Learning Romanian language

Originally Posted by Cristina

Not really the verbs I put in the list are in the infinitive mode(like you find them in the dictionary).We didn't talk about the times or modes yet..
In the sentence "I need to sleep" the verb "sleep" is not in the infinitive mode,it is subjunctive so the translation for "to sleep" is "să dorm"..We will talk about this but step by step..

Ah, well, that's what I get for pulling something straight from my dictionary instead of thinking about it a little first...but I was sooooo tired. More limba study today, though, especially the difference between infinitives & subjunctives....I have been making that mistake a lot, now I see that.

Question: Is there a Romanian word(s) for 'odds and ends'? Does anyone know that phrase? It means like miscellaneous things that need to be done, or to talk about, etc.

Ah, one other thing, do the mails work well in Romania? I am sending pacheti for friends, I will insure them of course (desigur) but might anyone know how long this takes to arrive from U.S.? Is lost mail a problem in a place like Bucuresti? Just wondering; thanks.

Firstly my friend, the plural for "pachet" is "pachete" its gender is neutral; for the singular it's with masculine and for plural it goes with feminine.
As far as I know there are no problems. I sent un pachet in Greece and it arrived. But from US, of course it arrives. I have no idea how you send it; it might take 10 day or 3 weeks.
I couldn't understand your ask... Let me think about it (Ida Corr )
When we want to discuss something secretly we say : "trebuie sa discutam intre 4 ochi" or "avem ceva de vorbit" (we have smth to talk) or "avem o treaba de facut" (we have a thing to do)
But I might be wrong... I hope not.

Aw, infinitives and subjunctives... In Romanian are used more nowadays the sentences with subjunctive.

Oops, thanks Soso but I did not mean about discussing things secretly (but I am glad to learn anything new & unexpected about your language).

For "odds and ends" maybe better explanation is miscellaneous details....things that are hard to put in conventional categories

Pachete? Darn! I just checked my dictionary, I might have been in a hurry and confused pachet with cutie about gender. I have been saying 'pacheti' for a long time now, but no more. Thanks!

About sending mail & pachete to Romanian, I am only checking. I have friends from nearby countries like Ukraine & even Bulgaria & Lithuania who tell me many horror stories about items & letters & pachete being stolen so people can take bani or sell things for bani. So I just want to check so I know how much insurance to buy (insurance is very cheap but I would rather that my friends receive their gifts, desigur)

It is like finding out about how international telephone service to Romania is different, and that helped a lot...I was able to speak with my best Romanian friends on the phone yesterday because of your help here in this thread! (Multumesc foarte foarte mult!)

Okay...însărcinaruri (?) mic to do now, multumesc si pe curand....next time, some serious questions about the grammar & sentences, not just more "how to say this in Romanian."

I'm glad the puppy talk worked

Now, about your "odds and ends". The best word would be "diverse". Another (colloquial) expression would be "una-alta".

About the postal service: we don't have such terrifying problems(but we used to have, that's true). I have no idea how long it takes, but I can tell you it's not a matter of days. One-two weeks maybe.

As for this:
Okay...însărcinaruri (?) mic to do now I'm sorry to tell you but it makes no sense. First of all the word însărcinaruri does not exist in Romanian. Însărcinare-însărcinări means task/errand but we hardly use this term in every day speech. Rather we use sarcină-sarcini. Of course the words are etimologically related.
Sarcină means task but also pregnancy.
A însărcina means both to get someone pregnant AND to give someone a task to do.
Însărcinată(fem) means pregnant.
Însărcinat(masc) means someone who was told/requested to perform a task. You can use the feminine însărcinată in the same context if it's a woman the one asked to perform the task, but it is usually avoided because of the fun making that comes along. If you say about a woman that she was însărcinată de șeful ei sa faca un raport(asked by her boss to make a report) everybody will start laughing asking in what way was she "însărcinată" by her boss LOL!

Coming back to your sentence: if you wanted to say that you have some small errands to do, you could say" Am niște treabă/treburi(pl) de făcut acum". The equivalent of "small" can't be used in this context.

I want to start by asking your name
I don't want to be mean with the other countries, but in Romania passed a long time since we had problems with mails. As I said before, I sent un pachet and it arrived very well.
I'm glad I could help you, I'm always somewhere on Forum watching.

What did you want to say up ? "insarcinaruri mic" ? Hmmm... If you think about "insarcinari" like jobs let's say, you may say "sarcini" . "Insarcinat" or some derivates mean in general when smbd gives you an order to do smth. But "sarcina" it's neutral, it's like "I have smth to done, nobody asked me" and in my opinion it's more elegantly.
And do not forget that the Subject and the Predicate have in common the number (sorry but I don't know how to name this) like : S(sg.)=P(sg) and S(pl.)=P(pl.)

