# Future :  o să + subj.



## J.F. de TROYES

Hello !

I must say this form is puzzling me. Forming a future from the subjunctive is not surprising because other languages do the same and _să_ is a conjunction similar to _que_ in French. But I am wondering why adding a pronoun can change a subjunctive into a future. I would be very interested in your explanations.
Thanks a lot.


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## jazyk

Take a look online at _Originea și evoluția viitorului în limba română_, and read especially pages 14 through 16. However, they don't specifically discuss why _o_.


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## farscape

In this case "O" is not a pronoun but an auxiliary verb, a colloquial form for "a avea". See here for details and examples: 

"

Unul din tipurile de viitor se compune din auxiliarul a avea la indicativul prezent neredus, în concurență cu o formă redusă la o, comună tuturor persoanelor, asociate verbului principal la prezentul conjunctivului: *am/o* să cânt, *ai/o* să vezi, *are/o* să bată, *avem/o* să zicem, *aveți/o* să iubiți, *au/o* să coboare."


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## danielstan

First of all the Romanian future tense expressed with the formula:

(Eu) am să + subjonctive

is a continuation of the Vulgar Latin future:
*infinitive *+ *habeo*
attested in Peregrinatio Aetheriae (_ubi diaconus perdixerit omnia quae *dicere habe*t_)
and present in Italian _canterò _(_cantare _+ _ho_), French _chanterai _(_chanter _+ _ai_) etc.

The replacement _am -> o_  is a general tendency in Romanian of reduction for auxiliary verbs.
This reduction is present in regional dialects even for the Past Perfect with the formula:
habeo + participle
_(El) a fost_   (standard Romanian, based on the dialect spoken in Wallachia)
_(El) o fost / o fo'_ (regional speech in Transylvania)

Example here: Cand s-o-mpartit norocul - versuri Ducu Berti | Versuri.ro
A popular song in Transylvanian dialect, with past perfect forms like:
_Fost-*am *eu dus_ (standard: _Eu am fost dus_)
But also dialectal forms like:
... _acela n-*o* fo plin_ (standard: _acela nu a fost plin_)

The other form of Romanian future, with the schema:
volere + infinitive
has also variants with auxiliary verb reduction, in popular speech:
_(Eu) voi fi _(standard) -> _(Eu) oi fi_ (popular)
_(El) va fi_ -> _(El) o fi _

The last issue to discuss is the replacement of infinitive by subjunctive in Romanian, which is a feature of Balkan Sprachbund (present in modern Greek, Albanian, Bulgarian).
The source of it is supposed to be modern Greek, which has the advantage of written sources over the centuries which attest this development, but this is not the only explanation.
In Southern Italian dialects (Calabrese and others), which suffered a Greek influence, the subjunctive is present in examples like:
_vogghiu mu dicu_

This aspect is treated by Al. Rosetti in his linguistic course notes:
Al-Rosetti- Priviri asupra limbii romane - partea a 2-a.pdf
pages 224 - 227.


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## J.F. de TROYES

Thanks so much for your explanations. I was misled by a small booklet about Romanian where the "o" of the future was said to be a personal pronoun , what seemed to me rather weird !  Sure it's now clearer and understandable.


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## Sardokan1.0

danielstan said:


> is a continuation of the Vulgar Latin future:
> *infinitive *+ *habeo*
> attested in Peregrinatio Aetheriae (_ubi diaconus perdixerit omnia quae *dicere habe*t_)
> and present in Italian _canterò _(_cantare _+ _ho_), French _chanterai _(_chanter _+ _ai_) etc.



Also Sardinian works in this way, but the infinitive goes after *"habeo"
*
_I will sing -> Happo a cantare (Habeo ad cantare)
You will sing -> Has a cantare (Habes ad cantare)
He, She will sing -> Hat a cantare (Habet ad cantare)
We will sing -> Hamus a cantare (Habemus ad cantare)
You will sing -> Hatis a cantare (Habetis ad cantare)
They will sing -> Han a cantare (Habent ad cantare)_


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