Ramona G?ncz?l-Davies, Dennis Deletant; Colloquial Romanian: The Complete Course for Beginners

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

uu englez

an Englishman

engl

ezi

Engl

ishmen

glia

England

Marea Britanie

Great Britain

un american

an American

americani

Americans

Statele Unite

The United States

Asking someone's name and

introducing onese

To ask someone's name in Romanian we can say either:

Cum vă numiţi?

What is your name?

(lit. How do you name yourself?)

Cum vă cheamă?

What is your name?

(lit. How do they caB you?)

In the dialogue we met two ways of presenting oneself:

Mă numesc Mike Foster

Eu sunt Rodica Mihai

third way is to say:

Mă cheamă Mike Foster

Mă cheamă Rodica Mihai

My name is Mike Foster

I'm Rodica Mihai

My name is Mike Foster

(lit. They caB me Mike Foster)

My name is Rodica Mihai

(lit. They caB me Rodica Mihai)

In the phrase Eu sunt Rodica Mihai, eu means 'I'.

The persons in Romanian are:

you

dumneavoastră you

dumneata

you

noi

voi

you

she

Note these examples:

Ea este româncă

Noi suntem englezi

Ei sunt americani

Ele sunt românce

ele

they (male)

they (female)

She is Romanian

We are English

They are American

They are Romanian

In the dialogue dumneavoastră was used. Unlike English,

Romanian has four forms for 'you'.

dumneavoastră (of ten abbreviated to dvs. when written) is the

most common. This is a polite form of 'you'.

The other forms are:

tu, used to address one person, when that person is a relative

or close friend

dumneata (usualIy abbreviated to dota), also used to address

one person, but when that person is a colleague or subordinate

voi, used to address two or more persons

Here are some examples:

Dumneavoastră sunteţi englez?

eşti ziarist?

Dumneata

eş

ti american?

Are you English?

Are you a journalist?

Are you American?

Note the different persons of the verb used by tu and dumneata,

on the one hand, and dumneavoastră, on the other.

Th e verb 'to be'

In the dialogue and in the various examples given in this Unit you

may have noticed that we have used alI of the forms of the present

tense of the verb 'to be' ( '1 am', 'you are', etc.) in Romanian.

The innitive 'to be' is a  in Romanian. Its forms can be found

again on the Verb Table.

Exercise 1

See if you can list the forms of the present tense of 'to be'.

More verbs

Two other very common verbs used are a sta, 'to stand, to stay,

to reside', and a face 'to do'. Their personal forms are:

stau

1 stand

stăm

we stand

stai you stand

staţi

you stand

stă

he/she/it stands

stau

they stand

fac

1 do

facem we do

faci

you do

faceţi

you do

face he/she/it does fac

they do

Another common verb meaning 'to reside, to live' is a locui. Its

forms are:

locuiesc

locuie

locuieşte

Ilive

you live

he/she/it lives

Dialogue 2 

În li

In the li

locuim

locuiţi

locuiesc

RODICA:

MIKE:

Bună seara, ce coincidenţă!

ntr-adevăr. La ce etaj mergeţi?

RODICA:

MIKE:

La doisprezece. Şi dumneavoastră?

La nouă.

we live

you live

they live

RODICA:

Scuzaţi-mă, dar cum se scrie numele dumneavoastră de

familie?

MIKE:

RODICA:

MIKE:

RODICA:

MIKE:

RODICA:

MIKE:

Foster. F - o - s - t - e - r.

Mulţumesc. Aici e nouă.

Mulţumesc, la revedere.

Pe curând, Mike Foster.

Good evening, what a coincidence!

/ndeed. What oor do you want?

The twelft h. And you?

The ninth.

RODICA:

MIKE:

Excuse me, but how do you sp eli your suame?

Foster. F - o - s - t - e - r.

RODICA:

MIKE:

Thank you. Here is the ninth oor.

Thank you, good-bye.

RODICA:

See you soon, Mike Foster.

Language points

Spelling names

From your very rst contact with Romania you are likely to be

asked to spelI your name - on a visa slip, for example, when you

enter the country, or by a hotel receptionist when you register. The

Romanian names of the letters are given in the table on p. xii.

If you want to spelI out:

Capital 's'

Double 'L'

you say

So 'SelIer' would be:

se mare

doi de le

Se mare - e - doi de le - e - re

You may wish to ask how a word is spelled in Romanian. In that

case you would say:

Cum se scrie?

How is it spelled (written)?

Vă rog să-mi scrieţi

Please write it down for me

Cum se scrie numele dvs.?

How do you spelI your name?

(lit. How is your name written?)

Note also:

Cum se spune în limba română ••• ?

How do you say in Romanian ... ?

(lit. How is said in Romanian ... ?)

ercise 2

Using the phrases you have been given, try answering the following

questions which are likely to be put to you upon your arrival in

mania:

1 Cum vă numiţi, vă rog?

2 Cum se scrie numele dvs.?

Sunteţi englez/englezoaică (american/americancă)?

4 Unde staţi în Anglia/Statele Unite?

Unde staţi în România?

Greetings

In the dialogue we met the greeting: Bună seara, 'Good evening'.

Other greetings are:

Bnnă dimineaţa

Good moming

Bnnă ziua

Good day

Bună seara

Good evening

Noapte bună

Good night

Bună

Salut

Greetings

La revedere

Goodbye

Pe curând

See you soon

bye

(a familiar form usually used when addressing a friend)

Ce mai faci?

How are you? (informal)

Ce mai faceţi?

