a avea — and the 30 seconds where you say who you are
U02 part 1 · Romanian keeps the verbs Ukrainian deletes — this is the second one
① Placement
Topic
The verb system — 16 aspects tracked across U01–U28 (topics.md) · plus the lexical domain countries, professions, personal data
This section
Complete for a avea in the present: all six forms, negation with its contraction, questions
Coverage
2 of ~16 verb aspects. Like a fi, a avea is irregular and teaches you nothing about regular verbs
Deferred
numbers 0–100 and cine / ce / cum → next session · noun gender and plural → U03 · articles → U03 & U05 · regular present → U05–U06 · am as a past-tense auxiliary → U09 · the reflexive system behind mă numesc → U06
Serves
S part 1 personal questions · W form-filling · R · L
② The whole system
a avea — present, all six forms
euam
noiavem
tuai
voi / dumneavoastrăaveți
el / eaare
ei / eleau
Three of the six (am · ai · au) are one syllable, two letters. This is the second-most-frequent verb in the language, and these forms cost almost nothing to learn.
am, ai, are, avem, aveți, au
I have, you have, he/she has, we have, you (pl) have, they have
Negative — and the contraction that is not optional
nu goes in front, exactly as with a fi. But nu + a vowel contracts, and Romanians write it that way:
nu amn-am
nu avemn-avem
nu ain-ai
nu avețin-aveți
nu aren-are
nu aun-au
Both forms are correct; the contracted one is what you will hear and read. a fi does not do this — nu sunt stays nu sunt, because s is not a vowel. The short form does contract, though: nu e → nu-i(is not) — very common in speech, worth recognizing for Listening.
N-am carte. Nu am carte.
I do not have a book. (contracted, then full — negated a avea drops the article, cf. N-am timp)
Saying your name — two chunks
Ask
Answer
Cum vă numiți?
Mă numesc Vitalii.
formal, safest — numiți / numesc
Cum te numești?
Mă numesc Vitalii.
informal tu-form
Cum vă cheamă?
Mă cheamă Vitalii.
very common in speech; literally "how do they call you"
Learn these as fixed chunks. The mă / te / vă in front is a whole pronoun system that arrives in U06 and U13 — you do not need it to use these four sentences today.
Cum vă numiți? Mă numesc Vitalii.
What is your name? My name is Vitalii.
Cum vă cheamă? Mă cheamă Vitalii.
What is your name? My name is Vitalii.
Today's words — 14
Romanian
English
Transfer hook
nume n, nume
name
matches — Latin nomen, EN name. Plural identical to singular
țară f, țări
country
resembles — Latin terra, EN terrain, territory
oraș n, orașe
city, town
no hook — from Hungarian város. Not Latin, not Slavic. Memorize it
România f
Romania
matches
Ucraina f
Ukraine
matches — stress on the i: Ucraina (u-cra-Í-na)
român m, români · româncă f, românce
Romanian (person)
the â is the medial rule you already know
ucrainean m, ucraineni · ucraineancă f, ucrainence
Ukrainian (person)
resembles — but note it is -ean, not -ец
din
from
UA «з», EN from. Sunt din Ucraina
profesor m, profesori · profesoară f, profesoare
teacher
matches — UA професор. The -oară feminine is the -ка instinct
student m, studenți · studentă f, studente
student
matches — UA студент
inginer m, ingineri · ingineră f, inginere
engineer
matches — UA інженер. The g is soft: in-ji-ner
programator m, programatori · programatoare f, programatoare
programmer
trap: UA програміст → RO programator. Not programist
medic m, medici
doctor
matches — UA медик. No feminine form: a woman is medic too
a lucra 1sg lucrez
to work
EN lucrative, Latin lucrare. Take lucrez as one memorized form — the pattern behind it is U05
nume, țară, oraș, România, Ucraina
name, country, city, Romania, Ukraine
român, româncă, ucrainean, ucraineancă, din
Romanian (m), Romanian (f), Ukrainian (m), Ukrainian (f), from
programator, programatoare, medic, a lucra, lucrez
programmer (m), programmer (f), doctor, to work, I work
③ The delta
Ukrainian deletes the verb. Romanian keeps it. Again.
