Learn Romanian: Dacă strategia va funcționa, vom continua afacerea. - If the strategy works, we will continue the business.

In English, we use the present tense after "if" to talk about the future. In Romanian, when a condition is about a real future event, you must use the future tense right after dacă (if). It literally translates to "If the strategy will work, we will continue the business."

What are va and vom in this sentence?

They are helper verbs used to build the future tense. You take a form of the verb "to will" and add the dictionary form of your main verb without the word "a". Here, va means "he/she/it will" for va funcționa, and vom means "we will" for vom continua.

I notice both strategia and afacerea end in "a". Is this the word for "the"?

Yes! In Romanian, "the" is attached to the end of the word. The base words are strategie and afacere, which are both feminine nouns. Adding the feminine definite article -a gives us strategia (the strategy) and afacerea (the business).

Can I use the verb a funcționa to say "I work at a hospital"?

No, a funcționa specifically means "to function" or "to operate" successfully, like a machine, a plan, or a strategy. To talk about a person doing a job, you should use the verbs a lucra or a munci.