If-clauses: dacă aș avea…

To talk about something imagined or unlikely now or in the future, Romanian uses the present conditional in both clauses: dacă + conditional, then conditional.

• Dacă aș avea timp, aș citi mai mult. (If I had time, I would read more.)
• Ce ai face dacă ai fi milionar? (What would you do if you were a millionaire?)

Unlike English (if I had), the if-clause does not use a past tense: it takes aș avea, ai fi, ar ști. The two clauses can come in either order. Ar putea (could) and ar trebui (should) are common in the main clause; ar trebui never changes for person.

Compare a real condition, which uses the present or the future: Dacă am timp, citesc. (If I have time, I read.) Dacă plouă, vom rămâne acasă. (If it rains, we will stay at home.)