You're more than welcome.

Ah, Dya was faster than me. But If she wants I won't erase my post.
Ce mai faci Dya ? Cum merge treaba prin Bucurestiul tau ?

Hello, Soso Don't delete your post. The more explanation, the better

Prin Bucuresti e ok. N-a mai fost asa frig zilele astea. Pe la Iasi cum este?

Amu, nu stiu cum sa iti spun dar cred ca m-am indragostit de Iasi. Am fost la bunici la Husi pentru 3 zile si cind am ajuns acasa imi ridea sufletul de bucurie...
E Sarbatoare in Iasi...
Insa vestile de Craciun cele mai rele nu au intirziat sa apara...
Te pupacesc draga mea, numai fericire de Anul Nou, atit tie si celor dragi tie.

Wow, dya & Soso, that is fascinating stuff, those last 5 posts...

About the "Însărcinare-însărcinări / sarcină-sarcini" distinctions, oh my God! See, that was the best word I could find in any of the 3 dictionaries I use so I just did the best I could, completely oblivious to the fact that I was making no sense at all (and yet, again, the Romanian friends I have used this form with are not correcting me! lol) Very interesting, and very eye-opening (an idiom) as well.

Yes, diverse would work in a formal sense, but "odds and ends" has a whimsical undertone that no other expression of that idea in English carries, and that is why I wondered about that particular one. I am very interested in colloquial ways of saying things in Romanian, and I pay particular attention to things that come up with some frequency in my own daily conversations with people when I ask such questions, hoping to help me "think in Romanian" a bit more ahead of the curve (ie more quickly than would be usual).

We really just don't have good, reliable resources here in the States for learning Romanian. I have checked many bookstores, for instance, and there are hundreds of books for learning Spanish and dozens for studying Russian whereas usually only 2 for learning only very basic---tourist phrases, mostly---Romanian.

Luckily I found this site (and a few other basic ones...not counting the links to Romanian TV & newspapers). Unquestionably Romanian people, in my limited experience so far, are some of the friendliest, most generous & helpful, as well as VERY proud of their culture, people I have yet met...and I have worked with people from all over, about 110 different countries as I once worked on Alaskan fishing boats & so forth where I met people of all ages & cultures....except Romanians! lol

But that is all a VERY roundabout way of coming to say that this is why the exchanges between dya & Soso are so precious, because it's those very "Amu, nu stiu cum sa iti spun dar cred ca m-am" & "Am fost la bunici la Husi pentru 3 zile si cind am ajuns acasa imi ridea sufletul de bucurie" & "cele mai rele nu au intirziat sa apara / Te pupacesc draga mea, numai fericire de Anul Nou, atit tie si celor dragi tie" constructions which are driving me nuts! I can mostly understand what you are saying, but I have a very very hard time figuring out what are the principles upon which such strings of short words, with gender & number & such all included with the word forms & grammatical phraseologies, are based. So....the dictionary works well in one direction---understanding what is written---but not so well in the other.

When I finally understand that part of the puzzle, THEN I'll be speaking Romanian with my friends, and not merely tossing in a word or two here & there when I can.

And that type of thing, maybe even those very sentence extracts which I have quoted herein, are what I will soon be asking about....in fact what I intended to be asking about now except that I just got home from my sarcini & couldn't resist responding to the fascinating posts made while I was away.

I will be studying very hard for the next 4 or 5 days---my holiday time for An Nou---and am very curious to see what I will learn in time to begin the new year with.

Postscript---One of my friends just ended her engagement to a fellow who treated her much differently once she agreed to marry him than he had while they were still getting to know one another. She said---I think---she finally realized that she loved him, but was not "in love" with him.

Unfortunately her English is about as good as is my Romanian, so she told me this in Spanish, which we both speak somewhat passably well. Does someone know how to express, in Romanian, this distinction between "loving" or caring about someone very much, as opposed to being "in love" with them?

Ahh, so many questions...sorry!

Ah my friend... My post was written a little bit poetical If I may say...
Explanations: "amu" is an arhaical form for the adverb "acum" is used in Moldova and Maramures.
and the rest means that I've been to my grandparents at countryside in Husi (a city in Moldova) and I missed a lot my city.
well, as you see that I'm sleepless (it's 4 in the morning) and I might make some mistakes in writting.
I must say that I preffer the old form of writting in Romanian with "î" not "â", I guess that's why it was a little difficult for you to understand.
-nu stiu cum sa iti spun : it's an expression meaning "I don't know how to tell you / I have no idea in starting to tell you"
- ridea sufletul de bucurie : translating word with word it's smth like "my soul was laughtin" but in reality means the happiness inside .
- a pupaci (a pupăci) means to kiss somebody friendly .

Wolver, a warning, to say like that, I have a little different type of writting, poetical. I'll make my best to be straigh and not lyrical.

