieteni. — We have friends.

The form of a avea agrees with the subject, not with the object. Compare Ea are un frate and Ea are două surori: the objects differ in gender and number, but the subject remains third-person singular, so the verb remains are.

Negatives

Place nu directly before the verb:

• Nu am bani. — I do not have money.
• Nu ai timp? — Don’t you have time?
• Ei nu au mașină. — They do not have a car.

In careful writing, keep nu separate from the verb. Romanian may contract nu am to n-am, nu ai to n-ai, and similar forms in speech and informal writing; these are covered later under Usage Notes.

Questions

A yes-or-no question usually keeps the same word order as a statement. Your voice rises in speech, and writing adds a question mark:

• Ai timp. — You have time.
• Ai timp? — Do you have time?
• Aveți o rezervare? — Do you have a reservation?

Romanian does not insert an equivalent of English auxiliary “do.” Do not build a question by translating “Do you have…?” word by word. A question word can come first: Câte surori ai? (“How many sisters do you have?”) or Ce aveți aici? (“What do you have here?”).

Age

Romanian expresses age with a avea plus a number and an/ani (“year/years”):

• Am un an. — I am one year old.
• Are zece ani. — He/She is ten years old.
• Avem treizeci de ani. — We are thirty years old.

With numbers from 20 upward, de normally appears before the counted noun: douăzeci de ani, treizeci și cinci de ani. Numbers below 20 normally connect directly: optsprezece ani. This is part of Romanian number grammar; the central beginner rule here is simply a avea + age, never a fi + age.

High-frequency expressions

Some combinations with a avea have an English translation that does not contain “have.” Treat each expression as a phrase:

Romanian expression	Natural English meaning	Example
a avea nevoie de	to need	Am nevoie de ajutor.
a avea dreptate	to be right	Ai dreptate.
a avea timp	to have time	Nu avem timp.
a avea chef de	to feel like / be in the mood for	Am chef de o plimbare.
a avea grijă de	to take care of	Ea are grijă de copil.
a avea loc	to take place; to have room	Concertul are loc mâine.

In a avea nevoie de and a avea grijă de, de belongs to the expression. The word after it completes the meaning: nevoie de apă (“need for water”), grijă de copii (“care of the children”).

Examples in Context

Romanian	English	Note
Eu am o carte.	I have a book.	The pronoun emphasizes or clearly identifies “I.”
Tu ai timp.	You have time.	Informal singular you.
El are bani.	He has money.	Third-person singular.
Noi avem prieteni în București.	We have friends in Bucharest.	First-person plural.
Aveți o rezervare?	Do you have a reservation?	Plural or polite you.
Copiii au două pisici.	The children have two cats.	A plural noun takes au.
Nu am mașină, dar am bicicletă.	I don’t have a car, but I have a bicycle.	Nu makes the first verb negative.
Câte surori ai?	How many sisters do you have?	No equivalent of English question auxiliary “do.”
Maria are douăzeci și patru de ani.	Maria is twenty-four years old.	Romanian uses a avea for age.
Am nevoie de puțin ajutor.	I need a little help.	Keep de in this expression.
Ai dreptate: magazinul este închis.	You’re right: the shop is closed.	Literally “you have rightness.”
Nu avem chef de gătit în seara asta.	We don’t feel like cooking tonight.	Common conversational expression.
Ea are grijă de bunicul ei.	She takes care of her grandfather.	A avea grijă de is a fixed pattern.
Ședința are loc la ora nouă.	The meeting takes place at nine o’clock.	A avea loc can describe an event.
Eu am cheia, iar Andrei are biletele.	I have the key, and Andrei has the tickets.	Stated subjects create a contrast.

Common Mistakes

Using a fi for age

• Wrong: Sunt treizeci de ani.
• Right: Am treizeci de ani.
• Why: Romanian presents age as years that someone “has.” English presents age with “be,” so this mistake is especially tempting for English speakers.

Choosing the form from the object

• Wrong: Ea au două cărți.
• Right: Ea are două cărți.
• Why: The verb agrees with the subject ea (“she”), not with the plural object două cărți (“two books”).

Adding an English-style question auxiliary

• Wrong: Faci tu ai timp?
• Right: Ai timp?
• Why: Romanian forms this question with the conjugated verb and intonation; it does not translate English “do.”

