Learning Romanian language

Originally Posted by mike123

Ajuta-ma te rog: cineva ma poate ajuta sa inteleg "o s-o tai" (ceva de genul asta?) Inseamna "I have to go, I have to split". dar asta-i tot ce inteleg. nu sunt familiarizat cu forma acestui verb. Iti multumesc pentru ajutorul tau!

Hi mike. How u doing? Hope u don't mind my few changes in ur req.

* formulă = formula ( u know.. those used in maths )
formă = form


o s-o tai is a slang expression that means o să plec = i will leave.

but a tăia means to cut

Originally Posted by kmmy

Hi mike. How u doing? Hope u don't mind my few changes in ur req.

* formulă = formula ( u know.. those used in maths )
formă = form


o s-o tai is a slang expression that means o să plec = i will leave.

but a tăia means to cut

I don't mind at all! thanks for the corrections kmmy and the explanation.

Can someone help me with these translations please?

Eu sint fericit = I am happy

Eu sint nefericit = I am unhappy

Eu sint a si face griji = I am worried

Eu sint obosit =I am tired

Eu sint nedreptate = I am wrong

Eu a avea dreptate = I am right

Also how do I say grumpy in Romanian? Is it capricios?

Multumesc

Fist of all, the verb "a fi" is conjugated at the present tense in the following way:
eu sunt
tu eşti
el/ea este
noi suntem
voi sunteţi
ei/ele sunt

I understand your mistake, the u is pronounced as an î/â.
The sentences are correct, except for:

Eu sunt ingrijorat = I am worried
* you should have used the participle of the verb "a (se) îngrijora"

Eu am greşit = I am wrong
* in Romanian you can't use the adjective "greşit" to describe a person. So you use the verb "a greşi" instead. The sentence above literally means "I made a mistake."

Eu am dreptate = I am right
* this is an expresion ("a avea dreptate"). You should have put the verb " a avea" at the correct person and number (First person, singular).

And yes, you are right, grumpy may mean capricios, morocănos, urâcios.

Thankyou flyawaysmiling.

Sharing my joy, I passed my exams. How do I say that in Romanian so I can SMS my boyfriend please?

i´m just learning, but, this is what i think could work:

Vreau sa-mi impart bucuria cu tine,
I want to share my joy with you,
am trecut peste (toate) examenele.
I passed (all) my exams.

or in the beginning, you can say just simply that you´re happy - Sunt fericita.

or longer version of "passing the exams" - Am trecut (cu bine) peste toate examenele. I passed all my exams (well).



p.s. Romanians, please, correct me if I´m wrong.

Thankyou Exit-I think he got the message......... jumping up and down and screaming it out in the supermarket when I seen him maybe helped hahaha!!!

Originally Posted by mister Xazos

Well, I saw up the alphabet written by Dya, but I guess she forgot the write some group of letters, or she thought to take you easier than me (haha). I'll write again with the groups too.
A a
Ă ă =Britanic English "first"
 â ="roses"
B b ="ball"
C c ="cat"
D d ="door"
E e ="merry"
F f = "flag"
G g ="goat"
H h ="house"
I i ="machine"
Î î (i with circumflex) = e in "roses"
J j ="treasure"
K k ="like"
L l ="lamp"
M m ="mouth"
N n ="north"
O o ="floor"
P p ="post"
Q q ="kettle"
R r =(trilled r)
S s ="song"
Ş ş (s with comma) = s in "sugar"
T t ="tip"
Ţ ţ (t with comma) zz in "pizza"
U u ="group"
V v = in "vision"
W w =in "vision"
X x = in "six"
Z z =in "zipper"
-------------------------
Ce (ceramic)
Ci (chica in spanish)
Che (kept)
Chi (kimono)
Ge (Gerard)
Gi (geee man )
Ghe (get)
Ghi (give)

"ce" is more like "cherish" , not "ceramic"...

I have a question... I always thought (for the brief time I have been learning Romanian) that "ă" was pronounced as "uh" and î/â were pronounced as the "i" in "first" in British English; do I have it backwards?...That's what I thought, according to the songs I have been listening to (O-Zone, Radu Sîrbu / MR. & MS., Dan Bălan / Crazy Loop, Arsenium, Voltaj, 3SE, Andreea Bălan, Anka, Mahay...the list is endless!)

Originally Posted by chai22

Well, the teacher doesn't really prepare her own worksheets. I've found that I've had to do a lot of studying on my own to teach my self.

The worth of the class, however, is that the advanced tutorial is conducted completely in Romanian. We read things in class; have to translate them on the spot; answer questions about the reading on the spot; rephrase and summarise things. So, it keeps us on our toes. UCLA offers intensive Romanian during the summer, but I found that it was too basic for my level.

Anyhow, the advanced tutorial was using a book called Colloquial Romanian. It's an okay book and one can purchase it from any of the major book retailers on-line. However, I really liked this book from the 70's published in Romania called « Limbă Română pentru studenți străini ». Also, I recently borrowed three books from the UCLA library, which has quite a selection of good Romanian books :
1. Romanian Textbook - Alexandra Roceric (from the States)
2. Gramatica Limbii Române fără Profesor - Mircea Goga (from Romania)
3. Gramatica uzuală a limbii române (from Moldova and so far my favourite grammar book ! )

In terms of trying to set up a structure for my self, I've actually tried to use my French textbook as a basis and then accordingly tried to learn the corresponding grammar points and thematic vocabulary in Romanian. Of course, Romanian grammar is much more complex so it doesn't always fit together one-to-one.

One can download a comprehensive Romanian grammar in PDF format at the following link :
http://www.seelrc.org:8080/grammar/p...e_romanian.pdf

Other than that, my music playlist is 90% Romanian songs. Music is what got me interested in Romanian and music is what made me realise what a brilliant language Romanian is.

