45
THE SUPINE MOOD
The supine is a non-personal mood. Formally it is identical to the participle (see the verbs
conjugated) and is always preceded by a preposition, mainly by the preposition de.
Examples:
George s-a apucat de scris teza de doctorat. George started to write his doctoral thesis.
E greu de crezut că el nu e român, pentru că vorbește așa de bine românește. It’s hard
to believe that he’s not a Romanian, since his Romanian is so good.
Trebuie să ne cumpărăm o mașină de spălat vase. We need to buy a dishwasher.
The supine is frequently used with the verbs a fi to be and a avea to have to indicate an
obbligation ar an action which is anticipated and has to be performed:
Avem mult de lucrat azi. We have a lot of work to do today.
Aici e de muncit o zi întreagă. There is a whole day of physical work to do here.
Instead of the supine, nouns are also used in such structures:
Avem mult de lucru azi. We have a lot of work to do today.
Aici e de muncă o zi întreagă. There is a whole day of physical work to do here.
The supine is used in set phrases and nominal patterns with various prepositions. Such
verbs, as: a se apuca de... to start doing sth, a se pune pe... to start doing sth very intensely,
a se pregăti de... to prepare, to get ready to do sth, a se sătura de... to be sick of doing sth,
a fi în stare de... to be able to do sth, a termina de... to finish doing sth, etc. are used with
the supine. They usually indicate the beginning or the end of an action, as well as the ability
to perform and continue (or not) an action.
Examples:
Finalmente ne-am apucat de mâncat. We finally started eating.
Copilul s-a pus pe plâns și nimeni nu știa de ce. The baby started crying and woludn’t
stop, and nobody knew why.
Ați terminat de scris mesajele pentru colegi? Have you guys finished writing the messages
for your classmates?
The supine can determine an adjective: apă bună de băut drinking water, water which one
can drink, cartofi de prăjit potatoes for making fries, brânză prea sărată pentru mâncat
ca atare cheese which is too salty to eat it as such, etc.
The supine can also combine with nouns in order to create name for objects by their purpose
and function: mașină de spălat = washer, mașină de gătit = cooking stove, mașină de
scris = typewriter, fier de călcat = iron (press iron for textiles), aparat de fotografiat =
photo camera, ochelari de citit = reading glasses, etc.
The structure noun + supine in the negative has a modal meaning: o vară de neuitat a
summer to remember = o vară care nu poate fi uitată; o greșeală de neiertat an
unforgivable mistake = o greșeală care nu poate fi uitată; un efort de neimaginat a hard
to imagine effort = un efort pe care ți-l poți imagina cu greu; etc.