to leave (something or somebody somewhere)
Putting something down and going. Contrast a pleca, which is you departing.
Am lăsat cheile acasă.
I left the keys at home.
Lasă-l acolo.
Leave it there.
#108 · Verb
lăsa
In Romanian, lăsa means “to leave (something or somebody somewhere)”. It’s the #108 most frequently used Romanian word. Below you’ll find how to use it, its forms, real example sentences, and common word pairings.
Meaning & Use
A lăsa covers both halves of English "leave" and "let": leaving a thing behind, and letting somebody do something. Rank 108. Its imperative lasă is everywhere in speech — Lasă-mă! "Leave me alone!", and bare Lasă… "Never mind". The reflexive a se lăsa de is how you quit a habit.
neutralto let / to allow
With să and a verb. This is the ordinary Romanian "let me", "let him".
Lasă-mă să văd.
Let me see.
Nu mă lasă să plec.
They won't let me leave.
never mind / forget it (Lasă)
The bare imperative closes a subject, kindly. Lasă, nu-i nimic.
Lasă, nu contează.
Never mind, it doesn't matter.
to quit / to give up (a se lăsa de)
The reflexive with de, used of habits.
M-am lăsat de fumat.
I quit smoking.
to leave behind / to bequeath
What remains after somebody, in a will or in an impression.
Ce a lăsat în urmă?
What did he leave behind?
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 5 forms cover about 86% of everyday use — learn these first.
lăsat26%
lăsa19%
lasă17%
lăsați13%
lași12%
Show 11 more forms
lăsăm6%
lase5%
lăsată<1%
lăsându<1%
lăsând<1%
lăsate<1%
lăsam<1%
lăsase<1%
lăsau<1%
lăsă<1%
lăsasem<1%
Conjugation
- Infinitive
- a lăsa
- Past Participle
- lăsat
- Gerund
- lăsând
- Imperative Singular
- lasă
- Imperative Plural
- lăsați
- Auxiliary
- a avea
- Reflexive
- No
- Transitivity
- transitive
| Tense | eu | tu | el/ea | noi | voi | ei/ele |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | las | lași | lasă | lăsăm | lăsați | lasă |
| Imperfect | lăsam | lăsai | lăsa | lăsam | lăsați | lăsau |
| Perfect compus | am lăsat | ai lăsat | a lăsat | am lăsat | ați lăsat | au lăsat |
| Future | voi lăsa | vei lăsa | va lăsa | vom lăsa | veți lăsa | vor lăsa |
| Conditional | aș lăsa | ai lăsa | ar lăsa | am lăsa | ați lăsa | ar lăsa |
| Subjunctive | să las | să lași | să lase | să lăsăm | să lăsați | să lase |
- The stem vowel alternates: ă in lăsăm and lăsați, plain a in las and lasă.
- The 3rd-singular present lasă doubles as the singular imperative, which is why it is so frequent.
- a lăsa să + subjunctive is the standard "let somebody do something"; there is no separate verb for "let".
Examples
Lasă-mă în pace!
Leave me alone!
lasă - The imperative with the object clitic hyphenated on. în pace, "in peace", is the fixed second half.
Mi-am lăsat telefonul în mașină.
I left my phone in the car.
lăsat - The dative clitic mi- marks the owner, which is more natural than telefonul meu.
Lasă-mă să te ajut.
Let me help you.
lasă - The "let" sense: imperative plus object clitic plus să and a verb. One of the most useful patterns in the language.
Nu lăsa ușa deschisă.
Don't leave the door open.
lăsa - The negative imperative uses the infinitive form: nu lăsa, never *nu lasă.
Lasă, rezolv eu.
Never mind, I'll sort it out.
lasă - The bare imperative as a discourse move. Putting eu after the verb stresses who will do it.
S-a lăsat de fumat anul trecut.
He quit smoking last year.
lăsat - The reflexive with de. anul trecut is a definite time noun used adverbially, with no preposition.
A lăsa is leaving something behind; a pleca is you leaving. Am lăsat cheile means the keys stayed; Am plecat means you went. Using a lăsa for your own departure — *am lăsat de acasă — is not Romanian.
In expressions
Common phrases built around lăsa — worth learning as whole units.
a lăsa baltă— to drop, to abandon, to ditch
lit. “to leave (in a) puddle” · a lăsat totul baltă = he/she dropped everything and left