I have one Romanian friend and that is all. I wish I had more in LA !

Hope this helps.

Btw, Mike, you should check out NOPTILE ROMANESTE on the web and on Facebook. They have parties in New York all the time.

How interesting... I also found the wonders of Romanian by music listening...I keep in touch with only one person who speaks it though...and bothered her so much for song translations! LOL

and big thanks for the pdf! Mulțumesc!

Another question... what is the difference between "și" and "iar", and also "numai" and "doar"? ...Are they used in grammatically different contexts or are they interchangeable?

Mulțumesc!

Originally Posted by dragonfly93

Another question... what is the difference between "și" and "iar", and also "numai" and "doar"? ...Are they used in grammatically different contexts or are they interchangeable?

Mulțumesc!

I'm not perfect with these and I am looking forward to a natives explanation. I would appreciate a correction on this. This is a good test for me.

* You use 'iar' when conjugating 2 separate elements that occur at the same time (i think).

- Mă duc la magazin iar te duci la serviciu. (I am going to the store and you are going to work.)

* You use şi to conjugate 2 elements.
- M-am dus la magazin şi atunci la serviciu. (I went to the store and then to work.)

* You use şi when listing somethings:
- Ion şi Cătălin merg cumpărături împreună. (Ion and catalin are going shopping together.)

* şi is not just a conjunction, it is also used for "too, also".
. buna dimineata! ... şi ţie! (Good morning! ....to you too/also!)


* numai and doar i think are interchangeable if talking about quantities. I generally use numai for "only" and doar for "just" but I don't fully understand their full useages yet. I have a feeling they are not always interchangeable.

I hope I've done well and I have helped.

Good explanations, Mike You understood how to use these words, now let me tell you the explanation/rule behind them. And, dragonfkly93, I hope this will help you:

și is a conjunction and it connects two elements of the same kind(two nouns, adjectives, etc / two subjects, two predicates, etc)

Ana și Elena merg la cinema.
Orașul este frumos și curat.
El a venit și a plecat.

As Mike said, și is also used as too
Am sosit! - Și eu! (me too)

iar as a conjunction connects two adversative elements (you use it mostly to emphasize the difference in meaning, otherwise, gramaticaly speaking, you can use și if the two elements are of the same kind):
Ana este acasă iar Elena este la școală. (you use iar in order to make a point that one girl is at home while the other is at school)

You could say: Ana este acasă și Elena este la școală because Ana and Elena are two subjects/proper nouns and, thus, can be connected by și

iar can also be an adverb meaning again:
Iar am întârziat (I'm late again)

Numai & doar are both adverbs and again, Mike gave you the best translation for each:
numai=only
doar=just
They are interchangeable, the only rule is that you use them only in affirmative sentences.
Am numai/doar o soră.

Decât is also sinonim with numai/doar but the rule is to use it only in negative sentences.
Nu am decât o soră.

Decât is also used in comparisons as than (and this is a totally different use than what I said before)
El este mai înalt decât ea.

I hope this helped

thanks Dya! your explanation is wonderful! I have pasted the post in my notes

o zi minunata

Mulțumesc pentru amândoi! (I hope I typed that right...)

by the way, does the word "dar" mean "and" or "but"? I have seen it used in both contexts...

Also, what is the difference between" încă" and "mai"?

And what does the word "atât" mean? Google translated it as "both"; however, that does not seem to always be the case.

Here we go:

dar & iar are synonyms in what I said yesterday:

Ana este acasă și Elena este la școală.
Ana este acasă iar Elena este la școală.
Ana este acasă dar Elena este la școală. ( by using dar in this context with the meaning of but you make it clear that Elena isn't available now because she's at school. )

Otherwise, you use dar as a perfect equivalent of but.

încă generally means still. It can be used both in affirmative and negative sentences :

Nu a venit încă.
Încă aștept.

But you'll also find încă in contexts where it means one more:
Trebuie să aștept încă o oră -I have to wait one more hour
Încă o încercare- one more try

or in contexts like:
Look, there's a cat over there! - Look, another one! (Uite, încă una! )

Mai has a lot of uses:
1. in comparisons: mai frumos = more beautiful, or in other contexts where you use more in english.
2. the equivalent of still in contexts like: Do you still come to the party? - Mai vii la petrecere?
3. The equivalent of also/too in sentences like: I also have this dress (not only the one you saw) - Mai am și rochia aceasta.
4. totally different meaning, mai is also the word used for the month of may

And a whole range of uses derived from the ones above, but you'll get used to them as you learn the language.

atât is usually translated as: enough/just this/like this/that's all/so/ both , etc Another word you'll get used to in time. Examples:

Both Ana and Elena know this language- Atât Ana cât și Elena știu această limbă.
That's all I had to say- Atât am avut de spus
She's so beautiful- Este atât de frumoasă
(when describing and showing something as reference) She's that/this tall- Ea este atât de înaltă (supposingly, you use you hands or another person/object to show a similiar height)

If I remember any other relevant uses, I'll post them

Thank you Dya, that was very helpful

What does "aromana" and "ardeleanca" mean?
This is the context: "Elena Gheorghe este jumatate aromana, jumatate ardeleanca"

Originally Posted by smfc_stevo_smfc

What does "aromana" and "ardeleanca" mean?
This is the context: "Elena Gheorghe este jumatate aromana, jumatate ardeleanca"

I think ardeleanca is a female person from the Ardeal region (transylvania) of romania.
And Aromana might refer to a female person from the region of romania south of transylvania.

The phrase means:
Elena Gheorghe is 1/2 "aromana" and 1/2 "ardeleanca"