Learn how to express various degrees of certainty
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dana: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 18 - How Likely is Rain Today in Romania? Dana Here. |
| Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai. |
| Dana: In this lesson, you’ll learn expressions of various levels of certainty. The conversation takes place at a cafe. |
| Mihai: It's between Masanobu and Andreea. |
| Dana: The speakers are friends; therefore, they will speak informal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Masanobu: La știri se spune că mâine s-ar putea să plouă. |
| Andreea: Sau s-ar putea să fie însorit. |
| Masanobu: Cum așa? |
| Andreea: În România uneori prognozele sunt greșite. |
| Masanobu: Nu am știut! Dar acum suntem în Japonia. |
| Andreea: Da, așa este. Probabil că ai dreptate. |
| Masanobu: Să luăm umbrelele astăzi! |
| Andreea: Bine. |
| Dana: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Masanobu: La știri se spune că mâine s-ar putea să plouă. |
| Andreea: Sau s-ar putea să fie însorit. |
| Masanobu: Cum așa? |
| Andreea: În România uneori prognozele sunt greșite. |
| Masanobu: Nu am știut! Dar acum suntem în Japonia. |
| Andreea: Da, așa este. Probabil că ai dreptate. |
| Masanobu: Să luăm umbrelele astăzi! |
| Andreea: Bine. |
| Dana: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Masanobu: They said on the news that tomorrow it might rain. |
| Andreea: Or it might be sunny. |
| Masanobu: How so? |
| Andreea: In Romania, forecasts are sometimes wrong. |
| Masanobu: I didn't know. But now we are in Japan. |
| Andreea: Yes, that's correct. I guess you're right. |
| Masanobu: Let's take the umbrellas today. |
| Andreea: Fine. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dana: What is the media like in Romania? Is there freedom of the press? |
| Mihai: It’s protected by the constitution, but in practice that isn’t always the case. |
| Dana: Why not? |
| Mihai: Because financial insecurity, business interests and political implications can affect it. |
| Dana: I think that’s the case in many parts of the world, still. What type of media is popular in Romania? |
| Mihai: TV is still the most popular. People are quite particular about the shows and hosts that they like. |
| Dana: How about the radio? Is that popular? |
| Mihai: Yeah, some people listen during their commute, others listen online to hear their favorite songs. |
| Dana: I’m glad that you mentioned the internet. I wanted to ask if it was popular with the youth of Romania? |
| Mihai: Definitely. Young people use it to stay in contact with the rest of the country and the world. |
| Dana: It’s also a lot easier to only see the content that you chose to, too. |
| Mihai: Yeah, that’s another thing young Romanians like. |
| 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: la știri [natural native speed] |
| Dana: on the news |
| Mihai: la știri[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: la știri [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: a spune [natural native speed] |
| Dana: to say |
| Mihai: a spune[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: a spune [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: a ploua [natural native speed] |
| Dana: to rain |
| Mihai: a ploua[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: a ploua [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: însorit [natural native speed] |
| Dana: sunny |
| Mihai: însorit[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: însorit [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: cum [natural native speed] |
| Dana: how |
| Mihai: cum[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: cum [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: așa este [natural native speed] |
| Dana: that's right |
| Mihai: așa este[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: așa este [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: prognoză [natural native speed] |
| Dana: forecast |
| Mihai: prognoză[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: prognoză [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: greșit [natural native speed] |
| Dana: wrong |
| Mihai: greșit[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: greșit [natural native speed] |
| Dana: Next we have.. |
| Mihai: a avea dreptate [natural native speed] |
| Dana: to be right |
| Mihai: a avea dreptate[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: a avea dreptate [natural native speed] |
| Dana: And last.. |
| Mihai: umbrelă [natural native speed] |
| Dana: umbrella |
| Mihai: umbrelă[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Mihai: umbrelă [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: Nu am știut |
| Dana: Meaning "I didn't know." |
| Mihai: This is the verb a ști meaning "to know," used in first person negative form simple past. |
| Dana: Basically, it means “I didn’t know.” |
| Mihai: You can use it to show your surprise about something you didn’t know. |
| Dana: Are there other ways to express this? |
| Mihai: You can use the imperfect tense to show more surprise nu știam. |
| Dana: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say.. Nu am știut că veniți azi. |
| Dana: ..which means "I didn't know you were coming today." |
| Dana: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Mihai: A avea dreptate. |
| Dana: Meaning "to be right." |
| Mihai: This expression comes from the verb a avea. |
| Dana: Meaning “to have.” |
| Mihai: And then there is the noun dreptate. |
| Dana: This means “righteousness.” It literally can be translated as "to have righteousness," but we use it to say “to be right.” |
| Mihai: We use it to talk about a situation where someone is right about something they said or did. |
| Dana: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say.. Mihai mereu se bucură când are dreptate. |
| Dana: .. which means "Mihai always enjoys himself when he is right." |
| Dana: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dana: In this lesson, you'll learn about expressions of various levels of certainty. |
| Dana: Let’s start by looking at “it might.” |
| Mihai: This is an expression made from the impersonal verb a se putea. |
| Dana: This means “can,” and is in reflexive form, conditional mood and third person singular form. |
| Mihai: Following a se putea is a verb in infinitive or conjunctive. |
| Dana: You can use it to talk about a possibility or something ambiguous. |
| Mihai: For example, S-ar putea ca planul lui să nu meargă. |
| Dana: “His plan might not work.” |
| Mihai: Nu s-ar putea să rămânem fără bani? |
| Dana: “Could we run out of money?” |
| Mihai: S-ar fi putut pierde orice speranță de salvare. |
| Dana: “Any hope of salvation could have been lost.” There are many more examples and forms in the lesson notes. |
| Mihai: Another useful word is sigur. |
| Dana: Meaning “surely.” It can either be used as an adjective or an adverb in Romanian. |
| Mihai: The negative alternative is nesigur, for the adjective. |
| Dana: Meaning “uncertain, insecure, doubtful” |
| Mihai: And nu e sigur is the adverbial structure. |
| Dana: “It is not sure.” Let’s hear an example sentence. |
| Mihai: Sigur va veni cu noi. |
| Dana: “He will surely come with us.” |
| Mihai: Nu e sigur cine a făcut asta. |
| Dana: “It is not sure who did this.” Finally, let’s look at “it’s likely that…” |
| Mihai: This is the adverbial structure Probabil că... |
| Dana: It is used to express that a specific fact is probable. |
| Mihai: We can make it negative by using nu, meaning “not.” |
| Dana: You can also add in other words to show how more or less probable something is. |
| Mihai: Yes, to make phrases such as foarte probabil că… |
| Dana: “it is very likely that…” |
| Mihai: Or foarte puțin probabil că |
| Dana: “It is less likely that..” Let’s finish this lesson by hearing a sentence example. |
| Mihai: Probabil că mâine va veni Mihai la noi. |
| Dana: “It is likely that Mihai will come tomorrow to us.” |
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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