Learning Romanian language

[DeBaires]

Hey everyone.

What do "arat" & "atat" mean?

I know "atat" means "so much" but there's a song & the lyrics go "Vreau o noapte doar atat, si nimic mai mult." What does it mean in that context?

Also, is the reflexive for you (pl.) va? If so, is that also the reflexive for you formal?

I guess what I'm asking is, is "voi" used for you (pl.) & you formal?

One more thing; how do you pronounce "îi" & hwo do you use it?

[dya]

Originally Posted by DeBaires

What do "arat" & "atat" mean?

arăt is the 1st person sg, present tense of the verb a arăta -- to show

atât is an adverb and can have various translations according to the context: as much, so much, nothing more, so, only that, etc

Originally Posted by DeBaires

I know "atat" means "so much" but there's a song & the lyrics go "Vreau o noapte doar atat, si nimic mai mult." What does it mean in that context?

Yes, you're right, that's one of the translations.

In that verse, atât is translated as only that " I want a night, only that, and nothing more"

Originally Posted by DeBaires

Also, is the reflexive for you (pl.) va? If so, is that also the reflexive for you formal?

Yes and yes to both your questions

Originally Posted by DeBaires

I guess what I'm asking is, is "voi" used for you (pl.) & you formal?

Yes again. By formal we actually mean politeness. Which means that we address someone not with the second person sg, but with the second person plural.

And, yes, all the forms of the second person plural pronoun apply whether we we use it for plural or politeness.

Originally Posted by DeBaires

One more thing; how do you pronounce "îi" & hwo do you use it?

îi is the Dative case for the 3rd person singular pronoun.
Îi spun-- I tell her/him
Îi arăt-- I show him/her

ALSO, the SAME form(îi) is the Accusative case for the 3rd person plural!!!
Îi văd--I see them
Îi întreb-- I ask them

As for the pronounciation.... though one! If you go to the first page of this thread, you'll find there some tips I wrote for the pronounciation of these sounds we have in Romanian.

But I admit: it's very difficult to explain how to pronounce a two letters word, in which one letter is impossible to describe and the other one is an ordinary i?! (i read as "ee" in English, I don't know what's your native language, so I don't know how you actually pronounce i.)

î.... the closest description I can come up with is that sound you make when you try to list some heavy weight! LOL!

[DeBaires]

Once again, dya, you have come to my rescue, ha ha, thanks so much!!!

& just a little side note, my native language is Spanish

[dya]

You're welcome

Originally Posted by DeBaires

& just a little side note, my native language is Spanish

Oh, good! That means I don't have to tell you how to pronounce i, u, etc cause it's the same

[DeBaires]

Exactly! & I know a little italian so the whole "ce/ci", "ch" & "ge/gi" is no problem either!

[dya]

Perfect!

Now, you asked about an imprerative form in another thread and I'll write that explanation here, so it can be accesible to others too:

The imperative for the second person singular is Știi! (incidentally, it's the same form like for the present tense - tu știi) but the verb in itself can't actually be used in imperative. Imperative is about giving a command/order and the meaning of the verb is "against" this. You can't order someone to know!

(This in opposition with, for example, to say= (a spune). The imperative for the second person sg is Spune! Well, this verb allows for an imperative as you can order someone to say (something). )

[DeBaires]

Oooooh, lol. OK, I think I got it.

[xokayleemarlania]

ma numesc Kaylee (:

i'm coming to romania next month to be an exchange student. this discussion is very helpful in learning the language, since i don't know much yet.

i was wondering if you could think of any phrases or words that i will probably need to know when first talking to my host family? my host dad speaks english, but my mother and sister don't.

MULTUMESC MULT

[jaan]

hello all i would like to thank the admin and all the memebers of this site for they are helping bridge the language gap

and to say a very heartful thank you to the romanian section i would like to share this song video with all of you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr81Gob7_Ns

[dya]

Hello, Jaan and welcome here Thank you for the video and for the meaning you gave it when you posted it here

@ Kaylee: We would gladly help you with any phrase you may need, but first write it here in English. We'll translate it/them and give you the explanations. We're waiting

[TiberRiver]

Dear all,

A belated multumesc mult to you for answer a few earlier questions for me. I've been out of touch and unable to get back here for a while, but I want to thank everyone who answered my earlier questions.

One of them was on what I called a "vowel shift", and I just bought a Romanian-Englsh Dictionary that brings up this question:

In it, all the words with “â” have been spelled with an “î” instead. Is this the official spelling now? Or is this an optional spelling, transitional spelling?

Also, this dictionary mentions that the "R" is trilled in every position: so is EVERY "R" trilled? I'm tring to find an affordable language program but for now I'm limited to listening to video clips and songs on YouTube.

Multumesc mult!!

E>

[dya]

Hello!

Originally Posted by TiberRiver

In it, all the words with “â” have been spelled with an “î” instead. Is this the official spelling now? Or is this an optional spelling, transitional spelling?

The dictionary you bought uses the old spelling.

