Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner Season 1 Lesson 22 - Borrowing Something from a Romanian Friend. Becky here.
Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai.
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn conjunctions. The conversation takes place at the beach.
Mihai: It's between Mihai and Masanobu.
Becky: The speakers are friends, so they’ll speak informal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Mihai: Pot să împrumut labele tale de înot azi?
Masanobu: Scuze, azi le folosesc eu. Dar pot mâine, dacă vrei.
Mihai: Mersi, dar mâine nu înotăm, nu?
Masanobu: Aa, da, așa este. Sau poți să o rogi pe Andreea.
Mihai: Da, o rog pe ea. Mulțumesc oricum.
Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Mihai: Pot să împrumut labele tale de înot azi?
Masanobu: Scuze, azi le folosesc eu. Dar pot mâine, dacă vrei.
Mihai: Mersi, dar mâine nu înotăm, nu?
Masanobu: Aa, da, așa este. Sau poți să o rogi pe Andreea.
Mihai: Da, o rog pe ea. Mulțumesc oricum.
Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Mihai: Can I borrow your swim fins today?
Masanobu: Sorry, I'm using them today. But I can lend them to you tomorrow, if you want.
Mihai: Thanks, but we aren't swimming tomorrow, are we?
Masanobu: Oh, yes, you're right. Or you can ask Andreea.
Mihai: Yes, I'll ask her. Thank you anyway.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Becky: I hope Masanobu can get what he needs for swimming.
Mihai: Me too. Hopefully Andreea will have some.
Becky: They’re at the beach, so I guess they’re on vacation.
Mihai: Yes, it sounds like it. I’m a little jealous.
Becky: Me too! If people want to take a vacation in Romania and like nature, where can they go?
Mihai: It depends on what you like. Romania has plains, hills, mountains, and the Black Sea.
Becky: So there’s plenty of variety, it seems.
Mihai: There is. Becky, what type of nature do you like?
Becky: Hm, I like mountains. I think I’d go to the mountains if I was in Romania.
Mihai: All of the mountains in Romania are part of the Carpathian Mountain system.
Becky: That’s a long mountain range originating in Central Europe and continuing up to the Balkan Peninsula.
Mihai: That’s right. If you like the beach, like Masanobu and Mihai, then the Black Sea gives Romania 250km of seashore.
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: labă [natural native speed]
Becky: fin
Mihai: labă[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: labă [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Mihai: a înota [natural native speed]
Becky: to swim
Mihai: a înota[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a înota [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Mihai: azi (informal for "astăzi") [natural native speed]
Becky: today
Mihai: azi (informal for "astăzi")[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: azi (informal for "astăzi") [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Mihai: a folosi [natural native speed]
Becky: to use
Mihai: a folosi[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a folosi [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Mihai: mersi [natural native speed]
Becky: thanks (informal)
Mihai: mersi[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: mersi [natural native speed]
Becky: And last...
Mihai: oricum [natural native speed]
Becky: anyway, anyhow
Mihai: oricum[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: oricum [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: Pot să...?
Becky: meaning "May I...?" Can you break this phrase down for us?
Mihai: Pot is the first person singular of a putea.
Becky: This means “to be able to.”
Mihai: să means “to.” The phrase literally means “can I?”
Becky: There’s no distinction in Romanian between “may” and “can.”
Mihai: Right. You can use this to ask permission in both polite and informal speech.
Becky: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say, Pot să te întreb ceva?
Becky: ...which means "Can I ask you a question?" (lit.: "Can I ask you something?")
Becky: Okay, what's the next phrase?
Mihai: dacă vrei
Becky: meaning "if you want." What do the two words in this phrase mean?
Mihai: Dacă is the important conjunction "if," and vrei is the second person singular for a vrea.
Becky: This means “to want.”
Mihai: You can use this to soften requests.
Becky: It makes things sound more optional.
Mihai: You can replace vrei with vreți to make the phrase formal.
Becky: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say, Dacă vrei, astăzi gătim mâncare acasă.
Becky: ...which means "If you want, today we'll cook at home."
Becky: Okay, what's the next phrase?
Mihai: Mersi oricum.
Becky: meaning "Thanks anyway." And what do the two words in this phrase mean?
Mihai: Mersi is the informal version of mulțumesc. It’s an interjection.
Becky: What does the second word mean?
Mihai: Oricum means "anyway."
Becky: This is an adverb. You can use this to thank someone for attempting to help you, even if you don’t need their help.
Mihai: This is informal. You can make it formal by replacing mersi with mulțumesc to get mulțumesc oricum.
Becky: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say, Nu mai am nevoie, mersi oricum.
Becky: ...which means "I don't need it anymore. Thanks anyway."
Becky: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn about conjunctions.
Becky: What can you tell us about Romanian conjunctions?
Mihai: They’re used very often, but they’re easy to overlook as they’re small words that aren’t used on their own.
Becky: There are different types of conjunctions that serve different functions.
Mihai: Yes. Common coordinating conjunctions include și and dar.
Becky: “And” and “but.”
Mihai: Common subordinating conjunctions include să and că.
Becky: “To” and “that.” Where do we put conjunctions in a sentence?
Mihai: They’re placed between the words or sentences that they connect.
Becky: Can you give us some examples?
Mihai: Am un câine și o pisică.
Becky: “I have a dog and a cat.”
Mihai: Este noiembrie, deci este toamnă.
Becky: “It’s November, so it’s fall.” One of the most common conjunctions, and one we mentioned earlier, is “but.”
Mihai: This is dar.
Becky: It connects two clauses or words, but shows opposition or difference between them.
Mihai: Again, dar goes between the two clauses or words. For example, Este toamnă, dar vremea este încă frumoasă.
Becky: “It’s fall, but the weather’s still nice.”
Mihai: El este înalt, dar nu joacă baschet.
Becky: “He is tall, but he doesn’t play basketball.” Finally for this lesson, we will look at “or.”
Mihai: This is used for coordination or choice. In Romanian, it’s sau.
Becky: As with the other conjunctions, it goes between the two clauses or words. Let’s finish off with some examples.
Mihai: Vii acum, sau aștepți până după-amiază?
Becky: “Are you coming now, or are you going to wait until the afternoon?”
Mihai: Vrea să cumpere vin sau bere.
Becky: “He wants to buy wine or beer.”

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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