The present conditional ("would do") is one of the easiest Romanian tenses to build, because the verb itself never changes. You take the bare short infinitive — the citation form minus its marker a — and put the conditional auxiliary in front of it. The auxiliary does all the work of marking person; the verb stays frozen. This page walks through the formation for a verb of each conjugation class, the two irregular workhorses a fi and a avea, and the one genuinely fiddly part: where to slot pronoun clitics.
The formula
aș / ai / ar / am / ați / ar + bare short infinitive. That is the entire rule. The short infinitive is a cânta → cânta, a vedea → vedea, a merge → merge, a citi → citi. Strip the a, prepend the auxiliary, done.
One verb from each class
Romanian verbs fall into four conjugation classes by their infinitive ending. In the conditional, the class is irrelevant to the auxiliary — it only determines the shape of the infinitive that follows.
| Person | Class 1 a cânta | Class 2 a vedea | Class 3 a merge | Class 4 a citi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| eu | aș cânta | aș vedea | aș merge | aș citi |
| tu | ai cânta | ai vedea | ai merge | ai citi |
| el / ea | ar cânta | ar vedea | ar merge | ar citi |
| noi | am cânta | am vedea | am merge | am citi |
| voi | ați cânta | ați vedea | ați merge | ați citi |
| ei / ele | ar cânta | ar vedea | ar merge | ar citi |
Notice there is no stem change, no -esc- infix, no class-1 -ez- infix — none of the headaches of the present indicative. Even verbs that take an infix in the present (a citi → present citesc) drop it entirely in the conditional: aș citi, never aș citesc.
Aș cânta la nuntă, dacă m-ar ruga cineva.
I'd sing at the wedding, if someone asked me.
Ce-aș vedea dacă aș urca pe acoperiș?
What would I see if I climbed up onto the roof?
Ai merge cu mine până la magazin?
Would you come with me to the shop?
Ar citi orice, numai romane polițiste nu.
She'd read anything, except detective novels.
The two essential irregulars: a fi and a avea
These two are irregular only in the sense that you use them constantly. Their short infinitives are fi and avea, so they slot into the formula like everyone else: aș fi, aș avea.
| Person | a fi → fi (to be) | a avea → avea (to have) |
|---|---|---|
| eu | aș fi | aș avea |
| tu | ai fi | ai avea |
| el / ea | ar fi | ar avea |
| noi | am fi | am avea |
| voi | ați fi | ați avea |
| ei / ele | ar fi | ar avea |
Ar fi minunat să te revăd!
It would be wonderful to see you again!
Am avea mai mult timp dacă am locui mai aproape de centru.
We'd have more time if we lived closer to the centre.
Polite and hypothetical uses in context
A few natural sentences to anchor the forms before we tackle clitics:
Aș vrea să rezerv o masă pentru două persoane.
I'd like to book a table for two.
N-ar strica să mai dormim o oră.
It wouldn't hurt to sleep another hour.
Clitic placement: pronouns hug the auxiliary
When a pronoun clitic (te, îl, îi, mă, ne, le, o, se, etc.) joins the conditional, it goes in front of the auxiliary and usually fuses to it with a hyphen, because the auxiliary begins or ends with a vowel. This is the one part of the formation that takes practice.
The pattern is clitic — auxiliary — infinitive, written with an elision:
| Plain | With clitic | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| aș ajuta | te-aș ajuta | I'd help you |
| aș spune | i-aș spune | I'd tell him/her |
| aș vrea | aș vrea-o | I'd want it (fem.) |
| ar întreba | m-ar întreba | he/she would ask me |
| am revedea | ne-am revedea | we'd see each other again |
Te-aș ajuta cu mutarea, dar sunt plecat în weekend.
I'd help you with the move, but I'm away this weekend.
I-aș spune adevărul, dacă aș fi în locul tău.
I'd tell him the truth, if I were in your shoes.
M-ar deranja dacă ai fuma aici.
It would bother me if you smoked here.
Most clitics sit before the auxiliary (te-aș, i-aș, m-ar, ne-am). The feminine direct-object clitic o is the famous exception: with the aș-conditional it attaches after the verb, aș vrea-o, aș cumpăra-o — the same special behaviour it shows in the perfect compus (am văzut-o).
Mașina asta? Aș cumpăra-o pe loc, dacă aș avea banii.
This car? I'd buy it on the spot, if I had the money.
Common Mistakes
❌ Aș a cânta la petrecere.
Incorrect — the conditional takes the BARE infinitive; never keep the marker 'a'.
✅ Aș cânta la petrecere.
I'd sing at the party.
❌ Aș citesc cartea, dacă aș avea timp.
Incorrect — drop the present-tense '-esc' infix; the conditional uses the plain infinitive 'citi'.
✅ Aș citi cartea, dacă aș avea timp.
I'd read the book, if I had time.
❌ Aș te ajuta cu plăcere.
Incorrect — the clitic must fuse to the front of the auxiliary, not sit between auxiliary and verb.
✅ Te-aș ajuta cu plăcere.
I'd be glad to help you.
❌ O aș cumpăra imediat.
Incorrect — the feminine clitic 'o' attaches to the end of the verb in this construction.
✅ Aș cumpăra-o imediat.
I'd buy it right away.
Key Takeaways
- Present conditional = aș / ai / ar / am / ați / ar + bare short infinitive; the verb is frozen, the auxiliary carries the person.
- It uses the same infinitive as the voi-future — only the auxiliary series differs (voi → aș).
- No stem changes and no present-tense infixes: citesc but aș citi.
- a fi → aș fi; a avea → aș avea — both essential, both regular in the conditional.
- Clitics fuse to the front of the auxiliary (te-aș, i-aș, m-ar); feminine o is the exception and goes on the end (aș cumpăra-o).
Now practice Romanian
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- The Conditional-Optative: OverviewB1 — An introduction to condițional-optativul, Romanian's 'would' mood — built from the dedicated auxiliary aș, ai, ar, am, ați, ar plus the bare short infinitive — covering polite requests, hypotheticals, and wishes, with the homograph traps spelled out.
- Past Conditional: aș fi + participleB2 — How to form the past conditional — conditional auxiliary plus invariable 'fi' plus the participle — for unrealized past hypotheticals, and how everyday speech replaces it with the double imperfect.
- Conditionals: dacă-clauses and the Conditional MoodB1 — How the conditional mood pairs with dacă (if) clauses across the three conditional types — real, hypothetical, and past counterfactual — and why Romanian uses the plain indicative, not a special form, after dacă in real conditionals.
- The Literary Future (voi + infinitive)B1 — How to form Romanian's formal future — the auxiliary voi/vei/va/vom/veți/vor plus the bare short infinitive — where it belongs (news, literature, officialdom), and how clitics attach to it.
- The Long and Short InfinitiveA2 — Romanian's two infinitives — the short infinitive with the particle 'a' (a cânta) used as the verbal infinitive, and the long infinitive (cântare) that has largely turned into a feminine noun.