Where you are, where you're going

Unit 7, first half — la, în, pe, and the verb that carries the motion.

Unit 7 of 30, and this half opens it. Units 3 and 5 gave you the noun and its article; unit 6 gave you the verb. This half joins them into the thing you need most in a city: saying where. Afterwards you can say where you are, where you are going, where you have come from, and how you are travelling. What it does not give you yet is how to tell somebody else to go there — turn left, take the second street. Those are commands, and they arrive in unit 7's second half.

1 The whole system

1.1 · One phrase does two jobs

Read down the middle two columns. The place-phrase never changes shape. Only the verb in front of it does.

The question	Verb	Place	English
Where are you?	Sunt	la gară	I am at the station.
Where are you going?	Merg	la gară	I am going to the station.
Where are you coming from?	Vin	de la gară	I am coming from the station.

Sunt la gară. Merg la gară. Vin de la gară.

I am at the station. I am going to the station. I am coming from the station.

Rows one and two are the same four letters — la gară. Romanian has no separate where-to form. Row three is the only one that adds anything, and what it adds is a single word in front.

1.2 · Three prepositions, chosen by the kind of place

Word	Use it when the place is…	Examples	English
la	an errand, an institution, a point on the map — the default	la școală · la piață · la doctor	at/to school · at/to the market · at/to the doctor
în	a bounded space you are physically inside of	în casă · în parc · în oraș	in the house · in the park · in town
pe	a surface, or something you move along	pe masă · pe stradă · pe jos	on the table · in the street · on foot

la școală. în parc. pe stradă.

at school. in the park. in the street.

English splits in the street and on the table into two prepositions. Romanian puts both on pe: a street is a line you travel along, and that counts as a surface here.

1.3 · The same noun, both ways

These are not two ways of saying one thing. They say different things, and the difference is the one English marks with at against inside.

Noun	with la — the errand	with în — the building
școală	la școală at school, studying	în școală inside the school building
magazin	la magazin at the shop, shopping	în magazin inside the shop
spital	la spital at the hospital, as a patient	în spital inside the hospital

la magazin. în magazin.

at the shop. inside the shop.

1.4 · The noun goes bare — except after cu

You met this rule on 17 August and scored 3 of 3 on it: after a preposition the definite article comes off. It holds here without exception for the three words above.

Bare	Not	English
la magazin	~~la magazinul~~	at the shop
în oraș	~~în orașul~~	in town
pe stradă	~~pe strada~~	in the street

cu — with, by — is the exception the same rule already named. Say how you travel and the article stays on:

Means	Built from	English
cu autobuzul	cu + autobuz	by bus
cu metroul	cu + metrou	by metro
pe jos	pe + jos	on foot — no article, no cu

Merg cu autobuzul. Merg pe jos.

I go by bus. I go on foot.

There is a second way to say the same thing, with a lua and a plain object: Iau autobuzul — I take the bus. The article stays on there too, for the ordinary reason: it is a specific bus and nothing has stripped it.

Iau autobuzul.

I take the bus.

1.5 · acasă refuses every preposition

Romanian	English	Why
Sunt acasă.	I am at home.	no la
Merg acasă.	I am going home.	no la
Vin de acasă.	I am coming from home.	de only

Sunt acasă. Merg acasă. Vin de acasă.

I am at home. I am going home. I am coming from home.

The preposition is already inside the word. acasă is a + casă, the house you already know, from Latin ad casam — to the house. Putting la in front would be saying it twice.

1.6 · The from-side is not a fourth set

Every from is de plus the preposition you already chose. One of the three fuses.

Where	Where from	What happened
la gară	de la gară	de + la, written apart
în casă	din casă	de + în fuse into one word
pe masă	de pe masă	de + pe, written apart

de la gară. din casă. de pe masă.

from the station. out of the house. off the table.

din is not a new word to you — you have been using it since July in Sunt din Ucraina, I am from Ukraine. What is new is that it was never one word: it is în with de welded on the front.

