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Lesson Transcript

Romanian Survival Phrases. Season 2. Lesson 2: Riding the Train
INTRODUCTION
Salut, and welcome to Romanian Survival Phrases, brought to you by RomanianPod101.com
This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Romania. You'll be surprised at how far a little Romanian will go.
Now before we jump in, remember to stop by RomanianPod101.com.
There, you’ll find the accompanying PDF lesson notes and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.
In the previous lesson, we covered how to ride the subway. In Romania, a comfortable way to travel over long distances is to take a train, in Romanian called tren. Trains are convenient and often cheaper than coaches. They’ll also let you see a bit of the countryside between cities, and not just the other side of a motorway. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to purchase train tickets.
BODY
You’ll need to ask for tren tickets at a ticket office. The phrase will sound something like this:
Un bilet până la, then you add the destination, and then vă rog.
Let’s say you want to go to Iași.
“One ticket to Iași, please” in Romanian is
Un bilet până la Iași vă rog.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Un bi-let pâ-nă la Iași vă rog.
Once more:
Un bilet până la Iași vă rog.
If you aren’t traveling on your own, you’ll obviously need to ask for two tickets or more.
“Two train tickets to Iasi, please,” is
Două bilete până la Iași vă rog.
(slow) Do-uă bi-le-te pâ-nă la Iași vă rog.
Două bilete până la Iași vă rog.
As you can see, instead of bilet we say the plural bilete.
If you want to buy three tickets, use bilete and add trei in front of the word.
Trei bilete până la Iași vă rog.
(slow) Trei bi-le-te pâ-nă la Iași vă rog.
Trei bilete până la Iași vă rog.
Normally, when you just ask for a train ticket, you’ll get a second class one. So now we’ll teach you how to explain which type of ticket you want to buy.
For a First Class ticket, say...
Un bilet la clasa întâi vă rog. which means “One First Class ticket please.”
(slow) Un bi-let la cla-sa în-tâi vă rog.
Un bilet la clasa întâi vă rog.
La clasa întâi is translated as “to first class”.
La means “at”.
Clasa means “the class”
(slow) Cla-sa.
Clasa.
Last we have întâi, translated as “first”.
(slow) În-tâi.
Întâi.
Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time:
Un bilet la clasa întâi vă rog.
If you want to add your destination, in this case Iasi, your phrase will sound like this:
Un bilet la clasa întâi, până la Iași, vă rog.
(slow) Un bi-let la cla-sa în-tâi, pâ-nă la Iași, vă rog.
If you only need a second class ticket, all you have to do is replace la clasa întâi with la clasa a doua. So “One second class ticket please” will sound like this:
Un bilet la clasa a doua vă rog.
(slow) Un bi-let la cla-sa a do-ua vă rog.
La clasa a doua means “to second class”
La is translated as “at” or “to”.
Clasa means “the class” and a doua means “the second”.
Let’s hear both phrases one more time.
Un bilet la clasa întâi vă rog.
Un bilet la clasa a doua vă rog.
There might be cases when you’re asked: “For what class?” In Romanian, that’s La ce clasă?
(slow)La ce cla-să?
La ce clasă?
In this sentence, ce means “what”.
In this case your answer will be shorter.
La clasa întâi if first class is what you want and
La clasa a doua for a second class ticket.
Your trip might be a long one, possibly overnight! In this case your best bet is purchasing a “sleeper ticket”.
In Romanian, that is
Un bilet la cușetă vă rog.
(slow)Un bi-let la cu-șe-tă vă rog.
In this phrase un bilet means “one ticket” or “a ticket”
La means “at” or “to”.
Cușetă is translated as “berth”.
(slow) Cu-șe-tă.
Cușetă.
Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time:
Un bilet la cușetă vă rog.
REVIEW
Okay, to close out this lesson, we'd like you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so mult noroc , which means "Good luck!" in Romanian.
“One ticket to Iasi, please.”
(3 sec)Un bilet până la Iași vă rog.
(slow) Un bi-let pâ-nă la Iași vă rog.
Un bilet până la Iași vă rog.
“Two train tickets to Iasi, please.”
(3 sec) Două bilete până la Iași vă rog.
(slow) Do-uă bi-le-te pâ-nă la Iași vă rog.
Două bilete până la Iași vă rog.
“A first class ticket please.”
(3 sec) Un bilet la clasa întâi vă rog.
(slow) Un bi-let la cla-sa în-tâi vă rog.
Un bilet la clasa întâi vă rog.
“A first class ticket to Iasi, please.”
(3 sec) Un bilet la clasa întâi, până la Iași, vă rog.
(slow) Un bi-let la cla-sa în-tâi, pâ-nă la Iași, vă rog.
Un bilet la clasa întâi, până la Iași, vă rog.
“A second class ticket please.”
(3 sec) Un bilet la clasa a doua vă rog.
(slow) Un bi-let la cla-sa a doua vă rog.
Un bilet la clasa a doua vă rog.
“A sleeper ticket please.”
(3 sec) Un bilet la cușetă vă rog.
(slow) Un bi-let la cu-șetă vă rog.
Un bilet la cușetă vă rog.
“For what class?”
(3 sec) La ce clasă?
(slow) La ce cla-să?
La ce clasă?

Outro

All right, that's all for this lesson!
Remember to stop by RomanianPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF lesson notes.
If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.
Pa!

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