Learn to say "I don't understand," a phrase that will certainly prove useful as you are exploring in Romania
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| 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 you will learn a very useful phrase meaning “I don’t understand.” It is useful, of course, because many times you won’t immediately pick up on what people are saying. |
| BODY |
| In Romanian, “I don’t understand” is |
| Nu înțeleg. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Nu în-țe-leg. |
| Once more: |
| Nu înțeleg. |
| Basic knowledge of the Romanian language may be one reason that you don’t understand something. In this case, say |
| Nu înțeleg româna. This expression is translated in English as “I don’t understand Romanian” |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Nu în-țe-leg ro-mâ-na. |
| Nu înțeleg româna. |
| The first word nu means “no” |
| (slow) Nu. |
| Nu. |
| Next we have înțeleg, a conjugated form of the verb translated as “to understand.” |
| (slow) În-țe-leg. |
| Înțeleg. |
| And the last word româna means “the Romanian” |
| (slow) ro-mâ-na. |
| româna. |
| Another option is to tell someone, “I don’t speak Romanian.” |
| Nu vorbesc româna. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Nu vor-besc ro-mâ-na. |
| Once again: |
| Nu vorbesc româna. |
| We already explained the first word nu. |
| This is followed by vorbesc, which is a form of the Romanian verb translated as “to speak.” |
| (slow) Vor-besc. |
| Vorbesc. |
| Next we have româna, the word for “the Romanian.” |
| Here’s the whole sentence: |
| (slow) Nu vor-besc ro-mâ-na. |
| Nu vorbesc româna. |
| 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. |
| “I don’t understand.” |
| (3 sec) Nu înțeleg. |
| (slow) Nu în-țe-leg. |
| Nu înțeleg. |
| “I don’t understand Romanian.” |
| (3 sec) Nu înțeleg româna. |
| (slow) Nu în-țe-leg ro-mâ-na. |
| Nu înțeleg româna. |
| “I don’t speak Romanian.” |
| (3 sec) Nu vorbesc româna. |
| (slow) Nu vor-be-sc ro-mâ-na. |
| Nu vorbesc româna. |
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! |
Comments
HideHi listeners! In what situation were you when you could not understand the person you were speaking with?
Hi Lisa,
Thank you for your comment!
That is correct. Because "nu înțeleg" is in the present tense, while not rude as long as it is pronounced with a light tone, it can have a connotation that the fact that "you do not understand" won't change, while both "nu am înțeles" as well as "nu am auzit" which you mentioned are more open to a reply and therefore to a chance of hearing the utterance again from the speaker. Once you learn the past tense, it's good to start using the latter 2 phrases, but using "nu înțeleg" with a light tone is also safe from being considered rude.
Cheers,
Mihai
Team RomaniaPod101.com
My Romanian friends say that the past tense, N-am înțeles, sounds more polite. They only say Nu înțeleg when someone is giving them a hard time and they want to be slightly rude. Also, at least the first time I try to say N-am auzit (I didn’t hear) because that usually prompts the speaker to repeat him/herself louder and more slowly, giving me a second chance to get it before they give up on me (and switch to English lol).
Hi Edward,
When you are referring to the Romanian language, the proper word is, of course, română, limba română. ”Românește” is an adverb.
Cheers,
Mika
Team RomaniaPod101.com
My wife, who is from Moldova, tells me that the proper word should be "romaneste" not "romana." What do you think?
Salut Roger,
Thank you for your feedback. Romanian and Spanish do resemble, right? If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
Cheers,
Mika
Team RomanianPod101.com
Even though Romanian is a different, yet related language to Spanish I can understand the basic concepts so far. Also, the lessons make it that much more easier to understand. Mulțumesc foarte mult!
Hello Dennis,
Thank you for posting, we are sorry you have issues with downloading our PDF files.
I tried to download the PDF files, they all seem to be working just fine.
Could you please check if you by any chance have a free lifetime account? Those who have the free lifetime account can only access first three lessons for free. If you have a basic or premium membership and you still cannot access the files, please let us know which error message you see on the screen.
It’d be great if you could send us an email at contactus@RomanianPod101.com so that we can take a look at the issue closely.
Thank you,
Stan
Team RomanianPod101.com
I cant download the lesson notes, just takes me to another page, arent they included anymore?
Hello Maria Fernanda Medina,
Thank you for posting and sharing your thoughts.
We know that it's difficult at first with a new language, but please don't give up!
Just keep practicing! :wink::thumbsup:
Let us know if you have any question.
Cheers,
Lena
Team RomanianPod101.com
is very embarrassing for me,don´t understand when I hear,read,or{even worst},someone try to talking whit me,in a Language that I don´t understand.