Breakdown of El ar fi schimbat istoria lumii.
fi
to be (sunt, ești, este, suntem, sunteți, sunt)
el
he
avea
to have
schimba
to change
Questions & Answers about El ar fi schimbat istoria lumii.
How does the past conditional work in ar fi schimbat?
It is built using three parts: the conditional auxiliary for "he" (ar), the invariable word fi (which acts like "have" in English past conditionals), and the past participle of the verb a schimba (schimbat).
Will fi or schimbat change if the subject is feminine or plural?
No, both fi and the past participle schimbat remain completely invariable in this tense. For example, "we would have changed" is noi am fi schimbat. Only the first word (the auxiliary) changes to match the subject.
Why does the word for "world" change from lume to lumii?
This is the genitive case, which we use to express possession or the word "of". To say "of the world", the feminine noun lume takes the genitive definite article ending, becoming lumii.
Could I just say istorie lumii instead of istoria lumii?
No, in Romanian, when a noun is followed by another noun in the genitive case (like lumii), the first noun must have the definite article attached to it. So, the base word istorie must become istoria (the history) to link properly.