to have (possess)
Ownership, relationships, features — the plain lexical meaning.
Am o soră.
I have a sister.
Nu are timp.
He/she doesn't have time.
#1 · Verb
avea
In Romanian, avea means “to have (possess)”. It’s the #1 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
The single most frequent word in spoken Romanian. Beyond "to have", a avea is the engine behind two whole tenses: it supplies the auxiliary of the compound past (am făcut, ai văzut) and of the conditional (aș vrea, ar fi). Learn its six short present forms and you have already unlocked most Romanian past-tense sentences.
neutralauxiliary of the compound past (perfect compus)
am / ai / a / am / ați / au + past participle builds the everyday past tense of nearly every verb.
Am mâncat deja.
I already ate.
Ai văzut filmul?
Did you see the film?
auxiliary of the conditional (aș, ai, ar…)
The short conditional forms aș / ai / ar / am / ați / ar + infinitive give "would".
Aș vrea o cafea.
I would like a coffee.
Ar fi frumos.
That would be nice.
to have to (a avea de + supine)
With de + supine it expresses an obligation or a pending task.
Am de lucru.
I have work to do.
Ce ai de spus?
What do you have to say?
to feel / to be (in fixed states)
Romanian uses a avea where English uses "to be" for age, hunger, thirst, fear and similar states.
Am douăzeci de ani.
I am twenty years old.
Mi-e foame.
I'm hungry.
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 4 forms cover about 81% of everyday use — learn these first.
am29%
a27%
ai18%
ar7%
Show 20 more forms
au6%
are3%
aș2%
avea2%
avut2%
avem2%
ați1%
aveți<1%
aveam<1%
aibă<1%
aveai<1%
-a<1%
aveau<1%
având<1%
-ai<1%
-au<1%
aveați<1%
-aș<1%
avusese<1%
avute<1%
Conjugation
- Infinitive
- a avea
- Past Participle
- avut
- Gerund
- având
- Imperative Singular
- ai
- Imperative Plural
- aveți
- Auxiliary
- a avea
- Reflexive
- No
- Transitivity
- transitive
| Tense | eu | tu | el/ea | noi | voi | ei/ele |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | am | ai | are | avem | aveți | au |
| Imperfect | aveam | aveai | avea | aveam | aveați | aveau |
| Perfect compus | am avut | ai avut | a avut | am avut | ați avut | au avut |
| Future | voi avea | vei avea | va avea | vom avea | veți avea | vor avea |
| Conditional | aș avea | ai avea | ar avea | am avea | ați avea | ar avea |
| Subjunctive | să am | să ai | să aibă | să avem | să aveți | să aibă |
- The subjunctive 3rd person is irregular: să aibă (not *să aive) — it shows up constantly after trebuie să and vreau să.
- Written Romanian often contracts the auxiliary onto the preceding word: nu am → n-am, mi-a spus, s-a dus.
- Fixed expressions worth learning whole: a avea nevoie de (to need), a avea dreptate (to be right), a avea grijă (to take care).
Examples
Am o întrebare.
I have a question.
am - Present, 1st person singular — "am" is the most frequent verb form in the whole corpus.
Ai grijă!
Be careful! (literally: have care)
ai - Present 2nd singular used as a command; Romanian expresses "be careful" with a avea, not a fi.
A plecat acasă.
He/she went home.
a - Here "a" is not the article but the 3rd-person auxiliary of the compound past: a + plecat.
Aș avea nevoie de ajutor.
I would need some help.
aș - Conditional auxiliary "aș" + infinitive "avea" — and a avea nevoie de is the standard way to say "to need".
Nu aveam bani atunci.
I didn't have money back then.
aveam - Imperfect — ongoing or habitual states in the past.
The 3rd-person forms "a" and "au" look like the infinitive marker a and the preposition/other words: in "a plecat" the a is the past auxiliary, in "a pleca" it marks the infinitive. Read the following word — a participle means past tense.
In expressions
Common phrases built around avea — worth learning as whole units.
a avea nevoie de— to need (something)
lit. “to have need of”
a avea grijă de— to take care of, look after
lit. “to have care of”
a avea încredere în— to trust (someone/something)
lit. “to have trust in”
a avea de gând să— to intend to, to plan to
lit. “to have of thought to”
Corpus examples
?
What happened?