The verb machine — and the ă key

SES-007 repair sheet · built from TEST 1 · the paradigms use your six verbs; the infix-guess table adds 13 new infinitives so the guessing rule has range — each translated there, none in the ledger yet

The finding this sheet exists for: you recognise Romanian far better than you produce it. (The SES-007 percentages — 86% vs 29% — were same-day, post-key, and are retracted as measurement per the 2026-08-09 leak audit; the taught-vs-untaught table below is what survives.) The words are in. What is missing is the conjugation system — which, until now, was never actually given to you. Only a fi and a avea had ever been shown as full paradigms. Every other verb you were handed as a dictionary entry and then asked to conjugate.

① The ă — the sound, and the letter you drop

Where ă actually costs you: when it goes missing entirely. You wrote adresa, strada, numer, Ma numesc — a bare a or e where the letter belongs. That is a different word, not a different keystroke.

You wrote	Which means	You meant
adresa	the address (definite form — U05 material)	adresă
strada	the street	stradă
numer	nothing	număr
Ma numesc	nothing	Mă numesc

And the sound underneath it. Ukrainian gives you nothing here: «молоко» keeps three full [ɔ]. Russian gives you it exactly — «молоко» [məlɐˈko], that first vowel is ă. English backup: the a in about.

două

two (f.)

bună

good (f.)

limbă

language

vârstă

age — ă and â in one word

adresă

address

stradă

street

număr

number — ă twice

o sută

one hundred

Final -ă is not decoration. adresă = "address"; adresa = "the address". Dropping the breve changes the word.

② What you had, and what was missing

Verb	Given as	TEST 1 result
a fi	full paradigm (U01 visual)	2/2 correct
a avea	full paradigm (U02 visual)	2/2 correct
a locui	dictionary entry only	0/2 — „locuti", „locute"
a lucra	dictionary entry only	0/1 — „lucrec"
a vorbi	dictionary entry only	0/1 — „vorbem"

4/4 on the two you were taught, 0/4 on the three you were not. That is not a memory problem. That is a missing table.

③ The three classes — every verb you own

A Romanian verb's infinitive ends in -a, -i/-î, or -e. That ending picks the endings. Two of the classes also insert an infix — -ez- or -esc- — which you must learn per verb, like gender.

Named, not taught: there is a fourth infinitive ending, -ea — a vedea (to see), a putea (to be able), and a avea itself. Its group arrives with the verb-class system in U06; the form poți (you can) cited below belongs to it.

	a lucra	a învăța	a locui	a vorbi	a înțelege
class	-a, -ez-	-a, bare	-i, -esc-	-i, -esc-	-e, bare
eu	lucrez	învăț	locuiesc	vorbesc	înțeleg
tu	lucrezi	înveți	locuiești	vorbești	înțelegi
el / ea	lucrează	învață	locuiește	vorbește	înțelege
noi	lucrăm	învățăm	locuim	vorbim	înțelegem
voi / dvs.	lucrați	învățați	locuiți	vorbiți	înțelegeți
ei / ele	lucrează	învață	locuiesc	vorbesc	înțeleg

Plus the two irregulars you already own: a fi — sunt, ești, este, suntem, sunteți, sunt · a avea — am, ai, are, avem, aveți, au. And a iubi follows a vorbi exactly: iubesc, iubești, iubește, iubim, iubiți, iubesc.

The rule that fixes „vorbem" → vorbim:
noi and voi drop the infix and keep the infinitive's own vowel.
a lucra → lucrăm / lucrați · a vorbi → vorbim / vorbiți · a înțelege → înțelegem / înțelegeți

Notice the shape of the infix. It is present in eu, tu, el, ei — the four "singular-ish" slots — and absent in noi, voi. Every one of your invented forms broke this: „locuti" dropped the infix where it is required, „lucraște" borrowed -ește from the -i class into an -a verb.

The two you keep blending — separate them by cognate

Verb	Means	English cognate that rescues	eu-form
a locui	to live, reside	locate — where you are located	locuiesc
a lucra	to work	lucrative — what work pays	lucrez

Locuiesc în București. Lucrez la o firmă.

I live in Bucharest. I work at a company.

③b Do I memorise all six? No — one.

Learn the infinitive plus the eu-form. The other five derive. That is why a Romanian dictionary prints exactly those two.

If you know…	…you get with it
a locui → eu locuiesc	locuiești · locuiește · locuim · locuiți · locuiesc
a lucra → eu lucrez	lucrezi · lucrează · lucrăm · lucrați · lucrează
a învăța → eu învăț	înveți · învață · învățăm · învățați · învață

One caveat: derivation gives you the endings. Some -a verbs also shift the stem vowel — învăț → înveți / învață — and no rule on this page predicts that. The shifted forms are stored with the verb, like gender.

