რომ + Pluperfect

If I Had Known

Level 6Sounds Like rom

To imagine a different past, put the condition in the pluperfect after რომ and the result in the conditional: რომ მცოდნოდა, მოვიდოდი.

How It Works

To talk about a past that did not happen, Georgian uses two forms:

Condition: რომ + pluperfectResult: conditional
რომ მცოდნოდა,მოვიდოდი.
ქოლგა რომ წამომეღო,არ დავსველდებოდი.
ნინოს რომ არ დაერეკა,ვერაფერს გავიგებდით.

(If I had known, I would have come. If I had brought an umbrella, I wouldn't have gotten wet. If Nino hadn't called, we wouldn't have found out anything.)

The condition is in the pluperfect, so a doing verb has its doer in the dative: ნინოს რომ დაერეკა. The result is in the conditional (Level 4), the future with -დ- endings: მოვიდოდი, გავიგებდით.

რომ usually follows the first word or phrase of its clause: ქოლგა რომ წამომეღო. When the clause is only a verb, რომ comes first: რომ მცოდნოდა.

For now or the future, use რომ with the present subjunctive (Level 4): დრო რომ მქონდეს, მოვიდოდი (if I had time, I would come). The result is the same conditional, so the condition shows which time you mean.

Examples (4)

  1. რომ მცოდნოდა, მოვიდოდი.

    If I had known, I would have come.

    მცოდნოდა is the pluperfect of ვიცი.

  2. ქოლგა რომ წამომეღო, არ დავსველდებოდი.

    If I had brought an umbrella, I wouldn't have gotten wet.

    რომ follows the first word of its clause.

  3. ნინოს რომ არ დაერეკა, ვერაფერს გავიგებდით.

    If Nino hadn't called, we wouldn't have found out anything.

    The doer of the pluperfect, ნინოს, is in the dative.

  4. დრო რომ გქონოდა, დაგვეხმარებოდი?

    If you had had time, would you have helped us?

    The result is a conditional question.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting the result in the future.

    რომ მცოდნოდა, მოვალ.
    რომ მცოდნოდა, მოვიდოდი.

    The result of an imagined past is in the conditional, the would form: მოვიდოდი.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

რომ + PluperfectLevel 6If I Had Known

Learn This First

If I had known uses რომ with the pluperfect.

Words in This Pattern

რომ