Home Conversation XVII
Exchanging visiting cards with my girlfriend since I got used to not harassing people on the streets anymore.
Sergiu: Bună, numele meu este A. Asta e cartea mea de vizită.
Hi, my name is A. This is my visiting card.
Kati: Bună. numele meu este B. Încântată de cunoştinţă.
Hi, my name is B. Pleased to meet you.
Sergiu: Şi eu la fel. Doamnă B, aveţi o carte de vizită?
Me too. Ms. B, do you have a visiting card?
Kati: Staţi un pic. A, aicia*. Poftiţi.
Wait a little. Ah, here. Here you go.
Sergiu: Mulţumesc.
Thank you.
*Regional version of aici.
Grammar XVII
Demonstrative pronouns
The controversial Romanian words for “this”, “that”, “these”, “those” will be taught today along with the defined article for nouns ending in a consonant and the vowel a.
There is masculine and feminine for each form, as well as a short version of the words.
| Acesta, aceasta | This |
| Ăsta, asta | This |
| Aceștia, acestea | These |
| Ăștia, astea | These |
| Acela, aceea | That |
| Ăla, aia | That |
| Aceia, acelea | Those |
| Ăia, alea | Those |
The general shortening rule is that the -ce- in acesta, acestea etc. is removed. Also observe how the masculine forms always start with an ă.
Demonstrative adjectives
| Acest, această | This |
| Ăsta, asta | This |
| Acești, aceste | These |
| Ăștia, astea | These |
| Acel, acea | That |
| Ăla, aia | That |
| Acei, acele | Those |
| Ăia, alea | Those |
Demonstrative adjectives are not much different in form than demonstrative pronouns. The adjectives are always used before a noun.
Nu mă pot abține din a pune cât mai multe poze de…de acest gen.*
I can’t help myself from posting as many pictures as I can… of this type.
*You already saw this example sentence in lesson 60 🙂
A pune (to put, to post), just like a spune both have a very similar past tense form.
Oh, nu! Am pus din nou o poză de acest gen!
Oh, no! I posted this type of picture again!
Nouns
The definite article is much simpler to form than the plural, here are the rules for the nouns you learned in lesson 10.
First we add –ul to nouns ending in a consonant for singular form.
Examples: Domnul, momentul, magazinul, calculatorul, aeroportul, parcul – the gentleman, the moment, the store, the computer, the aeroport, the park.
Then if the plural ends in –i we should add another -i. If it ends in -uri or -e, we shoud add –le.
Examples: Domnii, momentele, magazinele, calculatoarele, aeroporturile, parcurile – the gentlemen, the moments, the stores, the computers, the aeroports, the parks.
For the –a nouns we will have:
Steaua – the star
Pijamaua – the pijama
The plural form is also simple, by just adding -le we get:
Stelele – the stars
Pijamalele – the pijamas
You will need more grammar than what you have so far to understand the dialogue below, however sometimes it’s better to take an approach where you learn vocabulary and talk without needing to know every rule over why someone says “x” and not “y”. The grammar will all be revealed with time as you read more of our lessons.
Dialogue XVII
Here we have Mr. A having a conversation with Mr. B once again. This time they are getting ready for a business meeting out in the nature…
Sergiu: Bună, numele meu este A, asta e cartea mea de vizită.
Hello, my name is A, this is my visiting card.
Daniela: Bună, domnule A. Încântată de cunoștință.
Hello, mister A. Nice to meet you.
Sergiu: Doamnă B. Aveți o carte de vizită?
Ms. B. Do you have a visiting card? (Notice how Mr. A is more obsessed by the business card than interested in anything else in this conversation)
Daniela: Desigur. Poftiți!
Of course. Here you are!
Sergiu: Mulțumesc.
Thank you.
Key Vocabulary XVII
Bună – Hello
Nume (n.) – Name (No plural form) Numele means “the name”.
Meu – My (masculine form) The feminine form of meu is mea.
Cartea mea de vizită – My visiting card
Carte de vizită (f.) – Visiting card (Pl. Cărți de vizită)
Încântat de cunoștință – Pleased to meet you
La fel – The same
Desigur – Of course
Staţi un pic! – Wait a little!
Poftiți – Here you go! Poftim is the informal way of saying the same thing.
Telefon (n.) – Telephone (Pl. Telefoane)
Contact (n.) – Contact (Pl. Contacte)
Nume de familie (n.) – Family name (No plural form)
Doamnă (f.) – Lady (Pl. Doamne) Doamne also means “God!” (when you are addressing God, you say Doamne)
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I notice that when people don’t understand something, a way they ask you to repeat it is by saying “poftim?” What does it mean in this context?
Poftim in that context weirdly means “excuse me?” In a more literal way it means “do we crave (something)?” from the verb a pofti – to crave.
Hello, Mr. Sergiu! Why “domnule” is correct? The article in the singular form wouldn’t be just “domnul”?
Hello, Mr. Anderson.
We use the vocative form when addressing to people, while “Domnul” would be in the nominative case.
This is discussed in Lesson 47 – Money.