How are you? (formal)

Earlier in this unit we met forms of addressing strangers:

Vă rog, domnule ...

Vă rog, doamnă ••.

Please Sir (Mr) ...

Please Madam (Mrs) ...

o address someone familiar you simply add the name:

Vă rog, domnule Popescu . • .

Please Mr Popescu .. .

Vă rog, doamnă Popescu . . •

Please Mrs Popescu .. .

Vă rog, domnişoară Popescu . . .

Please Miss Popescu .. .

Numbers

zero

opt

cincisprezece

unu, una

nouă

şaisprezece

doi, două

zece

aptesprezece

trei

unsprezece

optsprezece

patru



doisprezece,

nouăsprezece

cinci

douăsprezece

douăzeci

şase

treisprezece

şapte

paisprezece

From 20 upwards the numbers are followed by de when indicat ing

quantity. Thus:

cincisprezece ani

but

15 years

douăzeci de ani

20 years

Also note that in colloquial speech the -sprezece ending is clipped

to -şpe:

unşpe, doişpe, douăşpe, treişpe, paişpe, cinşpe, şaişpe,

şapteşpe,

optşpe,

nouăşpe.

douăzeci

i unu, douăzeci

i una

douăzeci

i doi, douăzeci

i două

douăzeci

i trei

douăzeci

i patru

etc.

treizeci

i unu, treizeci

i una

treizeci şi doi, treizeci şi două

treizeci

i trei

etc.

The numbers up to 100 follow the same pattern. The multiples

of ten from 40 to 90 are:



patruzeci

cincizeci

şaizeci

şaptezeci

optzeci

nouăzeci

100

o sută

Expressing age

To ask how old someone is you can say:

Câţi ani aveţi?

How old are you?

(lit. How many years do you have?)

Ce vârstă aveţi?

How old are you?

(lit. What age do you have?)

In reply you might say:

Am douăzeci

şi doi de ani

1 am 22

Negation

To give a negative answer to a question or to make a negative

statement you use nu before the verb:

Sunteti englez?

Are you an Englishman?

Nu, nu sunt englez, sunt american.

No, I'm not English, I'm American.

Staţi la Washington?

Do you live in Washington?

Nu, nu stau la Washington, stau la New York.

No, 1 don't live in Washington, 1 live in New York.

ompare these with positive answers to the same questions:

Sunteţi englez?

Da, sunt englez

Staţi la Washington?

Da, stau la Washington

Are you an Englishman?

Yes, I'm English

Do you live in Washington?

Yes, I'm from Washington

Nu is also used when you want to say 'nothing', 'no one' or

'never' using a verb:

Nu am nimic

I have nothing

Nu stau niciodată la hotel

I never stay at (a) hotel

Nimeni nu face nimic

No one is doing anything (lit. No one is not doing nothing)

Exercise 3

Match the following questions and answers:

1 Bună ziua, domnule Andreescu,

ce mai faceţi?

2 Câţi ani aveţi?

3 Unde staţi?

De unde sunteţi?

5 La ce etaj staţi/locuiţi?

a Stau la hotel.

b Sunt din laşi.

c Bine, mulţumesc.

d La 7.

e Am 25 de ani.

2 Bunvenit În

România

Welcome to Romania

In this unit you will learn:

• The verb 'to have'

• How to say more about yourself

• How to say a book, some books, a house, some houses, etc .

• To ask the way and understand directions

• Days of the week

• How to express a wish (e.9. I want to .. . )

Useful words and phrases

apoi

bineînţeles

cât costă?

va

de aici

deja

doar

drept ainte

pă

aceea

mai bine

then

naturally

how much does

(it) cost?

by any chance

from here

already

only

straight ahead

after that

it is better

Înapoi

În faţa

În jos

la dreapta

la stânga

mai bine

mai Întâi

nişte

pentru

unde?

back, backwards

in front of

down(wards)

to the right

to the left

rather, better

rst of aU

some

for

where?



Dialogue 1 

Bunvenit În România

Welcome to Romania

Jane Scott, an English accountant, arrives at Otopeni Airp ort in

Bucharest and is going through passport and visa fo rmalities at

Passport Control

OFIŢERUL:

JANE:

OFIŢERUL:

JANE:

OFIŢERUL:

JANE:

OFIŢERUL:

PASSPORT

OFFICIAL:

JANE:

PASSPORT

OFFICIAL:

JANE:

PASSPORT

OFFICIAL:

JANE:

PASSPORT

OFFICIAL:

Bună ziua, aveţi paşaport britanic şi aveţi deja

viză?

Bună ziua. Nu, nu am viză. De unde să iau viză?

Chiar de aici.

Şi cât costă viza?

Patruzeci de dolari americani, sau treizeci şi trei de

lire sterline. (Aer paying) Poftiţi. Cu ce scop veniţi

în România?

Sunt contabilă. Lucrez la o rmă britanică din

Bucureşti.

Mulţumesc. Acum puteţi să mergeţi la ghişeul de

'Control Paşapoarte' şi apoi la banda rulantă pentru

bagaje.

Good day. Do you have a British passport, and have

you already got a visa?

Good day. No, 1 don 't have a visa. Where can 1 get

one?

Right here.

And how much does a visa cost?

Forty US dollars or thirty-three pounds sterling.

(After paying) Here you are. What is the purpose of

your visit to Romania?

1 am an accountant. 1 work fo r a British rm in

Bucharest.

Thank you. You can now go to the Passport Control

desk, and then to the baggage reclaim conveyor.