Learning Romanian language

Eu sunt foarte fericit ca gasesc asta webpage!!!'ve been studying romanian for one year now, and have had much difficulty finding learning resources. I've been reading chat posts on simpatie.ro, but they're difficult to keep up with, and I almost never ask questions as it isn't the right place really..

I'm able to translate many sentences word for word, and still often have trouble getting the 'meaning'.. I especially have trouble with the 'easy' words, mai and asa.. Both of them seem to be used all the time, and I rarely understand how the contribute to the sentence.. Anyway, I'm glad to be here..

dave

Welcome rudaire....I`m glad to see a USA citizen interested in our language!

I have actually been thinking of a way to explain what "mai" and "asa" mean or what they`re good for but I don`t think I found an intelligible enough answer yet... let me try:

"mai" is used like this:
"mai devreme" - earlier
"mai cald" - hotter
"mai rece" - colder

"asa" is something like the english "so" or actually used as "something like":
"si asa mai departe" - and so on
"asa ceva" - something like this/that

if you have some examples for these two words being used somewhere where you don`t understand their meaning, maybe you could show me and I could maybe get a better idea and find some better way to explain...it`s pretty awkward trying to explain my own language

Thank you skinner. I do understand that mai loosely translates to 'more'.. But often it is used in a sentence in such a way that I don't understand how it changes the meaning.. Even something simple, like 'ce mai faceti' makes just as much sense it were to be, 'ce faceti'.... As I come across more relevant examples, I'll bring them here.. Este buna ca eu vi-am gasit.. (the vi was supposed to represent 'voi'.. is that right?? or would it simply by v-am gasit..

Originally Posted by igrec

Dya, din cate stiam eu, "sh-ul" romanesc este ilustrat in limba greaca prin "TS", iar grecescul "TZ" apare in limba romana ca "Dz". Ma insel ? :-s

are you saying " From all I used to know, the 'sh' in romanian is illustrated in greek language through 'ts', while the greek 'tz' appears in romanain ca 'dz'. Am I wrong?"

1. where in romanian is there a 'dz' sound..
2. does ma insel translate to 'am I wrong?'

thanks for your help...

It`s pretty much like "Este bine ca v`am gasit" meaning "it`s good that I found you (voi)", the "v" is indeed representing "voi". I hope you got my point..

No idea about the "dz" sound... I`m pretty sure we don`t have that in romanian...hm

And yep... "ma insel?" is "am I wrong?"

Nice job rudaire, your romanian seems to be good!

"Mersi pentru puncte. S-au adaugat, dupa cum vad eu" was written earlier.

My biggest question is this. The eu on the end, does it change anything to leave it off? The vad implies eu. Does it stress the subject more that way? I see this a lot in romanian writing where the subject, which can be inferred by the conjugation of the verb, is placed after the verb..

My second question is this.. au-adaugat is they added... the S in "S-au adaugat", does it mean they added themselves, like isi adauga??

Lastly, does this whole thing mean, "courses for points, they (themselves)added after I saw?"

thank you again for helping me break down some barriers with the language..
dave

It really doesn`t matter if you leave the "eu" at the end off... "dupa cum vad" is the same as "dupa cum vad eu" as you said, the "vad" implies it. I know it`s often used by people but l don`t see the point of it...

the "s-au adaugat" stuff is a little more complex...hmm let`s see: well if you use "s-au adaugat" it really might sound like they added themselves but you couldn`t say "au adaugat" because then it would be like they added something else...

So I guess the whole sentence would be translated like this: Thanks for the points. They have been added, as far as I can see. The "dupa cum vad(eu)" is "as far as I can see" ...it`s an expression but can also be used without the "eu", as we both said earlier

Hello rudaire

So:
1. We do not have a dz sound in Romanian. What you quoted was a misunderstanding which was later on solved.
We have ț which resembles the Greek tz.

2. mai, as Skinner explained is the word used to form the comparative: mai--more. Romanian does not add a suffix at the end of adjectives/adverbs to form the comparative/superlative, as english does with the short words.
We use:
mai--more
cel/cea mai-- the most

mai in the context of Ce mai faceti? could translate by: What else are you doing?

mai is somehow a "quantifier", to denote something else/more related to the action of the verb:

Ai ceva de spus?--Do you have something to say?
Mai ai ceva de spus?-- Do you have something else/more to say?

măi, which without diacritics looks just like mai and can be confusing, is a meaningless word to denote something like "(hey) you" when you address someone in a familiar way.

