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Romanianis aRomancelanguagespokenby about24millionpeople inRomania,Moldova and Ukraine. Romanian retains a number of features of Latin, such as noun cases, which other Romancelanguagesdispensedwithalongtimeago.Romaniancontainsmanywordstakenfromthe surroundingSlaviclanguages,andalsofromFrench,OldChurchSlavonic,German,GreekandTurkish.
Romanian alphabet Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk
be
ce
de
fe/ef
ghe/ge ha/ha i
je
ka
Ll
Mm
Nn
Oo
Pp
Rr
Ss
Tt
Uu
Vv
Xx
Zz
le/el
me/em ne/en
pe
re/er
se/es
te
ve
ics
zet
Q (chiu), W (dublu ve) and Y (igrec) are also used, but only in foreign loanwords.
Romanian pronunciation
The English subject pronouns ( I, you, he, we, etc.) are the same in Romanian. The only exception is that Romanian, like the other Romance languages, has a singular and plural "you" form. See the following list: eu tu el, ea noi voi I you he, she we you (pl)
ei, ele they (m), they (f) NOTES: 1. The subject pronoun is not normally used before the verb in spoken Romanian. However, it can be used to show emphasis. El merge la cinema. He is going to the cinema. (As opposed to someone else going) 2. If there is a group of masculine and feminine nouns, it is referred to by the subject pronoun ei. Nelu i Lidia sunt aici. Nelu and Lidia are here. Ei sunt aici. They are here. 3. If a person wishes to address someone in a formal tone, the speaker would use the subject pronoun dumneavoastr. This pronoun is conjugated the same as voi.
The verb-Verbul
Two of the most basic verbs in Romanian are a fi (to be) and a avea (to have). Below is the present tense conjugation of these verbs. TO BE=A FI
NOTES:
1.Asyoumayhavenoticed,theconjugationestecanbeshortenedtoe,andisdonesoinspoken Romanian. 2.Thenegationofaverbisdonebyprecedingitwithnu.Thiscanbeabbreviatedasnbeforea wordstartingwithavowel. i.e.Naveiocarte?Don'tyouallhaveabook?
Otherusefulverbs:
a vorbi vorbesc I speak, I am speaking, I do vorbim we speak
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vorbii vorbesc
I go, I am going, I do go you go he, she, it goes mergem mergei merg we go you go they go
I know you know he, she, it knows tim tii tiu we know you know they know
The category of plural-Pluralul Masculine singular Masculine plural Feminine singular Feminine plural Neuter singular Neuter plural
You will see nouns and adjectives grouped into these categories. As you see more and more words, you will pick up on certain patterns. (Example pattern that you probably wouldn't know yet: Neuter nouns are like the masculine in the singular, but like feminine in the plural.) That said, let's move into plurals.
1. Masculine
Thepluralforamasculinenounismademostlybyaddingitotheendoftheword.
In some cases this will cause the final consonant to change. copil copii acrobat acrobai child children acrobat acrobats
And words that end in a vowel have that vowel replaced by -i. litru litri fiu fii liter liters son sons
2. Feminine
Feminine nouns are a little more diverse in their forms. Those ending in - form the plural by substituting an -e or an -i. or ore gar gri Those ending in -e, replace it with an -i: carte cri book books hour hours station stations
prjitur prjituri Those ending in -ie, replace it with -ii : staie staii
pastry pastries
Those ending in -ea, replace it with -ele : cafea cafele coffee cups of coffee
3. Neuter
Neuter nouns have two forms in the plural. Those ending in -ou , form the plural by adding -uri : birou birouri Those ending in -iu , replace with -ii : fotoliu fotolii
desk desks
armchair armchairs
ThearticleArticolul
In English, the indefinite articles (a, an, some) AND the definite article (the) precede the noun to which they refer. However, in Romanian, the indefinite articles come BEFORE the noun and definite articles come AFTER the noun, as a suffix. That is, unless the planets are aligned or all road construction is finished, but we all know how rare those are.