The new spelling is this one:

î is used when it is the first OR the last letter in a word
â is used inside the word

(This old-new spelling may be confusing to you because histiorically speaking first we used the spelling with â, then we changed it to only î (no matter where it was in the word), and now(a few years ago) we came back to using î and â as I explained above)

Originally Posted by TiberRiver

Also, this dictionary mentions that the "R" is trilled in every position: so is EVERY "R" trilled?

No! r is trilled only by the persons who speak like this, because they were born with this particularity in pronounciation. Very cute, by the way! But the rest of us, we pronounce r the same way it is pronounced in English.

[DeBaires]

Hey all.

I've just learned about "ţie" & "mie" & I was wondering how/when it can be used.

In Spanish, we have a similar thing - "ti" & "mí" & it's used for emphasis.

For example: Talk to me=Háblame or, for emphasis, Háblame a mí

Does it work this way in Romanian as well?

For example, "spune-mi mie" or "spune-mi la mie" or would it be "spune-mi la mine"???

[dya]

Yes, it works quite the same in Romanian.

Tell me! -- Spune-mi! and for emphasis: Spune-mi mie!

As you see the pronoun already appears in the Dative case as -mi. Mie is also in Dative therefore not necesary from the grammar point of view.

Also these pronouns can be used as answers to questions like, for example:

Who did he tell to? -- Cui i-a spus?
- (to) Me! --- Mie!

Oh, and that -mi I mentioned before comes from îmi

Îmi place ciocolata-- I like chocolate
Mie îmi place ciocolata-- the same as above + emphasis.

[apiland]

I found this free software from byki.com. I think it's pretty good, and for less than $50 you can buy more lessons.

http://www.byki.com/fls/free-romania...tml?l=romanian

IHope this helps.

[TiberRiver]

Multumesc mult!!!

I am so relieved! The Latin roots to many words are clearer with the "a" and I personally think the words "look" more beautiful that way as well.

Thank you again!

E>

[TiberRiver]

Multumesc mult!

[Sahrian]

For the form of the Romanian personal pronouns, please see http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Catego...sonal_pronouns

[Sahrian]

This is another page which I found interesting, where Romanian sounds are explained: http://soltdm.com/langmod/romana/rom_sunlit.htm

[Xtapodi87]

Bună!!

This is my homework on demonstratives... can someone please read through it and tell me if there are mistakes in it?
Thanks in advance!


copil:
copilul acesta - copilul acela - copilul acelaşi
copiii aceştia - copiii aceia - copiii aceiaşi (Is it the right plural with 3 i's? Looks crazy )

masă:
masa aceasta - masa aceea -masa aceeaşi
mesele acestea - mesele acelea - mesele aceleaşi

prieten:
acest prieten - acel prieten - acelaşi prieten
aceşt prieteni - acei prieteni - aceiaşi prieteni

lucru:
lucrul acesta - lucrul acela - lucrul acelaşi
lucrurile acestea - lucrurile acelea - lucrurile aceleaşi

casă:
această casă - acea casă - aceeaşi casă
aceste case - acele case - aceleaşi case

pantof:
pantoful acesta - pantoful acela - pantoful acelaşi
pantofii aceştia - pantofii aceia - pantofii aceiaşi

caz:
în acest caz - în acel caz - în acelaşi caz
în aceste cazuri - în acele cazuri - în aceleaşi cazuri

problemă:
această problemă - acea problemă - aceeaşi problemă
aceste probleme - acele probleme - aceleaşi probleme

[dya]

You'll have your answer in the morning Right now, I'm so sleepy I don't want to write anything stupid!

[dya]

Ok, let's see Good work

Everything is correct from the form of words point of view. The only problem is with the word order for the last form in your example.

The demonstrative which means "the same" ALWAYS stays before the noun and the noun loses the determined article. The rest of them can stay BEFORE or AFTER the noun, according to how you want to express things.

So, taking the first word as example:
copil:
copilul acesta - copilul acela - acelaşi copil
copiii aceştia - copiii aceia - aceiaşi copii

(Is it the right plural with 3 i's? Looks crazy )--Yes, it is correct. The plural of copii + determined article -i => copiii

Now, if you change the places of the demosntratives and put them before the nouns, the nouns lose the determined article:

acest copil--acel copil
acești copii-- acei copii

The position of the demostratives does not change the meaning of the expressions. Placing them before or after the noun is just a matter of choice.

As for this:
caz:
în acest caz - în acel caz - în acelaşi caz
în aceste cazuri - în acele cazuri - în aceleaşi cazuri

You chose an expression formed with the word caz: în acest caz= in this case.

If you simply need the word caz in another context, you use the demostratives accordingly:

acest caz--acel caz- același caz
aceste cazuri-acele cazuri-aceleași cazuri

[DeBaires]

Hey, thought you guys might be interested in this:

http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/l.../romanian.html

It's a short history on Romanian. It talks about Dacian, Slavic & Latin influences on the language.

Delectaţi! (I know I said that wrong )