Street Conversation XII
Roleplay alert, I’m not actually selling pens and she’s not really looking to buy, but it’s my first step into acting.
Sergiu: Bună ziua, ce vreţi să cumpăraţi?
Hello. What do you want to buy?
Girl: Bună ziua, aş dori un stilou dacă aţi avea.
Hello, I would like a pen if you had one.
Sergiu: Nu, îmi pare rău.* Nu am stilouri.
No, sorry. I don’t have pens.
Girl: A, nu aveţi? Ce păcat!
Ah, you don’t have? What a pity!
*Îmi pare rău (I’m sorry) is the opposite of îmi pare bine (nice to meet you). They have completely different meanings obviously, but the words bine and rău are in fact antonyms. Rău means bad, evil and bine means well, good.
Grammar XII
Verbs
A cumpăra and a vrea are two words you will be using for holidays like Christmas. Because they mean “to buy” and “to want”!
Let us start with the “shopping” verb!
| Cumpăr | I buy |
| Cumperi | You buy |
| Cumpără | He, she buys |
| Cumpărăm | We buy |
| Cumpăraţi | You buy |
| Cumpără | They buy |
And now to take care of the second verb:
| Vreau | I want |
| Vrei | You want |
| Vrea | He, she wants |
| Vrem | We want |
| Vreţi | You want |
| Vor | They want |
Vrea is an –ea verb so this gives us an opportunity to cover the –ea group. Do you remember the –e group taught in lesson 6? If not, pay a visit again to refresh your memory. You will find that the pattern for the –ea verbs is the same as the –e verbs pattern. However the verbs in the -ea category tend to be more unpredictable. You can see that if you look more closely at the verbs a vrea and a putea (taught in lesson 8)
The bonus for today is the verb a avea. It is an irregular verb so that means it doesn’t follow many of the rules.
| Am | I have |
| Ai | You have |
| Are | He, she has |
| Avem | We have |
| Aveţi | You have |
| Au | They have |
Dialogue XII
Sergiu: Bună ziua. Ce vreţi să cumpăraţi?
Hello. What do you want to buy?
Daniela: Vreau să cumpăr un stilou. Aveţi unul?
I want to buy a pen. Do you have one? (notice how he doesn’t even say hi back)
Sergiu: Nu, îmi pare rău. Nu am stilouri.
No, I’m sorry. I don’t have any pens.
Daniela: Bine, mă duc în altă parte* atunci.
Fine, I’ll go somewhere else then.
*În altă parte is an expression meaning somewhere else and it literally translates as în (in) altă (another) parte (side): in another side!
Key Vocabulary XII
Să – To
Stilou (n.) – Pen (Pl. Stilouri)
A dori – To desire
Dacă – If
Ce păcat – What a pity!
Păcat (n.) – Sin (Pl. Păcate)
Unul – One (Sg. Fem. Una) This word is used to replace a noun. The examples below demonstrate this.
Vreau un stilou. Vreau unul.
I want a pen. I want one.
Vreau o casă. Vreau una.
I want a house. I want one.
Nu, îmi pare rău – No, sorry
Altă parte – Somewhere else
Atunci – Then
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This is a question regarding the first dialogue.
Should it be Bună ziua, aş dori un stilou dacă aţi avea? or Bună ziua, aş dori un stilou dacă aţi avut?
Dacă aţi avut is logically incorrect. You would not ask “I would like a pen if you once had one”…aţi avut implies that they once had pens and they don’t anymore, in which case why would you be asking them for a pen in the first place?
Ok then. That makes more sense. Thanks!
Can you explain please what is “să” for?
“Să” is part of a larger subjunctive mood. It connects two verbs, very similar to the particle “to” in the English “I want to go”.
Some of the times you can replace subjunctive with infinitive so you don’t always need to use “Să” when connecting verbs.
After “a vrea” for instance you HAVE to use “Să”.
After a “putea” you can say BOTH “pot merge” or “pot să merg”.
Thank you!
Does the subjunctive form is the same as the present tense form, or there are differences between them?
The subjunctive form is different, check it out explained in lessons 33 and 34! 🙂