IndefiniteArticles
un o "a, an" for masculine and neuter singular nouns "a, an" for feminine singular nouns
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nite
some
DefiniteArticles
If the word ends in a consonant, add -ul: om omul oameni oamenii If ending in -, substitute -a: fat fata fete fetele If ending in -ea, add -ua: cafea cafeaua cafele cafelele If ending in -ie, substitute -ia cltorie cltoria cltorii cltoriile If ending in -u, add -l:
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If a MASCULINE word ends in -e, add -le: cine cinele cini cinii dog the dog dogs the dogs
If a FEMININE word ends in -e, add -a: minge mingea mingi mingile ball the ball balls the balls
Examples: Brnzaefoarteveche.Thecheeseisveryold. Dimingea!Givehimtheball! Steauaalbastrefrumoas.Thebluestarisbeautiful. NOTES: TherearesomeinstanceswherethedefinitearticlewouldnotbeusedinEnglishbutMUSTbeused inRomanian. 1.Whenspeakingaboutsomethinginageneralsense: Mncarearomneascestefoartedelicioas.Romanianfoodisverydelicious.(Speakingabout Romanianfoodingeneral) Numiplaceberea.Idon'tlikebeer.(Speakingofbeeringeneral) 2.Whenshowingpossession: Prietenulmeuvineminediminea.Myfriendiscomingtomorrowmorning. Daniareceasultu.Dannyhasyourwatch.
TheSubjunctiveConjunctivul
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Examples of the subjunctive: Trebuie s mergem la Bucureti. We have to go to Bucharest. Nu pot s vorbesc ungurete. I cannot speak Hungarian. As you can see, the subjunctive is "s + present tense". Just as with the normal present tense, the subjunctive is conjugated so personal pronouns are unnecessary. Trebuie s merg Trebuie s mergi Trebuie s mearg Trebuie s mergem Trebuie s mergei Trebuie s mearg I have to go You have to go He/She has to go We have to go You (pl) have to go They have to go
You may notice that the 3rd person form (mearg) is a bit different than the normal 3rd person present tense (merge). This change in the 3rd person form will be common when forming the subjunctive, but everything else stays the same. The rules for this change in the 3rd person are fairly simple. Here are the rules and some examples using "merge", "ntreba", and "vorbi"; meaning "to go", "to ask", and "to speak", respectively. Change e -> ea e -> -> e ea -> e ete -> easc Condition middle of word end of word end of word middle of word end of word Example merge -> mearg merge -> mearg ntreab -> ntrebe ntreab -> ntrebe vorbete -> vorbeasc
Constructions using the subjunctive are usually started with "putea", "vrea", and "trebui". Here are some example sentences containing the subjunctive. Pot s scriu foarte bine. I can write very well. Nu poi s citeti prea bine. You cannot read too well. Trebuie s vorbim cu el. We need to speak with him. Trebuie s vorbeasc cu noi. He/She must speak with us. Nu trebuie s plecm mine. We don't need to leave tomorrow. El trebuie s plece n seara asta. He needs to leave tonight.* Ea trebuie s plece mine sear. She needs to leave tomorrow night.*
* The personal pronoun is used here to avoid ambiguity, as "s plece" can imply "he", "she" or "they".
Vreau s merg la Oradea. I want to go to Oradea. Vreau s mergi la Oradea. I want you to go to Oradea. Vrem s mergei la Oradea. We want you all to go to Oradea.
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TheFutureTenseTimpulViitor
TheFutureTenseinRomaniancanbeconstructedinthreedifferentways: 1. presenttense+timeexpression 2. 'o'+subjunctive 3. conjugationof"voi"+verbinfinitive
2. 'O' + Subjunctive
Another way to form the future is by combining 'o' and the subjunctive. For example: O s bem ap mineral la casa lui Victor. We will drink mineral water at Victor's house. O s vezi tu nsui cnd vine. You will see for yourself when he comes. Nu tim dac o s vin i ea. We don't know if she's coming too.
