Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 17 - Ordering a Nightcap in Romania. Becky here.
Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai.
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn about formal vs. informal verbs. The conversation takes place at a restaurant.
Mihai: It's between Masanobu and a waiter.
Becky: The speakers are strangers in a customer service context; therefore, they’ll speak formal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Masanobu: Nu vă supărați, puteți să îmi aduceți un pahar de vin roșu?
Chelner: Un pahar de vin roșu. Sigur, domnule.
Masanobu: Și nota, vă rog.
Chelner: Am înțeles.
Masanobu: Pot plăti cu cardul de credit?
Chelner: Da, puteți.
Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Masanobu: Nu vă supărați, puteți să îmi aduceți un pahar de vin roșu?
Chelner: Un pahar de vin roșu. Sigur, domnule.
Masanobu: Și nota, vă rog.
Chelner: Am înțeles.
Masanobu: Pot plăti cu cardul de credit?
Chelner: Da, puteți.
Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Masanobu: Excuse me, can you bring me a glass of red wine?
Waiter: A glass of red wine. Sure, sir.
Masanobu: And the bill, please.
Waiter: All right.
Masanobu: Can I pay by credit card?
Waiter: Yes, you can.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Becky: Masanobu was at a restaurant in this lesson’s dialogue. I hope he had a nice meal.
Mihai: I hope the wine was good too!
Becky: Haha, that too. We heard Masanobu flag down a waiter to get the bill.
Mihai: The word for “waiter” in Romanian is chelner. But, don’t call the waiter this to his or her face.
Becky: Is it considered rude?
Mihai: In recent years, it’s begun to be seen as rude.
Becky: How do you call for the waiter then?
Mihai: Make eye contact, and wait. You can also say vă rog, which is “please.”
Becky: Do people tip in Romania?
Mihai: It’s the norm, so you should give a tip if you feel the service was worth it.
Becky: Are there any other important things we should know about eating out?
Mihai: If you go to someone’s home to eat, you should wait for the host to start eating before you do.
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: a putea [natural native speed]
Becky: to be able
Mihai: a putea[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a putea [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Mihai: a aduce [natural native speed]
Becky: to bring
Mihai: a aduce[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a aduce [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Mihai: pahar [natural native speed]
Becky: glass (as a container)
Mihai: pahar[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: pahar [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Mihai: vin [natural native speed]
Becky: wine
Mihai: vin[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: vin [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Mihai: notă [natural native speed]
Becky: bill
Mihai: notă[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: notă [natural native speed]
Becky: And last...
Mihai: a plăti [natural native speed]
Becky: to pay
Mihai: a plăti[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a plăti [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: un pahar de...
Becky: meaning "a glass of..." Can you break this phrase down for us?
Mihai: Un means “one,” pahar means "glass," and de is "of."
Becky: So we can use it to talk about “one glass of” something.
Mihai: This is a handy format, because you can change pahar for something else.
Becky: So we can use this to say, for example, “one liter of….”
Mihai: Yes. That’s un litru de.
Becky: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say, Doresc să beau un pahar de cocktail.
Becky: ...which means "I wish to drink a cocktail."
Becky: Okay, what's the next phrase?
Mihai: Nota, vă rog.
Becky: meaning "Bill, please." Can you break this down for us, too?
Mihai: Sure. Nota means “a written note,” but has come to mean “bill.”
Becky: We heard the rest of the phrase earlier in this lesson. It means “please.”
Mihai: This is the simplest way to ask for the bill in a restaurant or shop.
Becky: Is it a formal expression?
Mihai: It’s fairly formal. But, we’d usually use formal language in a customer service context.
Becky: Can you give us an example using this pattern?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say, Întrați, vă rog!
Becky: ...which means "Come in, please!"
Becky: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn about formal vs. informal verbs.
Becky: How do we change informal speech to formal speech?
Mihai: There isn’t as big a distinction between formal and informal speech in Romanian as in some other languages.
Becky: Okay, that makes it easier!
Mihai: One of the few things that does change is verbs in the second person singular.
Becky: How do they change? Let’s hear some examples with some common verbs. How do we say, “to have?” First, we’ll hear the informal version, then the formal one.
Mihai: a avea, aveți
Becky: And “to come.” Again, informal followed by formal, please.
Mihai: a veni, veniți
Becky: The verbs themselves don’t change that much, and they seem familiar...
Mihai: Yes, it’s the same as the second person plural. What makes them formal is using dumneavoastră with the verb.
Becky: What does that mean?
Mihai: It’s a polite personal pronoun that we use for both second person singular and plural.
Becky: Next, let’s hear an example sentence.
Mihai: Aveți rezervare aici?
Becky: “Do you have a booking here?”
Mihai: Dumneavoastră puteți sosi mai devreme?
Becky: “Can you arrive earlier, sir?”
Mihai: As always with Romanian, the subject is optional.
Becky: Finally for this lesson, let’s look at how to say “how have you been?”
Mihai: You can say ce mai faci in informal situations.
Becky: How about in formal situations?
Mihai: ce mai faceți. This is an idiom, so it’s a fixed phrase. All that will change is the verb, depending on how formal you want to be.
Becky: Let’s hear it used in a formal situation.
Mihai: Bună seara, ce mai faceți, domnule?
Becky: “Good evening, how have you been, sir?”

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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