about / concerning (subject matter)
The topic of speech, thought, writing or reading. This is nearly the whole word.
Vorbim despre asta.
We're talking about that.
un film despre război
a film about war
#69 · Preposition
despre
In Romanian, despre means “about / concerning (subject matter)”. It’s the #69 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
Despre is "about" in the sense of subject matter — what a book, a conversation or a film is about. Rank 69, invariable, and it takes the stressed pronouns: despre mine, despre tine, despre el. It never means "approximately"; for that Romanian uses cam or aproximativ.
neutralof / regarding (an opinion held)
With verbs of thinking and judging: Ce crezi despre…? is the standard "What do you think of…?".
Ce crezi despre el?
What do you think of him?
părerea mea despre asta
my opinion about that
as for / speaking of (despre asta)
Fronted, it opens a topic: Despre asta voiam să vorbim.
Despre ce e vorba?
What's it about?
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top form cover about 100% of everyday use — learn these first.
despre100%
Grammar Behavior
despre + stressed pronoun
Prepositions always take the stressed series: mine, tine, el, noi, voi, ei.
Vorbeau despre noi.
They were talking about us.
despre + noun (no article change)
Unlike some prepositions, despre triggers no case ending on the noun that follows.
un articol despre sănătate
an article about health
Despre ce…? at the front
In questions the preposition leads. Romanian cannot leave it at the end.
Despre cine ai auzit?
Who did you hear about?
verb + despre (fixed)
a vorbi despre, a scrie despre, a întreba despre, a citi despre all lock in this preposition.
Am citit despre asta ieri.
I read about it yesterday.
vs. de
a vorbi de and a vorbi despre are both used, but de is looser and more colloquial, while despre states the topic squarely.
Vorbea de tine. / Vorbea despre tine.
He mentioned you. / He was talking about you.
vs. cam / vreo
English "about ten" is a quantity, not a topic — Romanian uses cam or vreo there, never despre.
cam zece minute
about ten minutes
vs. pentru
despre is what something is about; pentru is who or what it is for.
un cadou pentru tine / o poveste despre tine
a present for you / a story about you
Examples
Despre ce vorbiți?
What are you talking about?
despre - The preposition comes first in Romanian questions. English can strand "about" at the end; Romanian never can.
E o carte despre România.
It's a book about Romania.
despre - Linking a noun to its topic. The following noun stays in its plain form — no case change is triggered.
Nu știu nimic despre asta.
I don't know anything about that.
despre - With the neutral demonstrative asta. Note the double negative nu … nimic, which is obligatory in Romanian.
A întrebat despre tine.
He asked about you.
despre - The stressed pronoun tine is required after any preposition — never the clitic te.
Despre ce e vorba?
What's this about?
despre - A fixed phrase and one of the most common homes for the word. e vorba is impersonal — literally "it is speech".
Despre never means "approximately". Despre zece oameni is wrong for "about ten people" — that is cam zece oameni or vreo zece oameni. Despre is only ever the topic sense of English "about".
Corpus examples
.
I don't know what you're talking about.