The verb infinitive for "to see" is "a vedea". The 'a' before the word is like the 'to' in english verb infinitves ("to see"). The 'a' may be ignored for now, all we need is voi + vedea. See the examples below. Voi vedea filmul poimine. I will see the movie the day after tomorrow. Nelu va vedea luna plin. Nelu will see the full moon. Va veni i Marta. Marta will come too. Nelu i Lidia vor fi la biseric astzi. Nelu and Lidia will be at church today.
ei / ele au they've
The past participle is formed from the infinitive of the verb following a few fairly simple rules. It might be easier at first to simply memorize the past participles of the more commonly used verbs (note: past participles can also be used as adjectives!). For starters, let's look at the past tense of a face meaning "to do" or "to make": The past participle of face is fcut. You would use this in conjunction with the shortened form of a avea to form the past.Just look at the examples! am fcut = I made ai fcut = you made a fcut = he/she made am fcut = we made ai fcut = you made au fcut = they made
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You may notice the past tense for eu and noi is exactly the same: am fcut. You can use the personal pronouns to stress who is the doer of the action. Eu am fcut. I did. Noi am fcut. We did. Here are some examples of basic verbs and their past participles: Infinitive Past Participle Definition face vorbi merge da mnca primi bea veni spune avea fi fcut vorbit mers dat mncat primit but venit spus avut fost make / do speak go give eat receive drink come say have be
Here are some simple rules to follow to divine the past participle. There are a number of exceptions to the rules however, so a list of common irregular verbs will follow.
RulesforPastParticiples
adda't'toverbsendingin'i'or'a' subtractlasttwolettersofverbsendingin'e',thenaddan's' Examples: "aalege"="tochoose" alege>ales>ales "azice"="tosay" zice>zis>zis "aalerga"="torun" alergat>alergat "aopti"="towhisper" optit>optit Tonegateapasttenseyouadda'nu'infrontofthe'avea'helpingverb.Thisoftengets 12
shortenedto'n'. Nuambut>NambutIdidnotdrink Nuaivenit>NaivenitYoudidnotcome OnemorethingyoushouldknowaboutRomaniannegationisthattheylovedouble negatives!WeonlysaythatindialectinEnglishsoIhavefundoingitinRomanian.Words youwillneedtoformdoublenegativesare: nimeninobody nicierinowhere niciodatnever nimicnothing
I do not expect this to make a whole lot of sense without a small sea of example sentences, so below you will find exactly that... Ai venit ieri? Did you all come yesterday? Pisicile au mncat oarecii. The cats ate the mice. Noi n-am vzut nimic! We didn't see anything! Ea niciodat n-a auzit nimic. She never heard anything. Ieri am primit o scrisoare de la el. I got a letter from him yesterday Au mers pn la vam. They went up to the border. Am vorbit toata ziua. We talked the whole day. N-au spus nimic despre iganii. They didn't say anything about the gypsies. Maina n-a fost nicieri. The car wasn't anywhere.
ANDnowforthesimplepast!
Thesimplepastisusedtodenoteanactionthathappenedmorethanonceoroveraperiodoftime. ExamplesinEnglishwouldbe"Wewerewritingeachothereveryday"or"Iwenttothelibraryon Sundays".Itisconstructedbyaddingasuffix*totheendoftheverbinfinitive.Thesuffixesusedare asfollows: Person Suffix eu tu am ai
You may have noticed that with avea the letter 'a' is not doubled: avea + am = aveam. This is true for all verbs ending in a. To negate just put a nu before the verb and shorten to n- if the verb begins with an 'a'. Below are some examples. N-aveam cri. We didn't have books. Nu mergeau la biserc.They did not go to church. Diminea mncam salata de ardei. I used to eat pepper salad in the morning. Primeai scrisori de la ea? Were you getting letters from her? Nimeni nu vorbea cu mine. Nobody would talk with me.
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Following is a list of the forms for the personal pronouns as used in reflexive verbs. Pronoun Reflexive eu tu el ea noi voi ei ele m te se se ne v se se
a se uita (la) to look (at) m uit te uii se uit ne uitm v uitai se uit
a se trezi
to get up / wake up
se trezete
se trezesc
M spl pe dini. I'm brushing my teeth. El se duce la piscin. He's going to the pool. Ne trezim la opt diminea. We're getting up at eight in the morning. Ea se ntoarce n Ungaria. She's returning to Hungary. La ce v uitai? What are you looking at? M duc la biserc. I'm going to church. Te speli? Do you wash? Se duc la coal s se uit la noua cldire. They're going to the school to see the new building. V ntoarcei rspoimine? Are you coming back three days from now? O s te uii la televizor? Are you going to watch television? Te vei duce la cri acuma sear? Are you going to the river tonight? O s se trezeasc dup mine. He will get up after me. Trebuie s se duc i Daniel. Daniel has to go too.
