Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Sydney: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 19 - Preparing for a Romanian Exam. Sydney Here.
Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai.
Sydney: In this lesson, you’ll learn about expressing presumption. The conversation takes place at the university canteen.
Mihai: It's between Marcel and Simona.
Sydney: The speakers are classmates; therefore, they will speak informal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Simona: Tu ce ai auzit despre examenul la psihologie socială? Oare ne dă grilă?
Marcel: Hm, am vorbit cu un student din an mai mare și zicea că așa își amintește, că au dat grilă anul trecut.
Simona: Și o fi fiind greu examenul? Adică, avem multe de învățat și la sociologie și mă întreb oare dacă am timp să învăț pentru amândouă.
Marcel: E adevărat că e mai mult, dar nu cred că o fi chiar așa de dificil. La Petrescu eu cred că te descurci destul de bine.
Simona: Mulțumesc. Eu nu mă simt atât de pregătită, însă. Crezi că el o fi dat deja subiectele de examen la cursul trecut la care am lipsit amândoi?
Marcel: Habar nu am. Însă o putem întreba pe Daria. Știi doar că ea nu ratează niciun curs. Sunt sigur că or fi vorbit despre asta și ne poate zice mai multe. Hai că îi scriu acum.
Simona: Bună idee. Să îmi redirecționezi și mie ce-ți răspunde, te rog. Mulțumesc.
Marcel: Sigur. Cu plăcere. Cred că mă duc la clubul de oratorie de la două. Să fi început oare?
Simona: Păi, e două și cinci. Eu zic să te grăbești.
Marcel: Da, fug. Ne vedem, Simona. Să ai o zi frumoasă în continuare. Ne auzim mâine.
Sydney: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Simona: What did you hear about the social psychology exam? Is it a grid exam?
Marcel: Hm, I spoke with a senior student and he said that he remembers that last year they had a multiple choice exam.
Simona: And is it a difficult exam? I mean, we have a lot to learn for the sociology exam, and I wonder if I have time to study for both of them.
Marcel: It's true that it's a lot, but I do not think it's that difficult. For Petrescu, I think you're doing pretty well.
Simona: Thank you. I do not feel so prepared, though. Do you think he has already given the exam subjects to the last class we both missed?
Marcel: I have no idea. But we can ask Daria. You just know she does not miss a course. I'm sure they talked about it and she can tell us more. I will write her right now.
Simona: Good idea. Please forward me her answer. Thank you.
Marcel: Sure. You are welcome. I think I'm going to the rhetoric club at two. Do you think it started already?
Simona: Well, it's five minutes past two. I'd say you should hurry.
Marcel: Yeah, I'm running. See you, Simona. Have a nice day. Talk tomorrow.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Sydney: Oh, exams are coming up. That was always my most hated time of year when I was still in school.
Mihai: Me too! Did you have any superstitions for exam days?
Sydney: I had a lucky pen that I would always use. I hear that Romania has many superstitions for different situations.
Mihai: That’s true. There are many tales and stories from the past that have been passed down, and although they don’t entirely make sense in the modern world, they’re still followed.
Sydney: Can you tell us about a couple?
Mihai: Sure! A couple of things that will bring you bad luck in Romania are opening an umbrella indoors and breaking a mirror.
Sydney: Oh, some other countries have those too. Breaking a mirror is seven years bad luck, right?
Mihai: Yes. Ok, here’s one you probably don’t know. If you sleep with a lady’s bedstraw under your pillow on June 24th, the summer solstice, you will dream of your loved one.
Sydney: Ok, that’s a new one for me!
Mihai: Also, if you stay at the corner of the table with your friends, you’ll be the one that doesn’t get married.
Sydney: That’s another new one. Do people still believe in these?
Mihai: Not really. People choose to follow the positive ones though.
Sydney: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Sydney: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is...
Mihai: examen [natural native speed]
Sydney: exam
Mihai: examen [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: examen [natural native speed]
Sydney: Next we have...
Mihai: grilă [natural native speed]
Sydney: grid
Mihai: grilă [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: grilă [natural native speed]
Sydney: Next we have...
Mihai: a auzi [natural native speed]
Sydney: to hear
Mihai: a auz i[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a auzi [natural native speed]
Sydney: Next we have...
Mihai: a învăța [natural native speed]
Sydney: to study
Mihai: a învăța [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a învăța [natural native speed]
Sydney: Next we have...
