to think / to reckon (opinion)
The everyday hedge. Cred că… is the standard opener for any opinion — far more common in speech than a gândi.
Cred că da.
I think so.
Cred că are dreptate.
I think he is right.
#51 · Verb
crede
In Romanian, crede means “to think / to reckon (opinion)”. It’s the #51 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
Romanian's "I think" — and the reason it sits at rank 51 is that cred că… is how almost every opinion in the language begins. It also means "to believe" in the plain sense (a crede în ceva) and, reflexively, "to consider oneself" (se crede deștept). The one form to memorise early is cred, the most frequent of all its shapes by a wide margin.
neutralto believe (someone / something)
A person believed is a direct object and therefore takes pe: Te cred, Îl cred pe Ion.
Te cred.
I believe you.
Nu-mi vine să cred.
I can't believe it.
to believe in (faith, trust)
With the preposition în — belief in a person, an idea, or a god.
Cred în tine.
I believe in you.
Crede în Dumnezeu.
He believes in God.
to consider oneself (reflexive: a se crede)
Usually mildly critical — someone who thinks rather too well of themselves.
Se crede deștept.
He thinks he is clever.
Cine se crede?
Who does he think he is?
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 4 forms cover about 89% of everyday use — learn these first.
cred43%
crezi22%
crezut13%
crede11%
Show 7 more forms
credeam3%
credeți3%
creadă2%
credem1%
credea1%
credeau<1%
crezând<1%
Conjugation
- Infinitive
- a crede
- Past Participle
- crezut
- Gerund
- crezând
- Imperative Singular
- crede
- Imperative Plural
- credeți
- Auxiliary
- a avea
- Reflexive
- No
- Transitivity
- both
| Tense | eu | tu | el/ea | noi | voi | ei/ele |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | cred | crezi | crede | credem | credeți | cred |
| Imperfect | credeam | credeai | credea | credeam | credeați | credeau |
| Perfect compus | am crezut | ai crezut | a crezut | am crezut | ați crezut | au crezut |
| Future | voi crede | vei crede | va crede | vom crede | veți crede | vor crede |
| Conditional | aș crede | ai crede | ar crede | am crede | ați crede | ar crede |
| Subjunctive | să cred | să crezi | să creadă | să credem | să credeți | să creadă |
- eu and ei/ele share the present form cred, exactly as with pot and vin.
- Believing a person takes pe: Îl cred pe Ion. Believing in something takes în: Cred în el.
- Cred că… is a hedge, not a claim of certainty — Romanian speakers use it constantly to soften opinions.
Examples
Cred că plouă mâine.
I think it will rain tomorrow.
cred - cred că + present is the default opinion frame; the present carries the future meaning.
Nu cred că e o idee bună.
I don't think it's a good idea.
cred - Like English, Romanian negates the believing verb rather than the clause after it.
Crezi că vine?
Do you think he is coming?
crezi - 2nd singular crezi — note the -z-, which appears in crezi and crezut but not in cred or credem.
Nu mi-a venit să cred ce am auzit.
I couldn't believe what I heard.
să cred - The fixed frame îmi vine să cred ("it comes to me to believe") — always subjunctive after să.
Am crezut că glumești.
I thought you were joking.
crezut - Compound past with the irregular participle crezut and auxiliary a avea.
The stem alternates: cred / credem / credeți keep the d, but crezi and the participle crezut switch to z, and the 3rd-person subjunctive is să creadă. Learn those three shapes together.
In expressions
Common phrases built around crede — worth learning as whole units.
cred că— I think (that)
lit. “I-believe that”
Nu cred.— I don't think so.
lit. “not I-believe”
Ce crezi?— What do you think?
lit. “what you-think”
Corpus examples
.
I can't believe it.
.
I can't believe it.