Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Dana: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 4 - Reserving a Table at a Romanian Restaurant. Dana Here.
Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai.
Dana: In this lesson, you’ll learn about adverbs of time that are used in questions. The conversation takes place over the phone.
Mihai: It's between a restaurant clerk and Masanobu.
Dana: The speakers are strangers in a customer service setting; therefore, they will speak formal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Angajat restaurant: Bună ziua, La Mama. Cu ce vă pot ajuta?
Masanobu: Bună ziua. Aș dori să fac o rezervare, vă rog.
Angajat restaurant: Desigur, domnule. Când și la ce oră, vă rog?
Masanobu: În seara aceasta, la 7 (șapte).
Angajat restaurant: Îmi pare rău domnule, dar este complet rezervat în seara aceasta până la opt.
Masanobu: În acest caz, la ora 8 (opt) este bine.
Angajat restaurant: Foarte bine. Și câte persoane vor fi?
Masanobu: 5 (cinci) persoane.
Dana: Listen to the conversation one more time, slowly.
Angajat restaurant: Bună ziua, La Mama. Cu ce vă pot ajuta?
Masanobu: Bună ziua. Aș dori să fac o rezervare, vă rog.
Angajat restaurant: Desigur, domnule. Când și la ce oră, vă rog?
Masanobu: În seara aceasta, la 7 (șapte).
Angajat restaurant: Îmi pare rău domnule, dar este complet rezervat în seara aceasta până la opt.
Masanobu: În acest caz, la ora 8 (opt) este bine.
Angajat restaurant: Foarte bine. Și câte persoane vor fi?
Masanobu: 5 (cinci) persoane.
Dana: Listen to the conversation with the English translation
Restaurant clerk: Hello, La Mama. How can I help you?
Masanobu: Hello. I want to make a reservation, please.
Restaurant clerk: Of course, sir. When and at what hour, please?
Masanobu: Tonight at 7.
Restaurant clerk: I'm sorry sir, but we are fully booked tonight until eight.
Masanobu: In that case, 8 o'clock is fine.
Restaurant clerk: Very good. And how many persons will there be?
Masanobu: Five people.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Dana: Five people makes it sound like Masanobu is going to the restaurant with family or friends. Is family important in Romanian society?
Mihai: It is. Family ranks first in the hierarchy of social values ​​and gives a person the greatest satisfaction.
Dana: What are Romanian families like?
Mihai: Very traditional, and we protect traditional values.
Dana: How does modern society affect that?
Mihai: Socioeconomic changes have an affect, but family is still the most stable institution. Romanian identity and family distinguishes us from other national communities.
Dana: What about religion in Romania?
Mihai: Most people considered themselves religious.
Dana: Is that more true of older Romanians?
Mihai: It is, but the number of atheists is small among both young and old.
Dana: What religions are prevalent in Romania?
Mihai: The Eastern Orthodox Church is the largest religious denomination in Romania, followed by Protestantism and Catholicism.
Dana: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Dana: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Mihai: a ruga [natural native speed]
Dana: to ask
Mihai: a ruga[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a ruga [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: a ajuta [natural native speed]
Dana: to help
Mihai: a ajuta[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a ajuta [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: desigur [natural native speed]
Dana: of course
Mihai: desigur[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: desigur [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: rău [natural native speed]
Dana: bad
Mihai: rău[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: rău [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: complet [natural native speed]
Dana: completely
Mihai: complet[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: complet [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: până [natural native speed]
Dana: until
Mihai: până[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: până [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: caz [natural native speed]
Dana: case
Mihai: caz[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: caz [natural native speed]
Dana: And last..
Mihai: persoană [natural native speed]
Dana: person
Mihai: persoană[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: persoană [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Dana: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is..
Mihai: Cu ce vă pot ajuta?
Dana: Meaning "How can I help you?"
Dana: There are a few words in this phrase, so let’s break it down.
Mihai: Cu is a preposition that means "with." Ce is an interrogative pronoun that means "what." Together, they form the subordinating conjunction cu ce
Dana: Okay. What’s next?
Mihai: Vă is a second-person plural pronoun, in the unstressed dative form, and means "you.”
Dana: And finally?
Mihai: Pot comes from a putea.
Dana: Which means “can.”
Mihai: Ajuta, in the infinitive form, means "to help."
Dana: So it literally translates to “How can I help you?” You might hear this question asked in a customer service setting.
Mihai: Yes. This is a formal expression.
Dana: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say.. Cu ce vă pot ajuta pentru organizarea cinei festive?
Dana: ..which means "How can I help you organize the festive dinner?"
Dana: Okay, what's the next word?
Mihai: În acest caz
Dana: Meaning "In that case"
Dana: Let’s break this phrase down too.
Mihai: În is a simple preposition that means "in." Acest is a demonstrative pronoun, near in time and distance, meaning "this." And the last word is caz.
Dana: Which means “case.” So translated it means “in this case,” and can be used literally and figuratively.
Mihai: It’s used when there are multiple situations or cases possible.
Dana: You can use it when referring to a specific one.
Mihai: This phrase can be used in both formal and informal speech.
Dana: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say.. În acest caz, reununțăm la rezervarea făcută.
Dana: .. which means "In that case, we are canceling our reservation."
Dana: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Dana: In this lesson, you'll learn about adverbs of time that are used in questions.
Dana: We can use adverbs of time to answer “when” something will happen.
Mihai: In Romanian, adverbs of time don’t decline or conjugate.
Dana: However, they can be simple, such as...
Mihai: azi
Dana: Meaning “today,” or composed, such as...
Mihai: mâine-seară
Dana: “Tomorrow night.” Mihai, can you tell us a couple of the most frequently used adverbs of time?
Mihai: Sure. The first is acum.
Dana: “Now”
Mihai: And ieri
Dana: “Yesterday.” There are more examples in the lesson notes. Now, let’s hear an example sentence.
Mihai: Mâine mergem la cumpărături.
Dana: “Tomorrow we are going shopping.” Next, let’s move on to asking questions about time.
Mihai: In Romanian, there is no formal expression of interrogatives.
Dana: You just change the tone of your voice from an affirmative sentence into the interrogative. Let’s hear an example.
Mihai: Când a plecat?
Dana: “When did she leave?”
Mihai: Cât este ceasul?
Dana: “What hour is it?”
Mihai: Something we should consider when using time expressions is degrees of comparison.
Dana: We can use some adverbs to show different times by using them in certain ways. Let’s work through an example. Mihai, how do we say “late?”
Mihai: târziu
Dana: How about “later”?
Mihai: mai târziu. And “less late” is mai puțin târziu
Dana: Now, what about someone who is “very late?”
Mihai: foarte târziu. Or if they are the “latest”, we can say cel mai târziu. All of these expressions use târziu, with no conjugations.
Dana: Thanks for the examples!

Outro

Dana: 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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