to say
The plain reporting verb, with că for the reported clause.
Ce ai zis?
What did you say?
A zis că vine.
He said he is coming.
#106 · Verb
zice
In Romanian, zice means “to say”. It’s the #106 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 zice is "to say" — the warmer, more spoken twin of a spune. Rank 106. Ce zici? does not really ask what you are saying; it asks what you think, and it is how Romanians invite an opinion. Its imperative is the irregular zi, which is spelled exactly like zi, "day".
neutralto think / to reckon (Ce zici?)
Asking for an opinion or a decision. This is one of the commonest uses in speech.
Ce zici?
What do you think?
Zic că da.
I reckon yes.
to be called / how you say it (cum se zice)
The impersonal se zice is the standard way to ask for a word.
Cum se zice în română?
How do you say it in Romanian?
Se zice că…
They say that…
to suggest (hai să zicem)
să zicem is a hedging "let us say", used to float a number or a plan.
Să zicem la ora șase.
Let's say six o'clock.
Forms you’ll actually hear
Ranked by how often each form shows up in spoken Romanian. The top 3 forms cover about 91% of everyday use — learn these first.
zis55%
zici22%
zice15%
Show 9 more forms
zicem2%
zicea2%
ziceți2%
zică1%
ziceam<1%
zicând<1%
ziceau<1%
zise<1%
zic<1%
Conjugation
- Infinitive
- a zice
- Past Participle
- zis
- Gerund
- zicând
- Imperative Singular
- zi
- Imperative Plural
- ziceți
- Auxiliary
- a avea
- Reflexive
- No
- Transitivity
- transitive
| Tense | eu | tu | el/ea | noi | voi | ei/ele |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | zic | zici | zice | zicem | ziceți | zic |
| Imperfect | ziceam | ziceai | zicea | ziceam | ziceați | ziceau |
| Perfect compus | am zis | ai zis | a zis | am zis | ați zis | au zis |
| Future | voi zice | vei zice | va zice | vom zice | veți zice | vor zice |
| Conditional | aș zice | ai zice | ar zice | am zice | ați zice | ar zice |
| Subjunctive | să zic | să zici | să zică | să zicem | să ziceți | să zică |
- a zice and a spune are interchangeable for "say"; a zice is more colloquial and carries the opinion frame Ce zici?.
- The person you tell is a dative clitic — îmi, îți, îi, ne, vă, le — not a preposition: Îi zic mâine.
- aș zice ("I would say") is a common softener for an opinion you do not want to press.
Examples
Ce zici de asta?
What do you think of that?
zici - a zice de is the fixed frame for asking an opinion about something.
Zi-mi ce s-a întâmplat.
Tell me what happened.
zi - The irregular imperative zi, with the dative clitic hyphenated to it. It is spelled exactly like zi, "day".
A zis că nu poate.
He said he can't.
zis - The participle zis is irregular. Reported speech takes că and keeps the original tense, unlike English.
Cum se zice „mulțumesc” în engleză?
How do you say "mulțumesc" in English?
se zice - The impersonal reflexive, doing the work of English "do you say". Note the Romanian quotation marks „…”.
Să zicem că ai dreptate.
Let's say you're right.
să zicem - The 1st-plural subjunctive as a hedge. It concedes a point without accepting it.
Nu i-am zis nimic.
I didn't tell him anything.
zis - The person told is a dative clitic, i-. The double negative nu … nimic is obligatory.
The singular imperative is zi, not *zice — one of the small group of irregular imperatives alongside fă, du and vino. And zi is also the noun "day", so Zi-mi! is "Tell me!", never "Day me!".
In expressions
Common phrases built around zice — worth learning as whole units.
Ce zici?— What do you say? / What do you think?
lit. “what you-say”