Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Dana: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 4 - Passing on a Romanian Message. Dana Here.
Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai.
Dana: In this lesson, you’ll learn about types of sentences. The conversation takes place on the phone.
Mihai: It's between Denisa and a secretary.
Dana: The speakers are acquaintances; therefore, they will speak both formal and informal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Denisa: Alo? Acesta este biroul domnului Mareș? Aș dori să vorbesc cu domnul Petru Mareș, vă rog.
Secretară: Bună, Denisa. Da, ai sunat bine. Sunt eu, Paula, secretara domnului Mareș. Cu ce te pot ajuta?
Denisa: A, ce bine. M-ați recunoscut!
Secretară: Da, desigur. Am și salvat numărul tău în agendă.
Denisa: Aș vrea să știu la ce oră termină tatăl meu ședința. Se poate?
Secretară: Înțeleg. Cred că va mai dura cel puțin două ore, din păcate. Este o ședință foarte importantă.
Denisa: Două ore?! Bine, mulțumesc. Reamintiți-i, vă rog, că îl aștept la ora șase la spectacolul meu de balet.
Secretară: Desigur, Denisa. Sunt convinsă că nu a uitat și va face tot posibilul să fie acolo la timp. Mi-a tot vorbit despre acest spectacol în ultima vreme.
Denisa: Da? Înseamnă că va veni. Sper foarte mult să ajungă!
Secretară: Denisa, te asigur că îi voi reaminti. De fapt, intru imediat după ce închid telefonul să îi las un bilet cu mesajul tău. E bine așa?
Denisa: Este minunat! Vă mulțumesc mult. O zi bună.
Dana: Listen to the conversation with the English translation
Denisa: Hello? Is this Mr. Mareş's office? I would like to talk to Mr. Petru Mareş, please.
Secretary: Hi, Denisa. Yes, you called the right office. It's me, Paula, Mr. Mares's secretary. How can I help?
Denisa: Oh, that's good. You recognized me!
Secretary: Yes of course. I saved your number on the agenda.
Denisa: I would like to know what time my father's meeting will end. Can you tell me?
Secretary: I see. I think it will take at least two hours, unfortunately. It's a very important meeting.
Denisa: Two hours?! Ok, thank you. Please remind him that I will be waiting for him at my ballet show at six o'clock.
Secretary: Of course, Denisa. I'm sure he has not forgotten and will do his best to be there in time. He kept talking about this show lately.
Denisa: Really? That means he will come. I really hope he will attend!
Secretary: Denisa, I assure you I will remind him about that. Actually, I'm going to give him a written note with your message right after I hang up the phone. Is that okay?
Denisa: It's great! Thank you very much. Have a good day.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Dana: Here’s hoping Denisa’s father can make it to her ballet show.
Mihai: Yes, I hope so too.
Dana: What is the labor market like in Romania these days?
Mihai: It was greatly challenged during the banking crisis of 2007 to 2008. The unemployment rate rose to 9.5%.
Dana: What is the unemployment rate now?
Mihai: It lowered, and is estimated at around 6.6% in 2017.
Dana: That’s a good reduction. What are the most well paid jobs in Romania?
Mihai: Specialist jobs that are quite niche, such as traffic controllers, sommeliers, senior IT specialists, and things like that.
Dana: Is the Romanian workforce highly skilled, or do highly skilled workers leave the country?
Mihai: The wages in Romania are low compared to other countries, so people often leave.
Dana: Do Romanian companies favor experience or education?
Mihai: A lot of companies require a diploma, but for some, experience is better.
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: birou [natural native speed]
Dana: office
Mihai: birou [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: birou [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have...
Mihai: secretară [natural native speed]
Dana: secretary
Mihai: secretară [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: secretară [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have...
Mihai: a recunoaște [natural native speed]
Dana: to recognize
Mihai: a recunoaște [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a recunoaște [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have...
Mihai: a salva [natural native speed]
Dana: to save
Mihai: a salva [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a salva [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have...
Mihai: ședință [natural native speed]
Dana: meeting
Mihai: ședință [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: ședință [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have...
Mihai: a dura [natural native speed]
Dana: to last
Mihai: a dura [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a dura [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have...