As for eu added after the verb, its purpose is to emphasize the belief of the speaker. Its use it's rather stylistic, not grammatical.

Example:

Cred că este greșit. Ce spui?-- I think this is wrong. What do you say?
Spun că este greșit-- I say it's wrong.
Spun eu că este greșit-- I say it's wrong.

As you can see, both translate the same. The difference stays in the speaker's desire to emphasize his/her point of view. Even in a dialogue when both persons agree, the speaker may feel the need to emphasize his/her opinion this way: I say it's wrong. Also it implies the idea of personal opinion which I (the speaker) care for: I say this and this is my opinion but I won't enforce it on you.

On the other hand, someone who starts the phrase with Eu spun - I say will definitely try to impose that opinion on the others.

In Romanian, because the verb has different endings for each person, we do not use the pronoun on a regular basis.

But when you start your phrase with Eu spun - I say you usually try to make a point and convince the others.

Originally Posted by missunknown

hello to everyone. My name is Madina i'm from USA i know 4 languages so far but i really want to learn Romanian please help me
P.S the languages i know is Russian, Turkish, English and Spanish

Hello, Madina and welcome here

We're glad to help you learn our language, so start pouring the questions!

First of all, thank you for the amazingly detailed responses. I really, really appreciate your help..

Second, here is a case of the dreaded 'asa' i was talking about, funny, that cum asa? means 'how so'.. But all I ever see is asa cum, and cannot really translate it..

"Viata trebuie traita asa cum este pentru ca ni s-a dat fara sa o cerem si ni se va lua fara sa fim intrebati, ziua de azi sa-ti fie asa cum e soarele in asta dimineata, cald si primitor..."

Life must exist such as it is because it gave to us without us asking it, and it will take us without asking us. The day of days to be to yourself (again, asa cum???)such how is the sun in this morning, warm and hospitible..

Somehow I'm close, but can't quite get this... sa fim intrebati?? fim is we be and intrebati is you ask.. where have I gone wrong..

again, thanks
dave

dave

"asa cum" is used as "as" here but it can also mean "like" (not in this case)...let me try and translate for you

"Life must be lived AS it is because it has been given to us without asking for it and it will be taken from us without asking, may today be AS warm and hospitable as the sun this morning."

At the end I changed the word order a bit so the sentence would make sence

Originally Posted by rudaire

Somehow I'm close, but can't quite get this... sa fim intrebati?? fim is we be and intrebati is you ask.. where have I gone wrong..

You're dealing with passive voice here. In the conjunctive! Whose closest equivalent in english would be either present infinitive in passive voice: to be asked OR present participle/gerund in passive voice: being asked.

In your example the best translation for:

fara sa fim intrebati

would be

without us being asked

A short one that has me stumped.... "du-te la alba ca zapada"
What is du-te? Go back?? Go back to white as snow??"

Multumesc pentru răspunsurile prompte voastre. Sunteti uimitori!!

dave, (cine invata multi toala aici... sau este 'mult toala aici' corect pentru ca 'toala' este singular in realitate?)

Originally Posted by rudaire

A short one that has me stumped.... "du-te la albă ca zăpada"
What is du-te? Go back?? Go back to white as snow??"

"du-te" means "go to". "du-te la alba ca zapada" literally means "go to snow white". "Albă ca zăpada" is "Snow White", the character from the fairy tale.

dave, (cine invata multi toala aici... sau este 'mult toala aici' corect pentru ca 'toala' este singular in realitate?)

"toala" means nothing in Romanian. But if you refere to how much "învaţă", the correct form is "mult", and if you refere to how much "toala", it is "multă". Anyway you must use the singular. Also, if I understand correctly what you intended to say, you should use "care" in place of "cine".

How many? Mulţi(masc.)/Multe(fem.)
How much? Mult(masc.)/Multă(fem.)

Originally Posted by Sahrian

.



"toala" means nothing in Romanian. But if you refere to how much "învaţă", the correct form is "mult", and if you refere to how much "toala", it is "multă". Anyway you must use the singular. Also, if I understand correctly what you intended to say, you should use "care" in place of "cine".

Thank you for your help Sahrian.. What I tried to write was this "Dave (who learns many things here.)"

my romo/english dictionary lists toala as meaning 'things' and 'clothes'.. is this not true? It's really tzoala( tz and a( for special characters...

