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Lesson Transcript

Romanian Survival Phrases. Season 2. Lesson 9: How Do You Say This and That in Romanian?
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 this lesson, we’ll learn a question that will help improve your Romanian vocabulary without having to carry a dictionary around.“How do you say [something] in Romanian?” is a sentence that can easily replace your pocket dictionary! Romanian people are famous for their wine, so let’s assume you want to buy some but have no idea what to call it in Romanian!
BODY
The question “How do you say ‘wine’ in Romanian?” is
Cum se spune la “wine” în română?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Cum se spu-ne la wine în ro-mâ-nă?
Once more:
Cum se spune la wine în română?
The first word, cum means, “how”.
(slow) Cum.
Cum.
This is followed by se spune, a verb translated in English as “to say”.
(slow) Se spu-ne.
Se spune.
Next, we have la which means “at” or “to”.
(slow) La.
La.
After la we have the word in English, “wine” in this case.
And at the end of the question there is în română translated as “in Romanian”.
(slow) În ro-mâ-nă.
În română.
All together, we have
Cum se spune la “wine” în română?
Literally, this means, “How to say to wine in Romanian?”
Remember that we already covered the word “wine” in our previous lessons; in Romanian, wine is vin.
You can also use this expression without using any English. To accomplish this, you can use the expression “How do you say this in Romanian?” In Romanian, “this” is acesta.
(slow) A-ces-ta.
Acesta.
So in Romanian “How do you say this in Romanian?” is
Cum se spune la acesta în română?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Cum se spu-ne la a-ces-ta în ro-mâ-nă?
Once again:
Cum se spune la acesta în română?
The structure is exactly the same as the previous sentence, except that instead of “wine” we have the word acesta, which is the masculine form of “this” in Romanian.
All together, we have
(slow) Cum se spu-ne la a-ces-ta în ro-mâ-nă?
Cum se spune la acesta în română?
When asking this question you can point at something specific that you’re curious about.
If the object you’re pointing to is a feminine noun, acesta would need to be replaced with aceasta, the feminine word for “this”. The phrase will thus change slightly.
Cum se spune la aceasta în română?
(slow) Cum se spu-ne la a-ceas-ta în ro-mâ-nă?
To ask, “How do you say that in Romanian?” simply substitute the word acesta with acela meaning “that”.
(slow) A-ce-la.
Acela.
The phrase will sound like this:
Cum se spune la acela în română?
Let’s break it down:
(slow)Cum se spu-ne la a-ce-la în ro-mâ-nă?
Once more:
Cum se spune la acela în română?
Acela is the masculine form for “that” in Romanian. The feminine is aceea.
(slow) A-ce-ea.
Aceea.
Our question will sound like this:
Cum se spune la aceea în română?
Let’s say you’re invited to a birthday, in which case you need to know how to say “Happy birthday” in Romanian. The question sounds this way:
Cum se spune Happy birthday în română?
“How do you say happy birthday in Romanian?”
(slow) Cum se spu-ne Ha-ppy birth-day în ro-mâ-nă?
Cum se spune Happy birthday în română?
The first word Cum means “how”.
Then you have se spune, which is translated as “to say”
(slow) Se spu-ne.
Se spune.
Next we have the words you want to be translated, and at the end of the question comes în română which means “in Romanian”.
All together:
Cum se spune “happy birthday”în română?
By the way Romanians say, La mulţi ani!
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.
“How do you say “wine” in Romanian?”
( 3 sec) Cum se spune la wine în română?
(slow) Cum se spu-ne la wine în ro-mâ-nă?
Cum se spune la wine în română?
“How do you say this in Romanian?” (masculine)
(3 sec) Cum se spune la acesta în română?
(slow) Cum se spu-ne la a-ces-ta în ro-mâ-nă?
Cum se spune la acesta în română?
“How do you say this in Romanian?” (feminine)
(3 sec) Cum se spune la aceasta în română?
(slow) Cum se spu-ne la a-ceas-ta în ro-mâ-nă?
Cum se spune la aceasta în română?
“How do you say that in Romanian?” (masculine)
(3 sec) Cum se spune la acela în română?
(slow) Cum se spu-ne la a-ce-la în ro-mâ-nă?
Cum se spune la acela în română?
“How do you say that?” (feminine)
(3 sec) Cum se spune la aceea în română?
(slow) Cum se spu-ne la a-ce-ea în ro-mâ-nă?
Cum se spune la aceea în română?
“How do you say ‘Happy birthday’ in Romanian?”
(3 sec) Cum se spune “Happy birthday” în română?
(slow) Cum se spu-ne “Ha-ppy birth-day” în ro-mâ-nă?
Cum se spune “Happy birthday” în română?

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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