Mihai: puțin [natural native speed]
Dana: little
Mihai: puțin [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: puțin [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have...
Mihai: spectacol [natural native speed]
Dana: show
Mihai: spectacol [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: spectacol [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have...
Mihai: posibil [natural native speed]
Dana: possible
Mihai: posibil [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: posibil [natural native speed]
Dana: And last...
Mihai: bilet [natural native speed]
Dana: note
Mihai: bilet [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: bilet [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Dana: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is...
Mihai: cel puțin
Dana: meaning "at least"
Dana: This is an adverbial phrase.
Mihai: First is the pronoun cel, which means “the.” And then is puțin.
Dana: This is an adverb that means “little.” It can be translated as “at least.”
Mihai: You use it to say that an amount is the minimum possible.
Dana: How do we say “at most?”
Mihai: cel mult
Dana: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say... Cel puțin nu mai trebuie să facem și a doua temă pentru acest curs.
Dana: ...which means "At least we do not have to do a second homework for this course."
Dana: Okay, what's the next word?
Mihai: a face tot posibilul
Dana: meaning "to do his best"
Dana: This is a phrase.
Mihai: First is the infinitive form of the verb a face, which means “to do.” Then there is the indefinite adjective tot.
Dana: This means “all,” and is in masculine singular form.
Mihai: Last is posibilul.
Dana: This is the articulated masculine singular noun “possible.” It literally translates as "to do the all possible" and means "to do his best."
Mihai: You can use it to say that someone has done all that they can.
Dana: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say... O să fac tot posibilul să ajung la spectacolul tău, Mihai.
Dana: ... which means "I'll do my best to get to your show, Mihai."
Dana: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Dana: In this lesson, you'll learn about types of sentences.
Dana: First, we will look at declarative sentences. We use this to state information, and they can be either affirmative or negative.
Mihai: They are usually formed with the indicative mode of verbs, and present an action or a state as being real. For example Mihai a plecat spre gară azi la ora opt.
Dana: “Mihai left for the train station today at eight o'clock.”
Mihai: However, you can also form these sentences using the conditional-optative mode or the presumptive mode.
Dana: In these cases, the sentence would show desire, possibility or doubt. Let’s hear an example.
Mihai: Poate o fi greșit adresa și de aceea întârzie.
Dana: “Maybe the address was wrong, and that’s why he’s late.”
Mihai: By using nu or n- we can make a sentence negative. Marcel n-a vrut să meargă cu mama lui la munte.
Dana: “Marcel did not want to go with his mother to the mountains.” There are also interrogative sentences. These are used to ask for information. You can think of them as question sentences.
Mihai: The questions can be either direct, or indirect. We can further split interrogative sentences into two categories.
Dana: The first is total interrogative sentences. These are built the same way as declarative sentences, but have a question mark at the end. When speaking, your intonation shows it is a question. What is the other type, Mihai?
Mihai: Partial interrogatives. In these, the question is part of the sentence and is marked with the presence of an interrogative word. For example, Cine vine cu mine la mare în weekend?
Dana: “Who’s coming with me to the sea over the weekend?” Let’s hear some more examples of interrogative sentences.
Mihai: Nu vrei să vii cu noi la cafenea?
Dana: “Don’t you want to come with us to the café?”
Mihai: De ce ai plecat aseară așa de repede de la restaurant?
Dana: “Why did you leave so quickly from the restaurant last night?”
Mihai: Next are imperative sentences.
Dana: These are used to give an order, a call, or a request. They’re usually made using the imperative mode.
Mihai: Yes, or the vocative mode of a verb. When referring to first or third person, the conjunctive mode is used instead. Să vină mai repede!
Dana: That means “Let him come faster!” Our final type of sentence is the exclamatory sentence.
Mihai: This is used to express emotional states.
Dana: In written text, an exclamation mark is used. In speech, a specific accentuated pronunciation is used. Let’s hear some examples.
Mihai: Ce bine că mergi cu noi!
Dana: “How good that you are coming with us!”
Mihai: Vai, ce frumos!
Dana: “Oh, how beautiful!”

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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