Time Clauses With când

When Clauses

Level 2

The word când is the standard Romanian way to say 'when'. It works for questions (When are you coming?) and for connecting actions (I'll call you when I arrive).

How It Works

The conjunction când is one of the most frequent words in Romanian. It serves two primary roles:

1. Interrogative: It functions as a question word to ask about time. For example: Când plecăm? (When are we leaving?)

2. Temporal Conjunction: It connects a main action to a specific time or another event.

  • Present/General: Când plouă, stau în casă. (When it rains, I stay inside.)
  • Past: Când eram copil, mâncam multă ciocolată. (When I was a child, I ate a lot of chocolate.)
  • Future: In Romanian, you can use the present indicative or the future tense after când. Te sun când ajung (I'll call you when I arrive) is very common, even though the arrival is in the future.

Special Narrative Construction:
There is a specific pattern când + să + subjunctive which means 'just as I was about to...'.
Example: Când să ies din casă, a început ploaia. (Just as I was about to leave the house, the rain started.)

Punctuation Note:
If the când clause comes first, use a comma. If it follows the main clause, a comma is usually not needed.

Examples (5)

  1. Când începe filmul?

    When does the movie start?

    Word by Word: When starts the-movie?

    A simple interrogative use of 'când' at the start of a question.

  2. Te sun când ajung acasă.

    I will call you when I get home.

    Word by Word: You (I) call when (I) arrive home.

    Here, the present tense 'ajung' is used for a future event, which is very common in Romanian.

  3. Când eram mic, locuiam la țară.

    When I was little, I lived in the countryside.

    Word by Word: When (I) was little, (I) lived at country.

    Using 'când' with the imperfect tense to describe a past state.

  4. Când plouă, luăm umbrela.

    When it rains, we take the umbrella.

    Word by Word: When (it) rains, (we) take the-umbrella.

    A general truth or habit using the present indicative.

  5. Când să plec, a sunat telefonul.

    Just as I was about to leave, the phone rang.

    Word by Word: When to leave, has rung the-phone.

    This uses the special 'când + să' construction to show an interrupted intention.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the subjunctive for future 'when' clauses.

    Te sun când să ajung.
    Te sun când ajung.

    Learners of other Romance languages often try to use the subjunctive here. In Romanian, use the indicative (present or future) for factual time clauses.

  • Using when for the intended uncertain condition if it rains tomorrow.

    Când plouă mâine, nu mergem.
    Dacă plouă mâine, nu mergem.

    For the intended condition if it rains tomorrow, use dacă. Când presents the event as a time reference or expected occurrence; it is not automatically ungrammatical with a future event.

How It Connects

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Time Clauses With cândLevel 2When Clauses

Learn This First

To learn 'când' temporal clauses, you first need to be familiar with 'când' as a basic interrogative word. Additionally, since these clauses connect two actions, you must be comfortable with basic verb conjugation and sentence structure to form complete, meaningful thoughts.

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Words in This Pattern

cândcând