Learn how to use nouns
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 18 - Why are Romanian Taxis So Expensive? Becky here. |
| Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn about nouns in Romanian. The conversation takes place at the airport arrivals exit. |
| Mihai: It's between Masanobu and a taxi driver. |
| Becky: The speakers are strangers in a customer service context, so they’ll speak formal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Masanobu: Bună ziua. Cât costă până în centrul orașului? |
| Șofer de taxi: Cinci zeci de lei până la Piața Universității. |
| Masanobu: Destul de scump. |
| Șofer de taxi: Da. Noi, taxiurile suntem foarte scumpi. Și suntem mândri de asta. |
| Șofer de taxi: Dacă vreți mai ieftin, vă recomand autobuzul. |
| Masanobu: Vă mulțumesc pentru informații. |
| Șofer de taxi: Cu plăcere. O zi bună! |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Masanobu: Bună ziua. Cât costă până în centrul orașului? |
| Șofer de taxi: Cinci zeci de lei până la Piața Universității. |
| Masanobu: Destul de scump. |
| Șofer de taxi: Da. Noi, taxiurile suntem foarte scumpi. Și suntem mândri de asta. |
| Șofer de taxi: Dacă vreți mai ieftin, vă recomand autobuzul. |
| Masanobu: Vă mulțumesc pentru informații. |
| Șofer de taxi: Cu plăcere. O zi bună! |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Masanobu: Hello. How much is it to the city center? |
| Taxi driver: 50 lei to the University Square. |
| Masanobu: Pretty expensive. |
| Taxi driver: Yes. We taxis are very expensive. And we are proud of it. |
| Taxi driver: If you want cheaper, my recommendation is the bus. |
| Masanobu: Thank you for the information. |
| Taxi driver: You're welcome. Have a nice day! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Well, at least the taxi driver was honest about being expensive! |
| Mihai: Yes, he was pretty upfront about it! |
| Becky: Are taxis a common form of transportation? |
| Mihai: In big cities like Bucharest, they’re common if you don’t have a car. |
| Becky: Are cars popular? |
| Mihai: Yes, cars are the most popular form of transport in Romania. |
| Becky: What’s the train system like in Romania? So many countries in Europe have excellent train networks. |
| Mihai: Compared to Western Europe, the trains in Romania are underdeveloped. |
| Becky: Can you use them to get from city to city? |
| Mihai: Main cities and different areas are connected, but speeds aren’t that high. |
| Becky: Are the trains safe and clean, at least? |
| Mihai: Yes, they are! |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Mihai: centru [natural native speed] |
| Becky: center |
| Mihai: centru[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: centru [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: leu [natural native speed] |
| Becky: lion; leu (Romanian currency) |
| Mihai: leu[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: leu [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: piață [natural native speed] |
| Becky: market; square |
| Mihai: piață[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: piață [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: universitate [natural native speed] |
| Becky: university |
| Mihai: universitate[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: universitate [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: destul [natural native speed] |
| Becky: enough; pretty |
| Mihai: destul[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: destul [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Mihai: scump [natural native speed] |
| Becky: expensive |
| Mihai: scump[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: scump [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.... |
| Mihai: dacă [natural native speed] |
| Becky: if |
| Mihai: dacă[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: dacă [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.... |
| Mihai: autobuz [natural native speed] |
| Becky: bus |
| Mihai: autobuz[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: autobuz [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And lastly... |
| Mihai: plăcere [natural native speed] |
| Becky: pleasure |
| Mihai: plăcere[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: plăcere [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is... |
| Mihai: Cu plăcere |
| Becky: Meaning "You're welcome." Can you break this phrase down for us? |
| Mihai: Cu is a preposition, and it means "with." Plăcere means "pleasure.” |
| Becky: So, it’s literally “with pleasure.” |
| Mihai: This is the most used phrase to respond to mulțumesc, and things like it. |
| Becky: So it’s used to respond to a “thanks.” |
| Mihai: That’s right. You can use it both formally and informally. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say, Cu plăcere, mai poftiți! |
| Becky: ...which means "You're welcome, come again!" |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Mihai: O zi bună. |
| Becky: Meaning "Have a nice day." What can you tell us about this phrase? |
| Mihai: O is an indefinite article meaning "one" in feminine form. Zi is "day," and bună means "good." |
| Becky: It translates to “have a nice day.” |
| Mihai: It’s a nice way to greet someone, and you can use it as a farewell, too. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say, Vă doresc o zi bună. |
| Becky: ...which means "I wish you a nice day." |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn about nouns in Romanian. |
| Becky: Let’s begin by reviewing noun genders. |
| Mihai: Nouns ending in a consonant or in vowel or the semivowel u are almost always masculine. |
| Becky: Such as…? |
| Mihai: copac, which means “tree.” |
| Becky: What type of nouns are feminine? |
| Mihai: Nouns ending in ă and stressed a, like fată and sardea. |
| Becky: “Girl” and “sardine,” respectively. |
| Mihai: Also, nouns ending in e are generally feminine, but there are some exceptions. |
| Becky: Let’s hear an example of this type of feminine noun. |
| Mihai: carte, which means “book.” |
| Becky: In English, we have countable and uncountable nouns. Countable nouns are ones that have a plural form, like “tables” and “cats.” Uncountable nouns are things that don’t have a plural form, like “information” and “water.” Do you have this type of distinction in Romanian, too? |
| Mihai: Yes, we do. There are some words that don’t have a singular or plural form. They remain the same. |
| Becky: What are they called? |
| Mihai: We call them “defective nouns.” |
| Becky: Nice name! Can you give us a couple of examples? |
| Mihai: aur and ochelari. |
| Becky: That’s “gold” and “glasses,” respectively. |
| Mihai: Yes, we can say Nu găsesc ochelarii. |
| Becky: “I can’t find the glasses.” |
| Mihai: In that sentence, we used the word “the.” Declension of nouns in English is really easy, as you can just use “the.” |
| Becky: Yeah, if you want to make a definite noun, all you need is “the.” |
| Mihai: In Romanian, it isn’t that simple, as it depends on the gender of the noun and the suffix. |
| Becky: There’s a table in the lesson notes with some examples of this, so please check it out. For now, let’s hear some example sentences. Pay close attention to the nouns in these sentences. |
| Mihai: Piața Unirii este foarte mare. |
| Becky: “The Union Square is very big.” |
| Mihai: Centrul orașului este aglomerat. |
| Becky: “The center of the city is crowded.” |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Mihai: La revedere. |
Comments
Hide