
Street Conversation XVIII
Don’t get me wrong, I can cook like a masterchef (see image above), but it’s not exactly filling so I have to take from other people’s food as well.
Sergiu: A cui e mâncarea asta?
Whose food is this?
Girl: A mea..
Mine.
Sergiu: Pot să iau din ea?
Can I take from it?
Girl: Da.
Yes
Grammar XVIII
Possessive adjectives
Apartamentul meu, camera mea | My apartment, my room |
Apartamentul tău, camera ta | Your apartment, your room |
Apartamentul lui, camera lui, apartamentul său*, camera sa*, apartamentul ei, camera ei | His apartment, his room, his apartment, his room, her apartment, her room |
Apartamentul nostru, camera noastră | Our apartment, our room |
Apartamentul vostru, camera voastră | Your apartment, your room |
Apartamentul lor, camera lor | Their apartment, their room |
As you can see, the pronouns change according to the gender of the noun (only lui, ei and lor don’t change)
*An interesting feature in Romanian is that you can use Apartamentul său/Camera sa where său and sa are equivalent to lui. It’s simpler to use just one word to express the meaning “his”, so this is why lui is more widely used in regular speech.
The next lesson will show you how things change when the object is more than one.
Verbs
The verb for today is an irregular one. The verb a lua (to take) with past tense luat.
Iau | I take |
Iei | You take |
Ia | He, she takes |
Luăm | We take |
Luați | You take |
Iau | They take |
The article below we consider to be the best on learning all the rules for Romanian verbs:
The definite article on Romanian verb groups
Reading the article doesn’t mean you know how to conjugate all verbs from now on. This is why we will still continue to conjugate one or two verbs per lesson like we did so far. Remember, it’s important to learn by lots of examples, rules are meant to be broken!
Dialogue XVIII
Sergiu: A cui mâncare este asta?
Whose food is this?
Daniela: A mea. A ta este acolo.
Mine. Yours is there.
Sergiu: Pot să iau din ea?
Can I take from it?
Daniela: Bineînțeles. Nu e nicio problemă.
Of course. It’s no problem.
Key Vocabulary XVIII
Cui – To whom?
A cui – Whose? Al cui is used for masculine nouns.
Acolo – There
Din – From
Bineînțeles – Of course
Nicio – Not a
Problemă (f.) – Problem (Pl. Probleme)
Caș (n.) – Cheese (Pl. Cașuri)
Castravete (m.) – Cucumber (Pl. Castraveți)
Usturoi (m.) – Garlic
Ceapă (f.) – Onion (Pl. Cepe)
Pește (m.) – Fish (Pl. Pești)
Pui (m.) – Chicken (Pl. Pui)
Banană (f.) – Banana (Pl. Banane)
Prăjitură (f.) – Prăjituri (Pl. Prăjituri)
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Hi,
I thought that “cheese” is “brânză” in Romanian. Is “caș” a synonym?
Thanks
Hi Daniel,
They are both cheeses. They are different in the way they are produced and in their appearance. If you google image both of the words, you will see the difference. Brânză is very granular while caș is much leaner.
Regards,
Sergiu
Hi!
Does ‘usturoi’ have a plural form?
Hi!
Wonderful question. This word doesn’t change in its plural form. Usturoi is for both singular and plural.
Fun fact: usturoi comes from the verb ‘a ustura’ which means ‘to sting’
I understood. Thanks!