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Lesson Transcript

Romanian Survival Phrases. Season 2. Lesson 6: Asking Directions 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 introduce the directions that will help you to find the place you’re looking for. Previously, we introduced the phrases “Is there a (place) near here?” and “Where is …(something)?” But, we still haven’t addressed how to decipher the answer. This time we’re going to work on understanding what someone tells us. And we’ll go over basic directions. First, we have “go straight.”
BODY
In Romanian, “go straight” is
Mergi înainte.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Mergi î-na-in-te.
Once more:
Mergi înainte.
The first word, mergi, is a form of the verb meaning “to go”.
(slow) Mergi.
Mergi.
And the second word, înainte can be translated as “in front”
(slow) Î-na-in-te.
Înainte.
Together, they make
Mergi înainte.
If you want to make the phrase sound more polite, especially when speaking with someone who is older than you, you must conjugate the verb in the second person plural. You can say:
Mergeți înainte.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Mer-geți î-na-in-te.
Once more:
Mergeți înainte.
Here’s how to tell someone to take a left.
O iei la stânga.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) O iei la stân-ga.
Once more:
O iei la stânga.
The first words, o iei, are translated as “take”
(slow) O iei.
O iei.
The next two words la stânga mean “to the left”
(slow) La stân-ga.
La stânga.
Together, they make
O iei la stânga.
As you already know, when using the conjugation for the second person plural verb, we create the polite form. So, for a formal sentence we’ll conjugate the verb “to take” to make:
O luați la stânga.
(slow) O luați la stân-ga.
O luați la stânga.
The opposite, “take a right,” in Romanian is
O iei la dreapta.
(slow) O iei la dreap-ta.
O iei la dreapta.
As you’ve probably figured out, la dreapta means “to the right.”
(slow) La dreap-ta.
La dreapta.
And the polite form of this phrase is:
O luați la dreapta.
(slow) O luați la dreap-ta.
O luați la dreapta.
In real life, of course, you’ll need to know where to turn left or right.
Here’s “Turn right at the traffic light”:
La semafor o luați la dreapta.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) La se-ma-for o luați la dreap-ta.
Again at natural speed:
La semafor o luați la dreapta.
Semafor means “traffic light.” In our sentence we have la semafor, which is translated as “at the traffic light”
(slow) La se-ma-for.
La semafor.
Then we have o luați la dreapta, which we know means “turn right” in the polite form.
All together, we have
La semafor o luați la dreapta.
We also can use the informal version of “turn right” that we learned before.
La semafor o iei la dreapta.
(slow) La se-ma-for o iei la dreap-ta.
La semafor o iei la dreapta.
Another way of explaining directions can be: “first intersection on the right”. In Romanian that is
Prima intersecție la dreapta.
(slow) Pri-ma in-ter-sec-ți-e la dreap-ta.
Prima intersecție la dreapta.
In this expression, prima means “first”.
(slow) Pri-ma.
Prima.
Next we have intersecție which means “intersection”.
(slow) In-ter-sec-ți-e.
Intersecție.
Here’s how to say “on the right”:
La dreapta.
(slow) La dreap-ta.
La dreapta.
And “on the left” is La stânga.
(slow) La stân-ga.
La stânga.
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.
“Go straight.” (polite)
(3 sec) Mergeți înainte.
(slow) Mer-geți î-na-in-te.
Mergeți înainte.
“Go straight” (casual)
(3 sec) Mergi înainte.
(slow) Mergi î-na-in-te.
Mergi înainte.
“Take a left.” (polite)
(3 sec)O luați la strânga.
(slow) O luați la stân-ga.
O luați la stânga.
“Take a left.” (casual)
(3 sec) O iei la stânga.
(slow) O iei la stân-ga.
O iei la stânga.
“Take a right.” (polite)
(3 sec) O luați la dreapta.
(slow) O luați la dreap-ta.
O luați la dreapta.
“Take a right.” (casual)
(3 sec) O iei la dreapta.
(slow) O iei la dreap-ta.
O iei la dreapta.
“Turn right at the traffic light.” (formal)
(3 sec) La semafor o luați la dreapta.
(slow) La se-ma-for o luați la dreap-ta.
La semafor o luați la dreapta.
“Turn right at the traffic light.” (casual)
(3 sec) La semafor o iei la dreapta.
(slow) La se-ma-for o iei la dreap-ta.
La semafor o iei la dreapta.
“First intersection on the right.”
(3 sec) Prima intersecție la dreapta.
(slow) Pri-ma in-ter-sec-ți-e la dreap-ta.
Prima intersecție la dreapta.
“On the left.”
(3 sec) La stânga.
(slow) La stân-ga.
La stânga.
“On the right.”
(3 sec) La dreapta.
(slow) La dreap-ta.
La dreapta.

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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