Learn about past tenses
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dana: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 9 - Everybody's Different in Romania. Dana Here. |
| Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai. |
| Dana: In this lesson, you’ll learn about past tenses. The conversation takes place at the university's canteen. |
| Mihai: It's between Marcel and Simona. |
| Dana: The speakers are classmates; therefore, they will speak informally in Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Marcel: Tu ce documentar ai găsit să prezinți pentru cursul de psihologie socială, Simona? |
| Simona: A, am dat de unul foarte fain. Este despre modul în care performanța noastră diferă într-o sarcină atunci când suntem observați de alte persoane. |
| Marcel: Ce interesant! Și ce zic experimentatorii? |
| Simona: Păi, în clipul video se arată cum cineva căruia îi fusese arătat un nou mod de a își lega șireturile, a avut rezultate diferite atunci când era observat de altcineva față de atunci când era singur. |
| Marcel: A, da? Adică eu de asta avusei mai multe greșeli atunci când îmi repetai prezentarea de dimineață în cameră cu colegul meu Radu. |
| Simona: Ce haios vorbești. Uitasem că voi cei din Oltenia folosiți perfectul simplu. |
| Marcel: Da, uneori uit că aici se vorbește diferit față de atunci când eram acasă. |
| Simona: Nu-i nicio problemă. Și eu fusesem obișnuită cu accentul de ardeleancă de acasă, înainte de a mă muta aici. |
| Marcel: Da, așa se întâmplă. Uite, și experimentul meu se leagă oarecum de diferențele interculturale și prejudecățile pe care le pot genera. Ai auzit de experimentele sociale ale lui Jane Elliot? |
| Simona: Este vorba despre copiii care se etichetau între ei ca fiind proști sau deștepți pe baza culorii ochilor? |
| Dana: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Marcel: What documentary did you find to present for the social psychology course, Simona? |
| Simona: Ah, I found something very nice. It's about how our performance differs in a task when we are observed by other people. |
| Marcel: How interesting! And what do the experimenters say? |
| Simona: Well, in the video it shows how someone who had been shown a new way to tie his laces had different results when being watched than he did when alone. |
| Marcel: Ah, really? That's why I was making a lot of mistakes when I was repeating my presentation this morning with my colleague, Radu, in the room. |
| Simona: You talk so funny. I forgot that in Oltenia, you use the simple perfect. |
| Marcel: Yes, sometimes I forget that here they talk differently than while I am at home. |
| Simona: That's no problem. I was also accustomed to the Transylvanian accent at home, before moving here. |
| Marcel: Yes, that's how it happens. Look, also, my experiment is somewhat related to intercultural differences and the prejudices they generate. Have you heard of Jane Elliot's social experiments? |
| Simona: Is that about kids who label themselves as stupid or smart based on the color of their eyes? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dana: Mihai, I heard there are several dialects in Romania. |
| Mihai: That’s right. The first known dialect is the Transylvanian accent. It is known for its slower pace and use of archaic words. |
| Dana: It is spoken mainly in Transylvania, right? |
| Mihai: That’s right. Also, we have the Moldavian accent that can easily be spotted by the fast flow of words and passionate speech. |
| Dana: You will be able to hear that accent in the cities like Suceava, Vaslui, Iasi, and Barlad. |
| Mihai: And that’s not all. You can also hear the Maramures accent, which can be characterized as the one that uses the most archaic vocabulary and very different grammar. |
| Dana: Like you can hear in Baia Mare, Satu Mare, and Bistrita. |
| Mihai: And the last well-known dialect is the Oltenia accent, which is famous for using the special past tense, namely the past progressive. |
| Dana: I think those who live in the Southern side of the country use that accent. |
| Mihai: That’s right. There are definitely some more dialects mixed in with the multiple main dialects, so it would be interesting to study them if you visit the different parts of Romania. |
| Dana: Good to know. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dana: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Mihai: documentar [natural native speed] |
| Dana: documentary |
| Mihai: documentar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: documentar [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have... |
| Mihai: a da de [natural native speed] |
| Dana: to find |
| Mihai: a da de [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: a da de [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have... |
| Mihai: performanță [natural native speed] |
| Dana: performance |
| Mihai: performanță [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: performanță [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have... |