The Possessive-Posesivul
Overview:* 1. Possessive Adjective 2. The "AL" Construction 3. Dative Genitive
1.PossessiveAdjectives
Theeasiestandperhapsthemostfamiliarformofpossessioncorrespondsto'my','your','his',etc. English MasculineSingular MasculinePlural FeminineSingular FemininePlural 16
your(formal) dumneavoastr
Rememberthatwordsofneutralgenderbehavelikemasculinenounsinthesingularandlike femininenounsintheplural.NotealsothatthethingthatisownedMUSTbeinthedefiniteform: Thenominativeof"dog"is"cine".Thedefiniteformasculinenounsendingineis"le"thus"the dog"wouldbe"cinele".Thewordismasculinesoyouusethemasculinesingularfromthechart above:"meu".Thepossessiveadjectivefollowsthenoun:"mydog"="cinelemeu". Forthedefiniteformof"main"(car)youwouldchangetheintoana:"thecar"="maina".Then justaddthecorrespondingpossessiveadjectivefromthechartabove:"mainamea"(mycar).The neuterwordHotelwouldtakethemasculinepossessiveadjectiveinthesingular:"Hotelulmeu"(my hotel)andthefemininepluralintheplural:"Hotelurilemele".Thisisofcoursemuchsimplerfor "his","her",or"their"because"lui","ei"and"lor"donotchangeforpluralorgender. ExampleSentences: Ceasulmeuestricat. Undeemainata? Acetianusntpantaloniimei. Mywatchisbroken. Whereisyourcar? Thesearenotmypants.
2.The"AL"Construction
Ifyouwanttosay'mine','yours',or'his'youmustusetheALconstruction: Male Female Neutral
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singular al plural ai
a ale
al ale
GRAMMARNOTE:Noticethatwordsofneutralgenderinthesingularbehavelikemasculinewords, buttheybehavelikefemininewordswhenintheplural.Youwillseethispatternoften. Nowletmetryandmakesenseofthatgraphforyou!Iftheobjectownedismasculineandsingular, forexample,youwouldusealinsteadoftheobject,followedbythecorrespondingmeuform. Forexample: prietenulmeu(myfriend)becomesalmeu(mine) Thisiswhyyouneedit:Ifyoudon'tuseit,youwillsoundlikearobot,ashasbeenavoidedinthe followingexamplesentences: "Myfriendisn'thereyet" "Mineisn'teither." "Neitherminenoryoursishere." "Thankyoucaptainobvious!" InRomanianthatwouldbe: "Prietenulmeuncnuesteaici." "Nicialmeu." "Nicialmeunicialtunuesteaici." ('nici'means'nor'andisrepeatedbeforeeachnoun) HINT:trytothinkofalmeuasjustbeingtheEnglishword'mine'althoughitistwowordsandfeels kindofstrange. "AFriendofMine" Sometimes,justfortheheckofit,youmightwanttosaysomethinglike:"Afriendofmine".This especiallycomesinhandysincethewordprieten(friend)couldmean'girlfriend'intheright(or wrong!)context.Butsaying'afriendofmine'alwaysmeans"justafriend".Thesame,ofcourse,is trueforprietenmeaning'boyfriend'. TosaythisinRomanian,youcansaydefor'of': A friend of mine.