Yesterday: «Я студент» has no verb, Sunt student must have one. Today is the same failure in a different verb — and this time English is the model.
Ukrainian
У мене є книга
"at me there-is a book" — no verb "to have" at all, the default construction
English
I have a book
a real verb with a real object — copy this
Romanian
Am o carte
a real verb. There is no Romanian way to say «у мене є»
Ukrainian does own мати ("я маю книгу") — but it is not what you reach for when you are not thinking, and that is exactly when errors happen. Route possession through English, not Ukrainian.
Am o carte. Ai o carte. Are o carte.
I have a book. You have a book. He/she has a book.
Professions take no article — and here English is the saboteur
✓
Sunt inginer.I am an engineer.
✗
Sunt un inginer.— grammatical, but it means something else: "I am a certain engineer". Not how you answer the question.
✓
Ea este medic.She is a doctor.
✓
Sunt ucrainean.I am Ukrainian.
Nationality and profession after a fi are bare. English forces an and will pull you toward un; Ukrainian, which has no articles, is right here for once. This is a rule you can use today — the article system itself is U03 and U05.
Sunt inginer. Ea este medic. Sunt ucrainean.
I am an engineer. She is a doctor. I am Ukrainian.
mă numesc ≈ називаюся — the Slavic hook that pays
Romanian mă / te / se does the job of Ukrainian -ся. mă numesc ≈ «називаюся», se deschide ≈ «відчиняється» (it opens).
One difference: Ukrainian glues -ся onto the end; Romanian puts its particle in front as a separate word. Same idea, opposite side.
④ Worked examples
1
Mă numesc Vitalii. Sunt din Ucraina. Sunt programator.
My name is Vitalii. I am from Ukraine. I am a programmer.
Three sentences, three patterns: the naming chunk · a fi + din + country · a fi + bare profession. This is the exam's opening answer.
2
Am o carte. N-am timp.
I have a book. I don't have time. am takes a direct object, like English. The negative contracts to n-am.
3
El este român, ea este româncă.
He is Romanian, she is Romanian.
Same word, two shapes. Romanian marks the person's gender where English does not — Ukrainian already trains this instinct (українець / українка).
4
Aveți o întrebare?
Do you have a question?
No auxiliary, no word-order change — a statement said as a question, the rule from yesterday.
Mă numesc Vitalii. Sunt din Ucraina. Sunt programator.
My name is Vitalii. I am from Ukraine. I am a programmer.
Am o carte. N-am timp.
I have a book. I do not have time.
El este român, ea este româncă.
He is Romanian, she is Romanian.
Aveți o întrebare?
Do you have a question?
⑤ Named, but not taught
Appeared above
What it really is
Arrives
mă numesc · mă cheamă
reflexive and accusative pronouns — a full system
U06 · U13
o carte · un inginer
the indefinite article
U03
m · f · n labels in the word table
the three-gender system, incl. the neuter
U03
lucrez
present tense of regular -a verbs
U05
am
also the past-tense auxiliary: am mers = I went. You already own half of the past tense
U09
Am 30 de ani (I am thirty years old)
a preview — it did not appear above: age with a avea, plus the numbers themselves
next session
⑥ Your turn — before anything graded
1. Say in Romanian: We have a book.
Avem o carte. — noi is dropped; the ending carries the person.
2. Make it negative, contracted: They don't have a book.
N-au carte. — nu au → n-au, and the article drops under negation, like N-am timp.
3. Say in Romanian: She is a teacher.
Ea este profesoară. — feminine form, and no article. Ea este o profesoară is the English calque.
4. Say in Romanian: I am from Romania.
Sunt din România.
5. Ask formally: Do you have a car?(mașină = car)
Aveți o mașină? — formal aveți, question by intonation alone.
Carry this away. Romanian keeps the verbs Ukrainian drops — a fi where «Я студент» has none, a avea where «у мене є» has none. Copy English for both. Then undo English in one place: after a fi, a profession or nationality takes no article — Sunt inginer, never sunt un inginer.
work/visuals/2026-07-31_identity.html · U02 part 1 · SES-004 · generated 2026-07-31.
Companion files: copula (a fi, the infinitive marker),
pronouns, sounds.