Learn Romanian by Exploring the Past

When you learn Romanian, one of the most expressive and useful tools you’ll encounter is the imperfect tense. This tense helps you talk about things that happened repeatedly, habits from your childhood, or situations that were ongoing in the past. If you want to tell a story, describe your childhood, or share what you used to do, the imperfect is essential.

In our beginner courses, we dedicate time to this topic because it allows learners to enrich their conversations and give context to their experiences. Instead of just saying “I was at school,” you’ll be able to say “I was at school when my mother came” or “When I was little, my grandmother used to read me stories.” This gives your Romanian a natural, narrative flow.

What Is the Imperfect Tense?

The Romanian imperfect tense is used to express:

• Repeated past actions: “Mergeam la școală în fiecare zi.” – I used to go to school every day.

• Ongoing actions in the past: “Eram la școală când a venit mama.” – I was at school when my mother arrived.

• States or descriptions: “Când eram mic, aveam o bicicletă roșie.” – When I was little, I had a red bicycle.

This tense is not used to describe one-time completed events (that’s the job of the past simple or perfect tense in Romanian).

How to Conjugate Verbs in the Imperfect Tense

In our lessons, we guide learners through the conjugation of high-frequency verbs. Here’s how the imperfect looks for a few common ones:

A fi (to be)

• eu eram

• tu erai

• el/ea era

• noi eram

• voi erați

• ei/ele erau

A avea (to have)

• eu aveam

• tu aveai

• el/ea avea

• noi aveam

• voi aveați

• ei/ele aveau

A merge (to go)

• eu mergeam

• tu mergeai

• el/ea mergea

• noi mergeam

• voi mergeați

• ei/ele mergeau

The verb endings in the imperfect tense are consistent across most regular verbs, making it easier for learners to internalize patterns through practice.

Practice Makes Perfect: Speaking with the Imperfect

To solidify this tense, we use practical exercises like:

• Completing sentences based on real-life prompts (e.g., “In 1992 I was…”).

• Describing a typical day from childhood.

• Reconstructing stories using the imperfect tense for context and background.

We also include verbs like a scrie (to write), a desena (to draw), a dormi (to sleep), and a merge (to go), and encourage learners to expand with verbs from their own experience​.

Why the Imperfect Matters

Understanding and using the imperfect tense connects students with authentic storytelling, an essential skill for fluent Romanian. It helps with emotional expression, memories, and cultural context—whether you’re talking about childhood traditions, recalling a travel experience, or describing what life used to be like.

Through exercises and conversation, learners begin to see how this tense adds richness to everyday communication.

Join Our Romanian Lessons and Speak Naturally About the Past

The ability to describe your past with clarity and emotion is a major milestone in learning a new language. In our Romanian lessons, we provide structured explanations, examples, and guided speaking practice so you can confidently use the imperfect tense. Enroll today and give your Romanian the depth and fluency it deserves!

For additional grammar explanations, check out our recommended grammar resources.

How this was written: We sometimes use AI tools to help organize and expand on our teaching ideas — but every article is reviewed, edited, and polished by a human.
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