Learn how to express dates
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 11 - Choosing the Perfect Birthday Present for a Romanian Friend. Becky Here. |
| Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn about expressing dates. The conversation takes place in Bucharest city center. |
| Mihai: It's between Andreea and Masanobu. |
| Becky: The speakers are friends, so they’ll speak informal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Andreea: Hai să îi cumpărăm un cadou lui Mihai de ziua lui! |
| Masanobu: Ah, e ziua lui de naștere? |
| Andreea: Da, în română "ziua lui" înseamnă și "zi de naștere". |
| Masanobu: Înțeleg. Când este ziua lui Mihai? |
| Andreea: Astăzi este marți, trei iunie, deci este săptămâna viitoare, vineri, treisprezece iunie. |
| Masanobu: Ce să îi cumpărăm? |
| Andreea: E pasionat de astronomie. Să îi cumpărăm o excursie pe lună? |
| Masanobu: Da, e o idee foarte bună. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Andreea: Hai să îi cumpărăm un cadou lui Mihai de ziua lui! |
| Masanobu: Ah, e ziua lui de naștere? |
| Andreea: Da, în română "ziua lui" înseamnă și "zi de naștere". |
| Masanobu: Înțeleg. Când este ziua lui Mihai? |
| Andreea: Astăzi este marți, trei iunie, deci este săptămâna viitoare, vineri, treisprezece iunie. |
| Masanobu: Ce să îi cumpărăm? |
| Andreea: E pasionat de astronomie. Să îi cumpărăm o excursie pe lună? |
| Masanobu: Da, e o idee foarte bună. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Andreea: Let's buy Mihai a present for his day. |
| Masanobu: Oh, is it his birthday? |
| Andreea: Yes, in Romanian "his day" also means "birthday." |
| Masanobu: I understand. When is Mihai's birthday? |
| Andreea: Today is Tuesday, June 3rd, so it's next week's Friday, June 13th. |
| Masanobu: What shall we buy him? |
| Andreea: He loves astronomy. How about we buy him a trip to the moon? |
| Masanobu: Yes, that's a very good idea. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: I don’t think a trip to the moon is a possible birthday present, but the sentiment is nice! |
| Mihai: Yes, it’s the thought that counts! |
| Becky: What are birthday celebrations like in Romania? |
| Mihai: They’re one of the most important days in the year for each person. |
| Becky: How are they celebrated? |
| Mihai: Usually with friends and family and also at the workplace. |
| Becky: That sounds like a lot of celebrations... |
| Mihai: Yes, adults might have three parties - one with family, one with friends, and one at work. |
| Becky: What are workplace celebrations like? I’m guessing that the office doesn’t turn into one big party space. |
| Mihai: No, it doesn’t! Usually the person celebrating their birthday will bring in desserts and drinks and invite others to have some. |
| Becky: So the birthday person brings in the snacks... |
| Mihai: ...but the guests still bring the presents! |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Mihai: cadou [natural native speed] |
| Becky: present |
| Mihai: cadou[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: cadou [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: naștere [natural native speed] |
| Becky: birth |
| Mihai: naștere[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: naștere [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: lui [natural native speed] |
| Becky: his |
| Mihai: lui[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: lui [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: când [natural native speed] |
| Becky: when |
| Mihai: când[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: când [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: săptămână [natural native speed] |
| Becky: week |
| Mihai: săptămână[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: săptămână [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: viitor [natural native speed] |
| Becky: next, coming |
| Mihai: viitor[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: viitor [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: iunie [natural native speed] |
| Becky: June |
| Mihai: iunie[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: iunie [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: pasionat [natural native speed] |
| Becky: passionate, keen |
| Mihai: pasionat[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: pasionat [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: lună [natural native speed] |
| Becky: moon; month |
| Mihai: lună[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: lună [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last... |
| Mihai: idee [natural native speed] |
| Becky: idea |
| Mihai: idee[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: idee [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Mihai: zi de naștere |
| Becky: meaning "birthday." This has three words. Can you break them down for us? |
| Mihai: Sure. Zi means “day,” de is “of,” and naștere is a noun meaning “birth.” |
| Becky: How is this phrase used? |
| Mihai: It’s used to refer to the date of your birthday. It’s also used in formal situations. |
| Becky: What would you say in casual speech? |
| Mihai: sunt născut pe |
| Becky: This means “I am born on…” Can you give us an example using our original phrase? |
| Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say, Când este ziua ta de naștere? |
| Becky: ...which means "When is your birthday?" |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Mihai: pasionat de |
| Becky: meaning "keen on." What can you tell us about this phrase? |
| Mihai: Pasionat is the past participle of the verb a pasiona. |
| Becky: This means “to especially interest.” |
| Mihai: We use this to talk about our favorite hobbies. |
| Becky: So it’s just favorites, and not casual pastimes? |
| Mihai: Right. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say, Eu sunt pasionat de modă. |
| Becky: ...which means "I am keen on fashion." |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn about expressing dates. |
| Becky: One way of doing this is to use time adverbs. These are words such as “yesterday” and “today.” |
| Mihai: Yes. These words don’t change in Romanian, so once you learn them they’re pretty easy to use. |
| Becky: How do they work in sentences with verbs? |
| Mihai: They can go either before or after the verb. |
| Becky: Okay. Let’s hear a couple of the most common time adverbs. What’s “today?” |
| Mihai: astăzi. Astăzi merg la școală. |
| Becky: “Today I'm going to school.” How about “tomorrow?” |
| Mihai: mâine. El merge mâine. |
| Becky: “He’s going tomorrow.” |
| Mihai: Now, I said earlier that time adverbs can go before or after the verb, and although the meaning doesn’t change, there are common orders that are used. |
| Becky: Oh, an order that native speakers naturally use? |
| Mihai: Yes. I advise listening to what people say, and soon you’ll figure out the orders. |
| Becky: Okay. Now, how do we say things like “this year” or “this week?” |
| Mihai: By adding acesta or aceasta, the masculine or feminine form of “this.” |
| Becky: Let’s hear some example sentences. |
| Mihai: Anul acesta eu încep facultatea. |
| Becky: “I’m starting college this year.” |
| Mihai: Cartea este publicată luna aceasta. |
| Becky: “The book is being published this month.” |
| Mihai: I’d like to talk a little about the Romanian spellings of months and days. |
| Becky: Oh? Is there something important we should note? |
| Mihai: Yes, because in Romanian, words for months and days start with lowercase letters, not capitals. Apart from when they start a sentence, of course! |
| Becky: That’s an important thing to remember if you ever have to write in Romanian. What are the days of the week? Can you tell us? |
| Mihai: Sure! I’ll start at Monday, as that is the first day of the Romanian week. Luni, marți, miercuri, joi, vineri, sâmbătă, duminică. |
| Becky: So that was Monday through Sunday. And to finish, how about the months of the year? |
| Mihai: ianuarie, februarie, martie, aprilie, mai, iunie, iulie, august, septembrie, octombrie, noiembrie, decembrie. |
| Becky: Thank you! |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Mihai: La revedere. |
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