Five rules that never break — for regular verbs

#	Rule	Holds for
1	tu always ends in -i	every verb, incl. irregulars — ești, ai, faci (you do), poți (you can)
2	voi / dvs. always ends in -ți	every verb — sunteți, aveți, faceți, locuiți
3	the infix sits in exactly four slots: eu, tu, el, ei	never in noi/voi
4	noi/voi take the infinitive's own vowel -a → -ăm/-ați · -i → -im/-iți · -e → -em/-eți	all regular verbs — this is what fixes „vorbem" → vorbim
5	two forms are always twins: -a verbs → el = ei (lucrează/lucrează) -i and -e verbs → eu = ei (vorbesc/vorbesc)	a fi obeys it (sunt/sunt); a avea does not (am/au) — a avea and a handful of U06+ irregulars are exactly why an irregular's paradigm is stored whole, not derived

The one lexical bit — and how to guess it

Class	Default guess	The exceptions
-i	-esc — right ~4 times in 5	a short list of very common inherited verbs runs bare: a veni → vin (to come), a dormi → dorm (to sleep), a simți → simt (to feel), a fugi → fug (to run, flee), a ieși → ies (to go out), a auzi → aud (to hear)
-a	genuinely mixed — but anything international takes -ez: a studia → studiez (to study), a telefona → telefonez (to phone), a organiza → organizez (to organize)	short everyday inherited verbs run bare: a cânta → cânt (to sing), a mânca → mănânc (to eat), a pleca → plec (to leave), a intra → intru (to enter)
-e	no infix, ever — nothing to guess	none

a lucra is the trap in your own set: short, everyday, inherited-looking — and it takes -ez anyway. When the guess and the dictionary disagree, the dictionary wins; that is what the eu-form is for.

④ The register endings, now across the whole system

This is G-0016 restated with real paradigms behind it. It is graded directly in the Speaking section.

	a fi	a avea	a face (to do, make)	a locui	a lucra
tu — always -i	ești	ai	faci	locuiești	lucrezi
dvs. — always -ți	sunteți	aveți	faceți	locuiți	lucrați

There is no form in Romanian that mixes them. „faciți", „aviți", „avești", „lucraște" are all the same error: an informal stem wearing a formal ending, or an ending imported from the wrong class.

Ce mai faci? Ce mai faceți?

How are you? — informal, then formal

Unde lucrezi? Unde lucrați?

Where do you work? — informal, then formal

Cum te numești? Cum vă numiți?

What is your name? — informal, then formal

⑤ The infinitive is not the eu-form

You wrote „a inteleg" and „a învaț". Those are the eu-forms with a stuck on the front — literally "to I-understand".

Infinitive	eu-form	What you wrote
a înțelege	înțeleg	a inteleg
a învăța	învăț	a învaț

Ukrainian marks the infinitive with a suffix (робити), English with a separate word (to work). Romanian does both at once: the particle a and the full infinitive stem. Take either one away and it is not an infinitive.

⑥ The five question words

Word	Means	Frame you must own
cine	who	Cine este el?
ce	what	Ce înseamnă „prieten"?
cum	how	Cum te numești? / Cum vă numiți?
unde	where	Unde locuiești? / Unde locuiți?
câți (m) · câte (f)	how many	Câți ani ai?

Cum te numești, never Ce. Romanian asks how you call yourself — same as Ukrainian «Як тебе звати». English "What is your name" is the odd one out, and it is the one that leaked in.

⑦ Four chunks that regressed since SES-005

All four were produced correctly two days ago and are wrong again today. They are chunks, not rules — they need repetition, not explanation.

Chunk	Today	Note
Cum te numești?	„Ce te numești?"	third regression of this item
Ce mai faceți?	blank	the formal greeting
pe strada X la numărul Y	prepositions blank	în / pe / la
o sută	„a sută" ×2	o = feminine one; sută is feminine. This a is the infinitive particle, not an article. Romanian does have an article spelled a — the possessive article al/a/ai/ale (cartea este a mea, the book is mine), arriving in U04 — but it never marks "a hundred".

Locuiesc în București, pe strada Florilor, la numărul doisprezece.

I live in Bucharest, on Florilor street, at number twelve.

o sută, două sute, o sută douăzeci

one hundred, two hundred, one hundred twenty

⑧ Guided attempts — say it, then reveal

1. She lives in Cluj and works in Iași.

Ea locuiește în Cluj și lucrează în Iași.
-esc- verb, then -ez- verb — both in the el/ea slot, infix present.

2. Do you speak Romanian? (to your boss)

Vorbiți română?
voi/dvs. drops the infix and keeps the infinitive's vowel: vorb-iți.

3. We speak Romanian, they speak Ukrainian.

Noi vorbim română, ei vorbesc ucraineană.
noi = vorbim (no infix) · ei = vorbesc (infix).

4. I don't understand. Do you understand? (informal)

Nu înțeleg. Înțelegi?
-e class, no infix anywhere.

5. She is 20 years old, he is 8.

Ea are douăzeci de ani, el are opt ani.
20 crosses the threshold → de. 8 does not → no de.

6. Where does he work? (asking about a colleague)

Unde lucrează el?
The el slot keeps the infix: lucrează. The el is optional — Unde lucrează? also stands.

7. I am learning Romanian. We are learning Romanian.

Învăț română. Învățăm română.
-a class, bare: învăț / învățăm.

8. She lives on Victoriei street, at number 90.

Ea locuiește pe strada Victoriei, la numărul nouăzeci.
The chunk from ⑦ with new fillers — and two ă to land: numărul, nouăzeci.