I would have used lucruri for things, but thought lucru was only for objects that you could touch, and I was using 'things' as in 'lessons that I learn' here. I suppose it may be better written as, "dave, who learns much here" or Dave, cine mult invata aici.


Is care still the best word rather than cine?

thanks
dave

Originally Posted by rudaire

Thank you for your help Sahrian.. What I tried to write was this "Dave (who learns many things here.)"

my romo/english dictionary lists toala as meaning 'things' and 'clothes'.. is this not true? It's really tzoala( tz and a( for special characters...

I would have used lucruri for things, but thought lucru was only for objects that you could touch, and I was using 'things' as in 'lessons that I learn' here. I suppose it may be better written as, "dave, who learns much here" or Dave, cine mult invata aici.

Is care still the best word rather than cine?

thanks
dave

I would never have thought that you did refere to 'ţoale'. 'Ţoale' (informally) means indeed 'clothes', but it means 'things' only in that sense i. e. 'articles of clothing'.
'Lucruri' doesn't mean only touchable things, but 'things' in general, so you should use this word. And yes, you have to use 'care', 'cine' is wrong in that context. 'Cine' is used when the substantive is unknown or undefined, in attributive sentences where the substantive is known you always have to use 'care'.

"Dave, who learns many things here"="Dave, care învaţă multe lucruri (de-)aici"
"Dave, who learns much here"="Dave, care învaţă mult (de-)aici"
"Who learns many things here?"="Cine învaţă multe lucruri (de-)aici?"
"Dave who? "="Care Dave?"

Hello @ all!!

First I want to thank you for this fantastic thread - it's simply great!! I'm at the very beginning with learning the beautiful Romanian language and this helps me a lot!!

I've got a question on the pronounciation.... I think (or better hope ) that I know how to pronounce î, â, ă, ţ and ş... but there’s one other thing that's really confusing me:
When a word ends with -i, this -i isn't pronounced sometimes.... like e.g. eşti, sunteţi, azi…..
In other words it is pronounced, e.g. o zi, a fi, şi…

So is there any rule when it is pronounced and when not??? I’ve got a book and a CD to learn Romanian, but I didn’t manage to find out about that and I’ll go crazy if I have to guess all the time!!!

So could it be that the -i IS pronounced at the end of the infinitive form of a verb?
For example a iubi, a vorbi, a şti, a simţi… do you pronounce it or not?

And is it NOT pronounced at the end of the second person of a verb in singular or plural??
Like for example vorbeşti/vorbiţi, mergi/mergeţi, eşti/sunteţi, iubeşti/iubiţi...?


I hope that you can understand what my problem is – it’s hard for me to explain this grammar thing in English!

Mulţumesc mult!
(I like this phrase - there's not that "-i-thing" in it! )

Geia sou, Xtapodi

Hmmm.... I don't know what gave you this impression, but we DO pronounce all the letters in every word. Romanian is a phonetic language, meaning that what we write is what we read. There are no letters that appear only in writing but are not pronounced, like in French for example.

Therefore, the final i in esti, sunteti, azi, etc is heard. It's probably just a mater of accent and the last letter(s) in some word may not sound so distinctive(especially in fast speaking) but we do pronounce them.

In the infinitive of the verbs you mentioned(a iubi, a sti, etc), the letter -i at the end of them is heard distinctively, because, incidentally, those words have the accent on the letter itself.

So the only difference in pronounciation between azi and zi is the fact that azi has the accent on a and in zi the accent is on i. That's why in the second word you hear it clearly.

So in a three letters word like azi where the first letter bears the accent, it probably seems that the last letter is not pronounced. It's just an "audio effect". The -i should be prounounced.

I hope I manage to explain this right.

Kalimera dya

Thanks for your explanation.... it's clear for me now!

I'm surprised that it IS always pronounced because it really seems that it's not sometimes... for example I'm just listening to Vama Veche - Nu am chef azi and it's almost impossible to make out the -i at the end of the word azi if you don't know that it is there...

In my opinion this is one of the special features that make Romanian sound different from other Romanic languages... because e. g. in Spanish and Italian the vocals at the end of a word can be heard clearly... that was confusing me!!

I hope that I'll manage to pronounce all the words in the right way... I'll be in Romania in autumn and I don't want to make a fool of myself

As you mentioned French above - for me it's even easier to pronounce this language (even if my French is bad, I can pronounce it at least)...

Filakia/Pupici