| Mihai: sarcină [natural native speed] |
| Dana: task |
| Mihai: sarcină [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: sarcină [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have... |
| Mihai: altcineva [natural native speed] |
| Dana: someone else |
| Mihai: altcineva [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: altcineva [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have... |
| Mihai: greșeală [natural native speed] |
| Dana: mistake |
| Mihai: greșeală [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: greșeală [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have... |
| Mihai: haios [natural native speed] |
| Dana: funny |
| Mihai: haios [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: haios [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have... |
| Mihai: obișnuit [natural native speed] |
| Dana: accustomed |
| Mihai: obișnuit [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: obișnuit [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have... |
| Mihai: prejudecată [natural native speed] |
| Dana: prejudice |
| Mihai: prejudecată [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: prejudecată [natural native speed] |
| Dana: And last... |
| Mihai: bază [natural native speed] |
| Dana: basis |
| Mihai: bază [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: bază [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 phrase is... |
| Mihai: a fi obișnuit cu |
| Dana: meaning "to be accustomed to." |
| Mihai: This expression is composed of the verb a fi "to be" in infinitive form, the masculine singular adjective obișnuit "accustomed," and the preposition cu "with." |
| Dana: Altogether, it means "to be accustomed to." You can use it to indicate that someone has previous experience with a specific element and is therefore experienced with it. |
| Mihai: For example, you can say... Mama este obișnuită cu toate mofturile noastre. |
| Dana: ...which means "My mother is accustomed to all of our whims." |
| Dana: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Mihai: pe baza |
| Dana: meaning "based on." |
| Mihai: It’s an adverbial phrase made of the preposition pe "on" and the feminine singular noun baza "the basis" in articulate form. It literally translates as "on the basis of" and means "based on." |
| Dana: You can use it to indicate what a certain element is supported on. Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say... Pe baza acestor dovezi, a mers în instanță și a câștigat procesul. |
| Dana: ... which means "Based on this evidence, he went to court and won the trial." |
| Dana: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dana: In this lesson, you'll learn about past tenses. First, let’s check how to use the simple perfect. |
| Mihai: There are four ways to make the past progressive tense in Romania depending on how the verb ends. For the verbs ending in -a, the conjugated forms will be… -ai, -ași, -ă, -arăm, -arăți, -ară. |
| Dana: What about the one ending with -ea? |
| Mihai: That becomes a bit different. The terminations will become -u, so you need to say -ui, -uși, -u, -urăm, -urăți, -ură. |
| Dana: What about the one with ending -e? |
| Mihai: You can use the termination -u, but also can use -se. For example, -se would be -sei, -seși, -se, -serăm, -serăți, -seră. |
| Dana: What about the verbs ending in i or î? |
| Mihai: For the verbs ending in -î, it will be -âi, -âși, -î, -ârăm, -ârăți, -âră. But for the verbs ending with i, it will be -ii, -iși, -i, -irăm, -irăți, -iră. |
| Dana: For those who want to see them in a clearer way, we added the chart showing the simple perfect for each case in our lesson notes. So make sure to check them out. What about past perfect tense? |
| Mihai: For the verbs ending in -a, the termination will be -a. For the verbs ending in -ea and -e, the termination will be -ea. But for the verbs ending in -i or -î, the termination can be -a or -ea. |
| Dana: And there is one special conjugation rule that we need to be careful of. |
| Mihai: Right. For the verbs ending in vowels and having the radical -i (e.g. a locui "to live") you need to use -ia- instead of -ea- for example... iam, iai, -ia, -iam, -iați, -iau. |
| Dana: And, what about making the past perfect progressive tense? |
| Mihai: For the verbs ending in -a, the termination will be -ase. For the verbs ending in -ea, it will be -u. For the verbs ending in -e, you need to use -use or -sese. But for the verbs ending in -i or -î, the termination can be -ise or -âse. |
| Dana: But again, there is one special conjugation rule. |
| Mihai: Right. For the verb a ști meaning "to know," you need to use -use, for example... -usem, -usei, -use, -userăm, -userăți, -useră. |
| Dana: And again, listeners, make sure to check out our lesson notes to find the charts to understand the rules clearly. |
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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