Dropping de from a fixed expression

• Wrong: Am nevoie ajutor.
• Right: Am nevoie de ajutor.
• Why: The pattern is a avea nevoie de + noun. Learn de as part of the expression.

Confusing are and au

• Wrong: Părinții mei are o casă.
• Right: Părinții mei au o casă.
• Why: Părinții mei (“my parents”) is plural, so it requires au. Use are only for a singular third-person subject.

Using aveți for every polite subject

• Wrong: Doamna Popescu aveți o întrebare.
• Right: Doamna Popescu are o întrebare.
• Why: A third-person title or name takes are. Use aveți when addressing someone directly with dumneavoastră: Doamnă Popescu, aveți o întrebare?

Usage Notes

Aveți serves two roles. It addresses several people as “you all have,” and it is also used with polite singular dumneavoastră. The pronoun can be omitted when the situation makes the polite address obvious: a receptionist may ask Aveți o rezervare? The verb alone does not tell you whether one politely addressed person or several people are meant.

In conversation, negative forms are often contracted with an apostrophe: n-am, n-ai, n-are, n-avem, n-aveți, n-au. Thus N-am timp and Nu am timp both mean “I don’t have time.” The full forms are easiest for beginners and work in every register; the contractions are normal rather than careless, especially in speech.

Romanian often omits indefinite articles with uncountable or broadly understood things: Am timp (“I have time”), Are bani (“He/She has money”), Avem răbdare (“We have patience”). With a single countable object, an article is usually needed: Am o carte (“I have a book”), not simply Am carte in the neutral beginner meaning.

A avea chef de is everyday and conversational. A avea nevoie de and a avea dreptate are neutral and suitable in most situations. As always, context determines the best English translation: Ce ai? can literally ask “What do you have?”, but in the right situation it can mean “What’s wrong?”

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following points at A1, but they explain forms you will encounter later.

Auxiliary forms in the compound past

A avea helps form the compound past (perfectul compus), the main conversational past tense. An auxiliary is a helping verb used with another verb; a past participle is the special verb form paired with it. For example, am mâncat means “I ate” or “I have eaten.”

The auxiliary set is:

Person	Auxiliary	Example
eu	am	am plecat — I left
tu	ai	ai văzut — you saw
el / ea	a	a venit — he/she came
noi	am	am lucrat — we worked
voi / dumneavoastră	ați	ați citit — you read
ei / ele	au	au ajuns — they arrived

Do not simply reuse all six lexical present forms. Compare Ea are o carte (“She has a book”) with Ea a citit cartea (“She read the book”), and Noi avem timp (“We have time”) with Noi am terminat (“We finished”). The auxiliary paradigm contains a, am, ați where the full verb has are, avem, aveți.

Other moods and tenses

Later, you will see forms such as aveam (“I/he/she used to have” or “was having”), voi avea (“I will have”), and să am (“that I have / for me to have”). They all belong to a avea, but each expresses a different tense or mood. A mood is a verb pattern that presents an action as a fact, possibility, wish, command, and so on. Keep these forms separate from the six present forms in this lesson.

Meaning depends on the larger phrase

A avea loc illustrates why phrases matter. With an event as subject, it means “to take place”: Festivalul are loc în mai. In a context about capacity, loc can retain its ordinary meaning “space/room”: Mai avem loc pentru o persoană (“We still have room for one person”). Grammar provides the pattern, but context selects the meaning.

Practice Tips

1. Learn the forms in paired mini-sentences. Say eu am, tu ai, el are; noi avem, voi aveți, ei au, then replace the pronouns with names or nouns: Ana are, copiii au. This trains agreement rather than a memorized chant alone.
2. Build three useful sets. Make one sentence about possession, one about age, and one with a fixed expression for every person. For example: am o bicicletă, ai 30 de ani, are nevoie de apă.
3. Turn statements into questions and negatives. Start with Aveți timp, then produce Aveți timp? and Nu aveți timp. This reinforces that Romanian needs no English-style “do.”

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Subject Pronouns — learn eu, tu, el/ea, noi, voi, and ei/ele so you can match subjects to verb forms.
• Next step: Compound Past Tense — use the auxiliary forms of a avea with a past participle to talk about completed past events.