Când am deschis emailul, văzusem deja că Ana trimisese raportul.

Ana

Breakdown of Când am deschis emailul, văzusem deja că Ana trimisese raportul.

• când: when
• a deschide: to open
• că: that

Questions & Answers about Când am deschis emailul, văzusem deja că Ana trimisese raportul.

What tense are văzusem and trimisese?

They are both in the pluperfect tense, called mai-mult-ca-perfectul in Romanian.

• văzusem = I had seen
• trimisese = she had sent

Romanian uses this tense to show that one past action happened before another past action.

Why is it am deschis in the first part, but văzusem and trimisese later?

Because the sentence describes three points in the past, and Romanian marks their order clearly.

Timeline:

1. Ana trimisese raportul = Ana had sent the report.
2. văzusem deja = I had already seen/noticed that.
3. am deschis emailul = then I opened the email.

So:

• am deschis is perfectul compus: the main past event used as the reference point.
• văzusem and trimisese are earlier than that, so they go into the pluperfect.

How do you form the pluperfect in Romanian?