1.7 · Four verbs of motion

One column is already yours. Read across a row to see how little is actually new.

	a merge (III) to go — yours	a ajunge (III) to arrive	a veni (IV) to come	a lua (I) to take
eu	merg	ajung	vin	iau
tu	mergi	ajungi	vii	iei
el / ea	merge	ajunge	vine	ia
noi	mergem	ajungem	venim	luăm
voi	mergeți	ajungeți	veniți	luați
ei / ele	merg	ajung	vin	iau

merg, mergi, merge, mergem, mergeți, merg

a merge, present

ajung, ajungi, ajunge, ajungem, ajungeți, ajung

a ajunge, present

vin, vii, vine, venim, veniți, vin

a veni, present

iau, iei, ia, luăm, luați, iau

a lua, present

a ajunge costs you nothing. Column two is column one with a different stem — the same six endings, in the same six places, because both verbs are group III. If you can run a merge you can already run it.

Two stems each for the other two. a veni uses vin- in the singular and ven- at noi and voi; a lua uses ia- in the singular and lu- at noi and voi. Both plural stems are what the infinitive already shows you, so the memorising is the singular alone.

And the collapse you met last week holds in all four: outside group I, eu and ei share one form. The bottom row repeats the top row every time.

2 The load

Three prepositions, six verb cells, one exception, one fusion.

Three words to choose between — la · în · pe. When you cannot decide, la is right more often than the other two together.
Nothing at all to memorise about direction. There is no second form to learn, because Romanian does not have one. This is the rare case where the work is subtraction.
Six verb cells — the singular of a veni and the singular of a lua. The other eighteen cells in that table derive from things you already run.
One exception — cu keeps the article where la · în · pe strip it.
One fusion — de + în = din. The other two from-forms are written apart and need nothing.

3 The delta

Ukrainian marks the difference between where and where to on the noun, and leaves the preposition alone:

The place	Ukrainian — two forms	Romanian — one
the shop	в магазині (where) в магазин (where to)	la magazin both
the street	на вулиці (where) на вулицю (where to)	pe stradă both

Two endings on the left, one shape on the right. The information you are used to carrying on the ending has moved onto the verb: sunt against merg. Nothing is lost and nothing is added — it is stored somewhere else. Your habit of inflecting the noun has no work to do here, and that is the part that takes getting used to.

The trap. Ukrainian «в магазин», «в школу» will hand you în magazin, în școală for a destination, because «в» looks like în and means what you want. Romanian wants la magazin, la școală. The catch is that în magazin is a real phrase, so nothing will look wrong — it just says you are standing inside the building. Pick în only when inside is the thing you mean.

4 Worked examples

“I'm going to the pharmacy.”

What kind of place? An errand at an institution → la.
After a preposition the article comes off → farmacie, not farmacia.
Direction? Nothing to do. The verb does it → merg.

Merg la farmacie.

Merg la farmacie.

I am going to the pharmacy.

“We're coming from the station by bus.”

From-side → de + la = de la gară.
How you travel → cu keeps the article → cu autobuzul.
a veni at noi takes the plural stem → venim.

Venim de la gară cu autobuzul.

Venim de la gară cu autobuzul.

We are coming from the station by bus.

“She's in the park and gets home at seven.”

A bounded space, and inside is what is meant → în parc.
Home takes no preposition at all → acasă.
a ajunge at ea runs group III → ajunge. The clock is last week's: la ora șapte.

Este în parc și ajunge acasă la ora șapte.

Este în parc și ajunge acasă la ora șapte.

She is in the park and gets home at seven o'clock.

5 The words

Eight items. Tap a row to uncover it; the buttons hide one whole side so you can test yourself in either direction.

