How do you say this in Romanian? should, shouldn't, must/have to, don't have to, mustn't

See a translation

Romanian
English (US) Near fluent

Should = A trebui
Should not = A nu trebui
Must / have to = a trebui, a fi obligatoriu
Must not / have not to = A nu trebui, a nu fi obligatoriu
The difference between "a trebui" and "ar trebui" is the same as the difference between the verb in the infinitive mood (a trebui) and the same verb in the conditional mood (ar trebui).

Bulgarian

@Somatique I'm not sure I understand. What would be the difference between:

"You don't have to come"
"You must not come"

There is a very clear difference in meaning, so they can't both be "Nu trebuie să vii"

Romanian

should = ar trebui
shouldn't = n-ar trebui
must / have to = trebuie
mustn't / not have to = nu trebuie

A construction that can clarify if it's "not have to" or "mustn't" is "Nu trebuie s-o faci." ("You don't have to do it.") vs "Trebuie să n-o faci!" ("You mustn't do it!")
But the latter isn't quite used, so you'll have either to get it from the context or to use some workarounds. :D

3 likes

Somatique

Romanian
English (US) Near fluent

@Enchom Please don't mistake English for Romanian. In the latter language, there is only one translation for both the English sentences.

Bulgarian

@Somatique Well I'm not an idiot, I am aware phrases do not always directly translate between languages. However, since those two expressions are ones used quite often in everyday communication and they mean very different things, I just assumed that, even if with more words, there is a way to express which one of them you mean. I think @Roby99 explained just that, even if it is with a less-used phrase.

Romanian

If someone says "trebuie să nu" then it's obviously that it's a "must not", because the "nu" comes before the action.
However romanians, if it's a "trebuie + conjunctive" construction, tend to use the "nu" before "trebuie".

Romanian

So you get it from the context, or their voice, or who knows.
Or if you are the speaker, try to emphasize it, like "e esenţial să n-o faci" (it is essential that you not do it) [english subjunctive strikes again, lol :D]

2 likes

Bulgarian

@Roby99 I understand. It is quite similar in Bulgarian (my native language), but if we want to say strictly "don't have to" we use the phrase "there is no need to do this". However, since you haven't mentioned it, I suppose something like "nu are nevoie de faci asta" is not correct or doesn't sound good?

Romanian

nu e nevoie să faci asta*

of course it works, but I was mostly talking about mustn't, because "nu e nevoie să faci asta" is basically not have to, which is much easier to get. :P

Bulgarian

@Roby99 Oh, well, I understand then. I will just use "nu trebuie" mostly for "mustn't" and "nu e nevoie" for "don't have to". Sounds good enough. Thank you :)

Romanian

@Enchom yeah you should be fine if you do that :D

maple88

5 May 2017

English (US)
French (France) Near fluent
Romanian

You mustn't go out at night, it's too dangerous! = Să nu te duci afară noaptea că e prea periculos. = Trebuie să nu te duci afară ...

You shouldnt go out at night, it's dangerous. = n-ar trebui să te duci afară noaptea... = cred că n-ar trebui să te duci ... (using "cred" softens it a little more).

You don't have to eat, if you are not hungry = nu trebuie să mănânci dacă nu ți-e foame. Using "dacă" helps make the first part an option, not a requirement.

You don't have to eat. = ne e nevoie să mănânci. Nu e obligatoriu să mănânci.

You have to not eat = you must not eat. = trebuie să nu mănânci. = nu trebuie să mănânci (there could be slight differences between these two, but it's getting late.)