Dacă știam, veneam
You know the standard way to talk about a past that did not happen: dacă aș fi știut, aș fi venit (if I had known, I would have come). In everyday speech Romanians usually say it with the imperfect in both halves: dacă știam, veneam. The meaning is exactly the same.
| standard (written, formal) | spoken |
|---|
| Dacă aș fi știut, aș fi venit. | Dacă știam, veneam. |
| Dacă ai fi plecat mai devreme, n-ai fi pierdut trenul. | Dacă plecai mai devreme, nu pierdeai trenul. |
| Dacă nu ar fi plouat, am fi mers la munte. | Dacă nu ploua, mergeam la munte. |
The forms are the ordinary imperfect (știam, plecai, ploua, mergeam), so there is nothing new to learn, only a new job for a tense you know.
Mixing the two
Speakers often mix them: the imperfect in one half, aș fi + participle in the other. Both orders are common.
The result on its own
The main clause can stand alone: the condition is left unsaid, or dar follows with what really happened. Veneam și eu = I would have come too. It is the same imperfect you see after să fi: Să fi verificat laboratorul, nu făceam eroarea.
And a phrase you will hear all the time: dacă nu era + a person = if it hadn't been for them.
When to use it
This is colloquial Romanian, and very common: you will hear it at home, at work and in every film. In writing, in exams and in formal speech, use aș fi + participle. The imperfect also keeps its usual meaning: dacă ploua, stăteam acasă can mean "whenever it rained, we stayed home". When everyone knows the thing did not happen, it is the unreal "if it had…".