O prieten de amea
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3.Dative/GenitiveCase
ThethirdmethodofexpressingownershipistousetheDative/Genitivecase.Thiscase,likethe definitearticle,isasuffix. Gender Singular Plural lor lor
*Oftenthisendingis"ii".We'llcovertheimportantwordsthattakethisspecialending. Themasculinedative/genetivesuffixisaddedtothesingulardefiniteformofanymasculineor neuterwordinthesingular,andthefemininesuffixisaddedtothepluralindefiniteoffeminine words. ThefollowingchartshowsthreetypicalfemininewordsinthesingularDative/Genetive: Nominative/Accusative Plural fat decleraie cas fete Dative/Genitive fetei
Thefollowingchartshowsthreemasculinewordsandoneneuterwordinthesingular Dative/Genetive:
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Dative/Genitive
*"Hotel"isneuterbutrememberthatneuterwordsactmasculineinthesingular. Foranywordinthepluralregardlessofgenderyouadd"lor"tothepluralindefiniteform. Singular Plural biat om familie fat hotel biei Dative/Genitive bieilor
hoteluri hotelurilor
Andnowtocoverthosepesky"ii"words.Unfortunatelythereisnosolidrule,you'lljusthaveto learnwhichwordstakeit.OnegreathelpisthatALLwordsendingin"tate"changeto"tii",and wordsendingin"are"changeto"rii". Examples: stare>strii(stateofbeing) facultate>facultii(university) omenire>omenirii(humanity) Otherimportantwordsthattaketheiisuffix: main>mainii(car) biseric>bisericii(church) limb>limbii(tongue,language) ar>rii 20
IMPORTANTGRAMMARNOTE:Adjectivescanalsotakethedative/genitiveendings! Don'tforgetthatobjectsownedmustbedefinite!Andnowforsomeexamplesentences!(yey!) Mainabunuluimeuprieten.Thecarofmygoodfriend. Prinulpcii.Theprinceofpeace. Cauciuculmainiialbastre*.Thebluecar'stire. Pstorulbisericiinoastre*.Thepastorofourchurch. Casatatluimeu.Myfather'shouse. ToatecuvintelealelimbiRomne*.AllthewordsoftheRomanianlanguage. Afostrucsaculsouluimeu.Thatwasmyhusband'sbackpack. *REMEMBERthattogettheDative/genetiveformoffemininewordsyoumustbuildoffoftheplural form,evenwhenthewordisinthesingular.Keepingthatinmind,adjectivesfollowingsingular femininenounstakepluralendings: Fatafrumoas=Thebeautifulgirl Fetefrumoase=Beautifulgirls Feteifrumoase=of/tothebeautifulgirl Fetelorfrumoase=of/tothebeautifulgirls Onelastnote:WhenusingtheDative/Genitiveformofpeople'snamesyouusetheword"lui"(i.e. notthesuffix)formen'snamesandtheregularsuffixforfemininenames: CasaluiFlorin.Florin'shouse. FiulluiEmil.Emil'sson. CasaMagdalenei.Magdalena'shouse. FiulMariei.Maria'sson. Forsimplicity'ssake,inthespokenlanguageitisverycommontohearpeopleuse"lui"withfemale namesaswellasmen'snames.Thisisespeciallytrueforforiegnwomen'snamesthatdon'tendinan "a"anyways: CasaluiIngrid. FiulluiMaria. 21
TEST
Translatethefollowing:
1.Eutiu 2.Elnumerge 3.Voisuntei 4.Elare 5.Einuvorbesc 6.Tueti 7.Noiavem 8.Voinutii 9.Eusunt 10.Elemerg 11.Igo 12.Heis 13.Wespeak 14.Youdon'thave 15.Sheknows 16.Theyarenot 17.Hehas 18.Iamspeaking 19.Shedoesn'tknow 20.Wearenotgoing 21.Eunutiuundemergei. 22.Elareoprieten. 23.tiidacestecuvoi? 24.Eumerglacinemdacanutiuundeeste. 25.Nuiproblem! 26.Theyhaveabook. 27.Idon'tknowifyou(pl)haveabook. 28.Wearespeakingwiththem. 29.Theyarewithhim. 30.Sheknowswhereweare.
Answers
1.Iknow 2.Heisnotgoing,hedoesn'tgo 22
3.Youare(plural) 4.Hehas 5.They(m)aren'tspeaking,they(m)don'tspeak 6.Youare(singular) 7.Wehave 8.Youdon'tknow(pl) 9.Iam 10.They(f)aregoing,they(f)go 11.Eumerg 12.Eleste 13.Noivorbim 14.Tunuai 15.Eatie 16.Einusunt,Elenusunt 17.Elare 18.Euvorbesc 19.Eanutie 20.Noinumergem 21.Idon'tknowwhereyou(pl)aregoing. 22.Hehasafriend(f). 23.Doyou(s)knowifheiswithyou(pl)? 24.I'mgoingtothecinemaifIdon'tknowwhereheis. 25.Noproblem! 26.Eiauocarte. 27.Nutiudacaveiocarte. 28.Noivorbimcuei. 29.Eisuntcuel. 30.Eatieundesuntem.
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