Contents · A1
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An instruction to several people is given with the voi form of the present, the form in -ți: Citiți! (“Read!”). The same form is used for one person addressed as dumneavoastră, and the negative is formed with nu before it.
Telling several people what to do: citiți, veniți, nu plecați#
Formation
With nearly every verb, an instruction to two or more people is the voi form of the present, with no pronoun: ascultați, plecați, deschideți, scrieți, citiți, veniți. A fi has its own form, fiți, the form used after să: Fiți gata la ora opt! The negative is formed with nu before the same form: Nu plecați!, Nu vorbiți!
Use
A person addressed as dumneavoastră (a stranger, an older person, a customer) is given the same form, even though only one person is meant: Luați loc, vă rog (“Take a seat, please”). Vă rog (please) is often added. Two set phrases are heard everywhere: Luați loc! and Poftiți! (“Here you are”, “Come in”).
- Deschideți cărțile, vă rog!Open your books, please!
- Ascultați!Listen!
- Nu vorbiți acum!Don’t talk now!
- Luați loc aici, doamnă.Take a seat here, madam.
- Fiți gata la ora opt!Be ready at eight!
Difference from English
English has one form, “read”, for one person or for several, and forms the negative with “don’t”; Romanian has no word for “don’t”, and several people, or one person addressed politely, are given the voi form.
Common mistakes
Nu pleacă!→ Nu plecați!An instruction to several people is the voi form.Doamnă, ia loc!→ Doamnă, luați loc!A person addressed politely is given the voi form.Sunteți gata la ora opt!→ Fiți gata la ora opt!The instruction of a fi is fiți.
In short
| Point | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| to several people | the voi form | Citiți! |
| to one person, politely | the voi form | Luați loc! |
| the negative | nu + the voi form | Nu plecați! |
| a fi | fiți | Fiți gata! |
Practise
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