	Romanian	English	Anchor
autobuz bus Aștept autobuzul. I am waiting for the bus.	autobuz•••	bus•••	Neuter — un autobuz, două autobuze. UA автобус, the same international word, and the gender behaves the way every borrowed neuter here does.•••
tren train Trenul ajunge la ora opt. The train arrives at eight o'clock.	tren•••	train•••	Neuter — un tren, două trenuri. Nothing from Ukrainian: потяг is unrelated. English train and French train carry it instead. Note the plural takes -uri, the neuter's other ending.•••
bilet ticket Un bilet, vă rog. One ticket, please.	bilet•••	ticket•••	Neuter — un bilet, două bilete. UA білет, the same borrowing from French billet. English is the false friend here: a billet is not a ticket.•••
stație stop, station Unde este stația? Where is the stop?	stație•••	stop; station•••	Feminine — o stație, două stații. UA станція, matching closely. Keep it apart from gară, which you already have: a railway station is a gară, and a stație is where a bus or a metro stops.•••
a veni to come Venim acasă. We are coming home.	a veni•••	to come•••	Group IV, no infix. Ukrainian offers nothing — приходити is built from a different root. Latin venire reaches English in convene, venue, advent. Two stems: vin- in the singular, ven- at noi and voi.•••
a lua to take Iau un bilet. I take a ticket.	a lua•••	to take•••	No hook in any language you hold, and none is invented here — store it cold. Group I on paper, irregular in practice: the singular is ia- and shares nothing with the infinitive. Also the everyday verb for taking transport and taking a meal.•••
a ajunge to arrive, to get to Ajung la ora cinci. I arrive at five o'clock.	a ajunge•••	to arrive; to get to•••	No hook — store it cold. Its whole present runs the pattern you already have from a merge, cell for cell, so the only new thing is the stem. It also means to be enough, which you will meet later.•••
acasă home, at home Ajungem acasă. We are getting home.	acasă•••	home; at home•••	An adverb, so it never changes shape and never takes an article. Built on casă, which you have had since 7 August, with Latin ad welded on the front — the preposition is already inside, which is why you never add one.•••

6 Named, not taught

Commands. Mergeți drept! — Go straight! The form that tells someone else what to do is unit 7's second half, together with la stânga and la dreapta, left and right.
At someone's place. la mine, la tine — at my place, at your place. Usable as fixed phrases now; the pronouns inside them are unit 13.
More prepositions. lângă (next to), spre (towards), până la (as far as). No unit owns these; they arrive as the material needs them.
The past. I went, I arrived, I took the bus — every sentence on this page is present tense only. The past tense is unit 9.
Streets by name. Victoriei street needs the genitive, which is unit 12.

7 Your turn

Six items, on words that appear nowhere else on this page. Build each one forwards: what kind of place, then the article, then the verb.

1 · “I'm going to the museum.”

Merg la muzeu. — an errand at an institution, so la; bare noun after it.

2 · “We are at the bank.”

Suntem la bancă. — same phrase you would use for going there. Only the verb says which one it is.

3 · “The book is on the desk.”

Cartea este pe birou. — a surface, so pe. The subject keeps its article; only the noun after the preposition loses one.

4 · “I'm coming from the restaurant.”

Vin de la restaurant.

5 · “Are you coming out of the church?” (tu)

Vii din biserică? — out of is the inside relation, so the fused form.

6 · “They get to the hotel by train.”

Ajung la hotel cu trenul. — bare after la, article after cu, in one sentence.

8 Carry away

la unless you mean inside · the verb carries the motion, not the preposition · bare noun after la · în · pe, article after cu.

Sources. Gender, plural and the full present of every verb on this page checked against dexonline on 2026-08-25: autobuz, tren, bilet, stație, a veni, a lua, a ajunge, acasă. The preposition rules in sections 1.2 to 1.6 are stated from descriptive grammar and are unverified in this workspace's sense — no dictionary attests a usage rule, and there is no tutor yet. The Ukrainian case forms in section 3 are the learner's own language and are marked ? nowhere for that reason; correct them if they are wrong.