As I told you for many times... Learn firstly the verbs because they are the hardest. It's impossible to don't know them If you want to speak fluently Romanian. And of course their conjugation. Many friends of mine had tried to learn my language but is hard, we have a lot of irregular verbs. But I'll do my best to help you.
Want some lists of usual verbs ? Or nouns ? Although I think you already have them...

I would rather prefer talking about anything else than love, but I have no way and I'll explain it to you. I'm the only Romanian online at this hour, my bad luck. (don't take it in a bad way my friend, just my hard feeling about love, anyway no love !)

So... You want in Romanian to tell you this distinction ?
Here you go...
"De la prietenie până la iubire nu este decât un pas. Nici nu ştii când îl faci, însă ceea ce este cert e faptul că eşti îndrăgostită şi simţi cu adevărat că îl iubeşti. O dragoste ce are ala bază o prietenie strânsă are cele mai mari şanse de reuşită. Iar consolarea este că dacă se sfârşeşte dragostea vreodată, rămâne o frumoasă prietenie."

I hope I understood fine.

Want also a translation into English ?

"Unquestionably Romanian people, in my limited experience so far, are some of the friendliest, most generous & helpful, as well as VERY proud of their culture, people I have yet met...and I have worked with people from all over, about 110 different countries as I once worked on Alaskan fishing boats & so forth where I met people of all ages & cultures....except Romanians! "

Yes Wolver, you're right. We're between the most proud people of their culture from the world. Or I am extremly proud of my origins.
What is to admire at Romanians is that we care at our history and we respect traditions. Some called us primitives, from 200 years ago; I would name this as a cure to don't forget our personalities, our people. I cannot say that here aren't bad people. It's a lie... We have bad ones too like every country. But... A true Romanian would never betraid his country for nothing in the world. A true Romanian fights until he dies, never forget where he left from, never pass by his virtutes.
I have seen other countries, it's true that our economy is rising slowly right now and we have some problems in Government and Justice, and life conditions are low, but this won't make a Romanian to deny his country.
Romania has regions : Moldova(NE, E, CE), Transilvania(C), Maramures(N, NV) Bucovina (N, NNE) Dobrogea(SSE) Muntenia (CE), Oltenia(SSV), Banat(SV) Crisana(V) and Basarabia (stolen by Russia after the WW2 and named Republic of Moldova). All of them are full of legends and history.
I live in Iasi, the capital of Moldova which is the most important cultural city from Romania. Here was founded the first university from Romania "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" in 1860. Iasi was the capital of Romania for 2 years byt the time of the WW1.
Iasi is know as the city of literature, writters, full of restaurants where poets, musicians met. It still keeping this "smell". Here lived the most important personalities from my country like : Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga, Ion Creanga, Nicolae Titulescu etc.

Ah, I go to sleep, I'm very tired... It's 5 another sleepless night.

Wolver, just to answer your last question quickly, as I need to go shopping very soon:

to love: a iubi

(eu)Iubesc
(tu)Iubești
(el/ea)Iubește
(noi)Iubim
(voi)Iubiți
(ei/ele)Iubesc

To be in love-- a fi îndrăgostit/ă

I am in love-- Sunt îndrăgostit/ă
You are in love-- Ești îndrăgostit/ă
etc

To fall in love-- a se indrăgosti

Present tense

Mă îndrăgostesc
Te îndrăgostești
Se îndrăgostește
Ne îndrăgostim
Vă îndrăgostiți
Se îndrăgostesc

Past tense(most used in this ...circumstance, to tell somebody what happened)

M-am îndrăgostit
Te-ai îndrăgostit
S-a îndrăgostit
Ne-am îndrăgostit
V-ați îndrăgostit
S-au îndrăgostit

More answers when I come back

"...a warning, to say like that, I have a little different type of writting, poetical. I'll make my best to be straigh and not lyrical..."

Nooooooooo ( or should I say, Nuuuuuuuuu!)!

I want to understand this very thing--lyrical, non "straight" or literal ways of expressing ideas in your limba, very much so---in addition to the "straight" literal. With this in mind I am trying to find jokes & poems written in Romanian so I can grasp this deeper dimension of the thought behind the literal words & grammar, I don't know any other way to really possess a language fully, especially being a bit of a writer myself.

Remember that I came to this site to find translations of song lyrics....I did that for a reason...it is only a very pleasurable bonus to find that there is a thread here called Learning Romanian Language (also I like the Romanian Zone thread) and several generous & willing teachers (or guides, too, maybe expresses it just as well).

So while I wouldn't mind at all if you gave a few translation pointers to assist in understanding when you are waxing poetical, as we say---because it is almost impossible, at this stage of my study, to know when someone is being literal and when they might be straying into the sublimely figurative &/or poeticized forms of expression---I would definitely request that you DON'T stop using this manner of communicating what you want to say in the personal way you want to say it.