Mihai: amândoi [natural native speed]
Sydney: both
Mihai: amândoi [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: amândoi [natural native speed]
Sydney: Next we have...
Mihai: pregătit [natural native speed]
Sydney: prepared
Mihai: pregătit [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: pregătit [natural native speed]
Sydney: Next we have...
Mihai: a rata [natural native speed]
Sydney: to miss out
Mihai: a rata [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a rata [natural native speed]
Sydney: Next we have...
Mihai: a redirecționa [natural native speed]
Sydney: to redirect
Mihai: a redirecționa [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a redirecționa [natural native speed]
Sydney: Next we have...
Mihai: oratorie [natural native speed]
Sydney: rhetoric
Mihai: oratorie [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: oratorie [natural native speed]
Sydney: And last...
Mihai: a nu avea habar [natural native speed]
Sydney: to have no idea
Mihai: a nu avea habar [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a nu avea habar [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Sydney: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is...
Mihai: examen grilă
Sydney: meaning "multiple choice exam"
Sydney: This is an expression.
Mihai: First is examen, a neuter noun in singular that means "exam." Next is grilă.
Sydney: This is a feminine noun in singular with an adjectival function that means "grid."
Mihai: Together it means "grid exam," or more commonly, "multiple choice exam."
Sydney: It refers to an exam that has only multiple choice questions.
Mihai: It’s a jargon term used by university students. You can also say examen de tip grilă to mean the same.
Sydney: Can you give us an example using this expression?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say... Pentru admiterea la facultatea de istorie se va da examen grilă anul acesta.
Sydney: ...which means "For this year’s admission to the faculty of history, you should pass a multiple choice exam."
Sydney: Okay, what's the next phrase?
Mihai: a nu avea habar
Sydney: meaning "to have no idea."
Sydney: This is also an expression.
Mihai: First is a nu avea, the infinitive negative form of the verb "to have." Next is habar.
Sydney: This is a neuter noun in singular that means "knowledge." Altogether, it means "to not have knowledge."
Mihai: Or, "to have no idea."
Sydney: You can use this to show that the subject has no idea about something.
Mihai: It’s usually used in informal contexts.
Sydney: Can you give us an example using this expression?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say... Nu am habar cu ce să mă îmbrac la petrecerea de deseară.
Sydney: ... which means "I have no idea what to wear at the party tonight."
Sydney: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Sydney: In this lesson, you'll learn about expressing presumption.
Sydney: Let’s start by looking at the adverb "really."
Mihai: This is oare in Romanian. It’s used to strengthen the interrogative or dubitative value of a sentence.
Sydney: Sometimes, there isn’t a direct English translation, so you need to look at it in context of the sentence.
Mihai: Yes. You can often find it at the start of a sentence. Oare când vine mama?
Sydney: "When does my mother come?" It can also stand alone.
Mihai: A plecat? Oare?
Sydney: "Did he leave? Really?" It can also be in reported speech.
Mihai: Mă întreb oare dacă mai vine.
Sydney: "I wonder if he is still coming." It also features in some other adverbs, indefinite pronouns, or pronominal adjectives.
Mihai: For example, oarecum...
Sydney: meaning "rather." Let’s hear one last example sentence.
Mihai: Marius se întreba dacă să le spună oare surorilor sale ce tocmai făcuse.
Sydney: "Marius was wondering whether to tell his sisters what he had just done." We can use the presumptive mode with verbs for several things.
Mihai: For example, uncertainty. Ce o face Maria?
Sydney: "What is Maria doing?" It can also be used for assumption.
Mihai: Să fi rămas mai mult acolo vedeam și noi meciul.
Sydney: "If we had stayed there longer, we might have seen the game."
Mihai: It has two verbal tenses - presumptive present and presumptive perfect.
Sydney: If you look in the lesson notes, there are examples of how to conjugate a few verbs into these tenses. For now though, let’s look at some example sentences.
Mihai: Or fi trecând pe la noi Marcel și cu Luiza pe seară oare?
Sydney: "Will Marcel and Luiza pass by tonight?"
Mihai: Poate nu ne-om fi antrenat suficient și de aceea nu am reușit să încheiem niciunul cursa în primii clasați.
Sydney: "Maybe we did not get enough training and that's why we did not manage to finish the race in first place."
Mihai: Să fi mers mai devreme cu toții ca să prindem loc la concertul preferat la mamei?
Sydney: "Should we all have gone earlier to get a seat at my mother’s favorite concert?"

Outro

Sydney: 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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