himself / herself / itself / themselves (direct: se)
Marks the action as turning back on its subject. Third person only — other persons use mă, te, ne, vă.
Se spală.
He/she is washing (himself/herself).
Se numește Ana.
Her name is Ana.
#20 · Pronoun
sine
In Romanian, sine means “himself / herself / itself / themselves (direct: se)”. It’s the #20 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 Romanian reflexive pronoun. sine is the dictionary headword, but the form you meet everywhere is se — the little word in front of a verb that makes it reflexive: mă numesc, se duce, s-a întâmplat. A large family of everyday verbs simply does not exist without it.
neutralto himself / for himself (dative: își, și-)
The indirect reflexive, typically with body parts, possessions, or mental acts.
Își spală mâinile.
He washes his hands.
Și-a amintit.
He remembered.
lexically reflexive verbs
Many verbs are reflexive by nature and never drop se: a se uita (to look), a se gândi (to think), a se întâmpla (to happen).
Ce s-a întâmplat?
What happened?
Mă gândesc la tine.
I'm thinking about you.
impersonal / passive "one, people, it is done"
se + a 3rd-person verb is the standard way to say something without naming who does it.
Aici se vorbește română.
Romanian is spoken here.
Nu se poate.
It's not possible.
oneself (stressed: sine)
The full form, used only after prepositions and in fixed abstract phrases.
încrezător în sine
self-confident
de la sine
by itself
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 2 forms cover about 88% of everyday use — learn these first.
se57%
s-30%
Show 7 more forms
-și4%
și-3%
își3%
-se<1%
și<1%
sine<1%
se-<1%
Forms & Contrasts
- Subtype
- reflexive
| 3rd person direct | se / s- / -se | Se duce, s-a dus, ducându-se. |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd person dative | își / și- / -și | Își ia, și-a luat, luându-și. |
| Stressed form | sine | Only after prepositions: în sine, de la sine. |
| 1st sg. | mă / îmi | mă spăl, îmi amintesc. |
| 2nd sg. | te / îți | te speli, îți amintești. |
| 1st pl. | ne / ne | ne spălăm, ne amintim. |
| 2nd pl. | vă / vă | vă spălați, vă amintiți. |
vs. se vs. își
se is the direct reflexive ("washes himself"), își the indirect ("washes his own hands").
Se spală. / Își spală mâinile.
He's washing. / He's washing his hands.
vs. și- (reflexive) vs. și (and)
Identical spelling. Before a verb it is the reflexive pronoun; between two things it is the conjunction.
Și-a luat pâine și lapte.
He got himself bread and milk.
vs. the passive with a fi
The se-passive is the everyday choice; a fi + participle is heavier and more formal.
Se vinde aici. / Este vândut aici.
It's sold here.
Examples
Cum se scrie?
How is it written?
se - Impersonal se — no subject needed; the verb stays 3rd person singular.
S-a dus la piață.
He went to the market.
s- - Before the auxiliary a/am/ai, se contracts to s-. a se duce is reflexive by nature.
Și-a luat cheile.
He took his keys.
și- - Dative reflexive: the keys are his own. Not to be confused with the conjunction și ("and").
Mă simt bine.
I feel good.
mă - In the 1st person the reflexive is mă, not se — se belongs to the 3rd person only.
se only exists in the 3rd person. For "I wash myself" you must say mă spăl, not *se spăl — the reflexive changes with the subject: mă, te, se, ne, vă, se.
Corpus examples
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What's going on here?
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What's going on?
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What happened?