About the verbs: in fact there is an extended "Verb Table" at the back of the book "Colloquial Romanian" which is the best book I have found so far for learning about the perplexing puzzlements of your magical grammar & sentence structures. Each is conjugated and in fact I found in looking at it again after Cristina's posts that it does give even the subjunctive along with each of the infinitive forms, something I guess I simply hadn't understood the true significance of until she brought up the point in correcting me.

Spelling---this is a trickier subject because I am constantly seeing different ways of spelling Romanian words in both books & online. Sometimes your word for "word" is spelled cuvint, other times, cuvant, both with & without diacritical marks. I had read about the "old" versus "new" ways of spelling in Romanian, but I see these apparent inconsistencies even in fairly recent books, dictionaries, and lesson guides.

Even the word "Craciun" I have seen spelled "C-r-a-c-U-I-n" at times---for example here--

http://www.ehow.com/how_10785_celebr...christmas.html

in comparison with what is considered a fairly good online dictionary (one which I use a lot in chat) here:

http://www.dictionare.com/english/dictionary.htm

so for me, an American trying to learn the limba in as many ways as I can, it is not always possible to know what is correct.

Even though I am extremely grateful for it all.

The more I learn about your language, your people, your culture, and your history, the more amazed, even astounded, I am that more Americans don't know much about Romania.

Even more so I have been surprised to discover how many Romanians live here without my ever having realized it before. But when just a couple of them found I that I wanted to learn the language, and how serious I am about it, suddenly they came, much to my joy, pouring out of the woodwork, as we say here sometimes.

With not only friendly tips about pronunciation & such---but tasty little samples of Romanian food as well.

Nice!


[p.s. to dya: I knew about the iubesc vs. dragosta types of "love" but I am still not sure, even after looking at your post carefully, about how the distinction is made between "only" loving someone---ie caring about them a lot, having great affection for them, etc---as compared to being "in love" with them, meaning feeling a deep romantic attraction, if not connection, that feels like "Fate" and out of one's control, to the person who has such feelings.

You can be "in love" passionately with someone only to find after a time that the feelings have cooled to the point where now you "love" them but are not "in love" with them....maybe it's a more subtle difference, colloquially or maybe idiomatically speaking, than I had assumed?

Looking forward to your reply. And about the shopping, it is my best Romanian friend's one true passion, lol, she loves doing other things but she is truly "in love" with shopping and probably couldn't live without it...even "window shopping" (yes, she is the one I was trying to express this idea to and I am pretty sure she understands what I mean by that now...thanks to your help here.

So what did you buy? Gifts for family or friends? Or only food.... ?

Now, I need to sleep--big day tomorrow. Saturday, I hope to learn how to say Ï need to sleep" in Romanian, as per Cristina's teasing hints in one post above, lol]

Originally Posted by wolver99

Even the word "Craciun" I have seen spelled "C-r-a-c-U-I-n"

That is one usual typo!u and i are one after the other on the keyboard and when we type in a hurry or when we don't pay attention, this happens. The only way to say Christmas is Crăciun

Originally Posted by wolver99

With not only friendly tips about pronunciation & such---but tasty little samples of Romanian food as well.

Nice!

I was wondering when you'd finally run into the Romanian food Now, that Pandora's box has been opened for you...enjoy!!!

Oh, dya, you're back! I edited in a little reply to you in my post above yours, I must have been typing mine while you were typing yours, lol. But seriously, bedtime for me now, I must get up early. Buna ziua and looking forward to catching up with this thread tomorrow night...

I was not back, I hadn't left yet! Now I'm back

Sooo.... The distinction you spoke about, between love and "be in love" has the exact meaning and implications in Romanian as well. You can love someone without being in love with that person(the way you love your friends has nothing to do with romance, for example). Also you can love someone after being previously in love with that person. The "butterflies in the stomach " period is over but love(usually at a more profound level, a "couple love") is there.

Maybe your friend's "dilemma" has to do with a combination between these two: not in love anymore(if ever) and love for the person but not romance/profound/ couple love, but more like love for someone you know for a long time, have respect, admiration, etc for that person but it's more like a friendly love than a couple love. I'm just taking a guess here, I don't know if that's the case in her situation.

Oh, and my shopping was for food

And, finally, I need to sleep can be said in two ways:
Am nevoie să dorm
Am nevoie de somn( I need sleep)

Buna dimineata Dya and Wolver !

Buna dimineata si tie! Altii au fost si la cumparaturi pana la ora asta LOL!

Da da ! Hai radeti toti de mine ca m-am trezit acum . Dar pana si eu rad, deci...
Eu am lucrat in seara trecuta la traduceri draga mea, de ce esti rea ?
Bei o cafea ?