Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Salut, and welcome to Romanian Survival Phrases, brought to you by RomanianPod101.com
This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Romania. You'll be surprised at how far a little Romanian will go.
Now before we jump in, remember to stop by RomanianPod101.com.
There, you’ll find the accompanying PDF lesson notes and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.
This lesson will teach you how to introduce yourself in Romanian and how to say where are you from. Romanians are a very curious people, and depending on where you are in Romania, they might be more or less sociable, but in general they are nice and hospitable. A self introduction in Romanian will be a pleasant surprise. Let’s begin the lesson.
BODY
Let’s imagine that your name is John, and you are from Canada. You came to Romania and met a person who asked you “What is your name?” That sounds like this in Romanian:
Cum te numeşti?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Cum te nu-meşti?
Once more:
Cum te numeşti?
The first word cum means “how”.
(slow) Cum.
Cum.
The second word te is a form of the pronoun “you” and it shows singular and informal speech. Te can be translated as “yourself”.
The last word numeşti is a form of the verb that means “to name”.
Let’s hear the expression again:
Cum te numeşti?
(slow) Cum te nu-meşti?
You can change this phrase into a formal one simply by replacing te with vă. The phrase will become:
Cum vă numiţi?
(Slow) Cum vă nu-miţi?
The answer to this question will be, in our case,
Mă numesc John, which means “My name is John.”
(slow) Mă numesc John.
First, we have the little word mă which is a form of the pronoun “I” and it can be translated in English as “myself” or “me”.
(slow) Mă.
Mă.
As you may already have observed, the verb numesc sounds similar; what makes it different from the previous is the final syllable.
(slow) Nu-mesc.
Numesc.
The name usually comes at the end.
Let’s hear that again:
Mă numesc John.
The next question you will usually be asked is “Where are you from?”
De unde eşti?
(slow) De un-de eşti?
The first word de is translated as “from” in this case.
(slow) De.
De.
Unde means “where”.
(slow) Un-de.
Unde.
And last we have eşti, a form of the verb that means “to be”.
Let’s break down this phrase
(slow) De un-de eşti?
De unde eşti?
If you are speaking to a person younger than yourself, you may be asked De unde sunteţi? This is the polite way to say “Where are you from?”
Let’s hear the question one more time.
(slow) De un-de sun-teţi?
De unde sunteţi?
Your answer will be “I’m from Canada”. In Romania that will sound like: Sunt din Canada.
(slow) Sunt din Ca-na-da.
The first word sunt is a form of the verb that means “to be”.
(slow) Sunt.
Sunt.
Next we have din which means “from”.
(slow) Din.
Din.
And at the end we have the name of the country, which in our case is Canada.
Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time.
Sunt din Canada.
REVIEW
Okay, to close out this lesson, we'd like you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so mult noroc , which means "Good luck!" in Romanian.
“What is your name?” (informal)
(3 sec)Cum te numeşti?
(slow) Cum te nu-meşti?
Cum te numeşti?
“What is your name?” (formal)
(3 sec)Cum vă numiţi?
(Slow) Cum vă nu-miţi?
Cum vă numiţi?
“My name is John.”
(3 sec) Mă numesc John.
(slow)Mă nu-mesc John.
Mă numesc John.
“Where are you from?” (informal)
(3 sec) De unde eşti?
(slow) De un-de eşti?
De unde eşti?
“Where are you from?” (formal)
(3 sec) De unde sunteţi?
(slow) De un-de sun-teţi?
De unde sunteţi?
“I’m from Canada.”
(3 sec) Sunt din Canada.
(slow)Sunt din Ca-na-da.
Sunt din Canada.

Outro

All right, that's all for this lesson!
Remember to stop by RomanianPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF lesson notes.
If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.
Pa!

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