The good news about the Romanian pluperfect is that you have already done most of the work. Its stem is the same stem you use for the past participle — the form you learned for the perfect compus. Once you can produce the participle, the pluperfect is almost free: drop the participle's final -t (or use the bare stem) and bolt on the endings -sem, -seși, -se, -serăm, -serăți, -seră. This page walks through each conjugation class, shows why the participle link makes the irregulars painless, and lists the small set of verbs you simply have to memorize.
The master formula
participle stem + -sem / -seși / -se / -serăm / -serăți / -seră
The "participle stem" is the participle minus its ending. For most verbs the participle ends in -t, and the pluperfect stem is what is left once you account for that ending and the linking vowel. In practice it is easiest to learn the pluperfect by class, because the linking vowel (a, u, i) differs.
Class I (-a verbs): the -a- linker
Class I verbs (infinitive in -a, participle in -at) keep the a of the participle and add the endings. The stem is the participle minus -t: cântat → cânta-.
| Person | a cânta (cântat) | a lucra (lucrat) |
|---|---|---|
| eu | cântasem | lucrasem |
| tu | cântaseși | lucraseși |
| el / ea | cântase | lucrase |
| noi | cântaserăm | lucraserăm |
| voi | cântaserăți | lucraserăți |
| ei / ele | cântaseră | lucraseră |
Lucrasem toată noaptea, așa că eram epuizat dimineața.
I had worked all night, so I was exhausted in the morning.
Ne mutaserăm deja când au venit vecinii noi.
We had already moved in when the new neighbors arrived.
Class IV (-i / -î verbs): the -i- linker
Class IV verbs have participles in -it (or -ât for the -î subtype). They take an i linking vowel: dormit → dormi- → dormisem; citit → citi- → citisem.
| Person | a dormi (dormit) | a citi (citit) | a coborî (coborât) |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | dormisem | citisem | coborâsem |
| tu | dormiseși | citiseși | coborâseși |
| el / ea | dormise | citise | coborâse |
| noi | dormiserăm | citiserăm | coborâserăm |
| voi | dormiserăți | citiserăți | coborâserăți |
| ei / ele | dormiseră | citiseră | coborâseră |
Citisem deja recenzia, dar tot am vrut să văd filmul.
I had already read the review, but I still wanted to see the film.
Copiii adormiseră până să ajungem acasă.
The children had fallen asleep by the time we got home.
Classes II and III: the -u- linker (mostly)
These are the classes where the participle stem really earns its keep, because many of these verbs have participles in -ut or in an irregular consonant + -s. The rule is simple: use the participle stem you already know.
- Participles in -ut (most of class II/III): take -u-. văzut → văzusem; avut → avusesem; făcut → făcusem.
- Participles in -s: the -s is already there, so you just add the endings. mers → mersesem; scris → scrisesem; spus → spusesem; pus → pusesem.
| Person | a vedea (văzut) | a merge (mers) | a scrie (scris) |
|---|---|---|---|
| eu | văzusem | mersesem | scrisesem |
| tu | văzuseși | merseseși | scriseseși |
| el / ea | văzuse | mersese | scrisese |
| noi | văzuserăm | merseserăm | scriseserăm |
| voi | văzuserăți | merseserăți | scriseserăți |
| ei / ele | văzuseră | merseseră | scriseseră |
Văzuse filmul de două ori înainte să-l recomande.
He had seen the film twice before he recommended it.
Îți scrisesem un mesaj lung, dar nu s-a trimis.
I had written you a long message, but it didn't send.
The irregulars
Because the pluperfect rides on the participle, "irregular" really just means "the participle is irregular." There are very few. Learn these four high-frequency ones and you have covered almost all the trouble:
| Infinitive | Participle | Pluperfect (eu / el) |
|---|---|---|
| a fi (to be) | fost | fusesem / fusese |
| a avea (to have) | avut | avusesem / avusese |
| a face (to do/make) | făcut | făcusem / făcuse |
| a da (to give) | dat | dădusem / dăduse |
Two notes. A fi uses the special stem fuse- (from the Latin perfect stem), not fost-: it is fusesem, never fostsem. And a da inserts a d: the stem is dădu- (dădusem), parallel to its perfect simplu dădui.
Fusesem deja la doctor, deci știam ce am.
I had already been to the doctor, so I knew what was wrong with me.
Avusese o zi grea și voia doar să doarmă.
He had had a hard day and just wanted to sleep.
Făcuserăm tot ce ne ceruseră, dar tot nu erau mulțumiți.
We had done everything they had asked of us, but they still weren't satisfied.
Le dădusem banii cu o zi înainte.
I had given them the money the day before.
Common Mistakes
❌ Am avut avut o problemă.
Incorrect — a doubled participle is not a tense; 'I had had' is the single pluperfect 'avusesem'.
✅ Avusesem o problemă.
I had had a problem.
❌ Mergusem la magazin.
Incorrect — 'a merge' has the participle 'mers', so the pluperfect is 'mersesem', not a -u- form.
✅ Mersesem la magazin.
I had gone to the shop.
❌ Fostsem acolo de dimineață.
Incorrect — 'a fi' uses the stem 'fuse-', not the participle 'fost'.
✅ Fusesem acolo de dimineață.
I had been there since the morning.
❌ Scrisem deja scrisoarea.
Incorrect — the participle is 'scris', so the stem already ends in -s; the pluperfect is 'scrisesem' (double -se-), not 'scrisem'.
✅ Scrisesem deja scrisoarea.
I had already written the letter.
Key Takeaways
- Build the pluperfect from the participle stem
- -sem / -seși / -se / -serăm / -serăți / -seră.
- Linking vowel by class: Class I keeps -a- (cântasem); Class IV keeps -i- / -â- (dormisem, coborâsem); Classes II/III use -u- for -ut participles (văzusem) and add directly onto -s participles (mersesem, scrisesem).
- Master the participles and the pluperfect comes almost free — "irregular" just means "irregular participle."
- The four to memorize: fusesem (a fi), avusesem (a avea), făcusem (a face), dădusem (a da).
- Never reach for a two-word periphrastic guess like am avut avut — the pluperfect is always one word.
Now practice Romanian
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Start learning Romanian→Related Topics
- The Pluperfect (Mai-mult-ca-perfectul): OverviewB2 — An introduction to Romanian's one-word pluperfect — a single synthetic 'had done' tense (cântasem, plecase) that is unique among the Romance languages and fully alive in everyday speech.
- Using the PluperfectB2 — When and why to use the Romanian pluperfect — marking the earlier of two past events in narration and reported speech, contrasting it with the perfect compus, and weaving it together with the imperfect.
- Frequent Irregular ParticiplesB1 — A frequency-ordered reference of the must-know irregular past participles — the small set of verbs that covers most spoken-past usage.
- Past Participle: Classes II and III (-ut, -s, -t)B1 — The irregular-rich participles of Classes II and III — the -ut, -s, and -t patterns, their stem changes, and why they must be memorized.
- The Four Conjugation ClassesA2 — How Romanian sorts verbs into four classes by infinitive ending, why class membership predicts the present tense, and the all-important -esc/-ăsc sub-pattern of class IV.