to speak (a language)
The language follows with no article, and often in its adverb form: vorbesc românește.
Vorbesc română.
I speak Romanian.
Vorbiți engleză?
Do you speak English?
#77 · Verb
vorbi
In Romanian, vorbi means “to speak (a language)”. It’s the #77 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 vorbi is "to speak" or "to talk", rank 77. It belongs to the large -esc group, so the present adds a syllable that the infinitive does not predict: vorbesc, vorbești, vorbește. It is also the verb you need on day one — Vorbiți engleză? and Vorbesc puțin românește are the two sentences that open every conversation.
neutralto talk / to have a conversation
With cu for the person and despre for the topic — both prepositions are fixed.
Vorbesc cu el.
I'm talking to him.
Vorbim mai târziu.
We'll talk later.
to speak about / to discuss
a vorbi despre states the topic squarely.
Despre ce vorbiți?
What are you talking about?
it's about (e vorba de/despre)
The related noun vorbă gives the very frequent impersonal e vorba de, "it is about".
E vorba de bani.
It's about money.
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 5 forms cover about 80% of everyday use — learn these first.
vorbesc24%
vorbim17%
vorbit15%
vorbi14%
vorbești9%
Show 10 more forms
vorbește6%
vorbească5%
vorbind3%
vorbea2%
vorbiți2%
vorbeam2%
vorbeau<1%
vorbeai<1%
vorbindu<1%
vorbise<1%
Conjugation
- Infinitive
- a vorbi
- Past Participle
- vorbit
- Gerund
- vorbind
- Imperative Singular
- vorbește
- Imperative Plural
- vorbiți
- Auxiliary
- a avea
- Reflexive
- No
- Transitivity
- both
| Tense | eu | tu | el/ea | noi | voi | ei/ele |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | vorbesc | vorbești | vorbește | vorbim | vorbiți | vorbesc |
| Imperfect | vorbeam | vorbeai | vorbea | vorbeam | vorbeați | vorbeau |
| Perfect compus | am vorbit | ai vorbit | a vorbit | am vorbit | ați vorbit | au vorbit |
| Future | voi vorbi | vei vorbi | va vorbi | vom vorbi | veți vorbi | vor vorbi |
| Conditional | aș vorbi | ai vorbi | ar vorbi | am vorbi | ați vorbi | ar vorbi |
| Subjunctive | să vorbesc | să vorbești | să vorbească | să vorbim | să vorbiți | să vorbească |
- You talk cu somebody and despre something. a vorbi la is only used of the telephone: vorbesc la telefon.
- Languages take either the noun (vorbesc română) or the adverb (vorbesc românește); the adverb is warmer and more common in speech.
- The 3rd-singular present vorbește doubles as the singular imperative, so one form covers "he speaks" and "speak!".
Examples
Vorbesc puțin românește.
I speak a little Romanian.
vorbesc - The -esc present. românește is the adverb form of the language, which is what you use with this verb.
Vorbim mâine.
We'll talk tomorrow.
vorbim - The 1st plural drops the -esc. Note that the present tense carries the future meaning here, with no extra word.
Cu cine vorbești?
Who are you talking to?
vorbești - The person you talk to takes cu, not la. The preposition leads the question, as always in Romanian.
Vorbește mai rar, te rog.
Speak more slowly, please.
vorbește - The imperative is identical to the 3rd-singular present. mai rar means "more slowly" here, not "more rarely".
Am vorbit cu ea ieri.
I spoke with her yesterday.
vorbit - Compound past with a avea. After cu the stressed pronoun ea is required, never the clitic o.
Vreau să vorbesc cu managerul.
I want to speak to the manager.
să vorbesc - For eu the subjunctive matches the present exactly. The 3rd person is the one that changes: să vorbească.
The -esc syllable appears only in four of the six present forms: vorbesc, vorbești, vorbește and vorbesc, but plain vorbim and vorbiți for noi and voi. Applying it everywhere gives *vorbescim, which is the commonest error with this whole verb class.