Grammar XXV
Verbs
The verb I am teaching today is used to set-up a pretty corny joke that illustrates that Bucharest is not the only city where people speak funny. Cluj-Napoca is one such city, where we speak in a Transylvanian dialect. Here comes a ţine (to hold, to keep) .
| Ţin | I hold |
| Ţii | You hold |
| Ţine | He, she holds |
| Ţinem | We hold |
| Ţineți | You hold |
| Ţin | They hold |
Adjectives
Instead of teaching you another verb, we will learn about comparison in adjectives. That means learning how to say better, faster, stronger…instead of just good, fast, strong.
It’s very simple really. Bun is “good”, mai bun is “better”. Rapid is fast, mai rapid is faster. Puternic is strong, mai puternic is stronger and so on. You can see the pattern. Mai in front of an adjective makes more of it.
And now…for…The Joke!
Pentru ce îşi ia bărbatul soţie?
What does a man get a wife for?
Ca s-o ţie!
To hold her!
Ca means in “order to”, in this context, but it does also have other meanings.
Ţie is the subjunctive form of the verb “to hold” in the Transylvanian dialect, but the correct way is to say ţină and not ţie (which means to you).
In this lesson, we will also meet another type of adjectives that we’ve never seen before. Adjectives that end in -as are not that many but are worth mentioning so you know how to handle them.
There is only one termination to look out for with this category of adjectives. The masculine plural form should normally have the -i termination and it does, but the s before it will change into ş. So the final forms of the adjective Gras are:
Grasă Graşi Grase
Monologue XXV
Doamna Tripon is actually a reference to a high-school colleague I sat right next to. She was really fat, but I was attracted to her because she was perfect for the kind of porn I used to watch…No, I’m not going to tell you what type of porn it was!
So anyway I was sitting on a bench, the stars were shining, dogs barking, stellar weather…you’ve had enough introduction to a clip that only lasts 12 seconds, for Christ’s Sake!
Sergiu: Doamna Tripon are o soră mai mică. Nu are frate mai mare. Are prieten. Pe el îl cheamă Gheorghe. E foarte chipeş şi nu are familie.
Ms. Tripon has a younger sister. She doesn’t have an older brother. She has a boyfriend. His name is Gheorghe. He’s very handsome and doesn’t have a family.
Bonus Vocabulary XXV
Corect – Correct, Fair
Trebuie să fii corect față de doamna Tripon și să nu mai faci aluzii referitoare la ea.
You have to be fair to Mrs. Tripon and stop leaving hints about her.
Ok, from now on no more talking about her
Key Vocabulary XXV
Soră mai mică – Younger sister (literally, smaller sister)
Frate mai mare – Older brother (literally, bigger brother)
Iubit, iubită – Lover, female lover (Pl. Iubiţi, iubite)
Prieten (m.) – Boyfriend, friend (Pl. Prieteni)
Prietenă (f.) – Girlfriend, female friend (Pl. Prietene)
Soţ (m.) – Husband (Pl. Soţi)
Soţie (f.) – Wife (Pl. Soţii)
Mare – Big (Mare, Mari, Mari)
Mic – Small (Mică, Mici, Mici)
Scund – Short (Masc. Pl. Scunzi – Remember the adjective lesson where the d before an i turns into a z)
Slab – Thin
Gras – Fat (Masc Pl. Graşi – the s before an i turns into ş)
Urât – Ugly
Degenerat – Degenerate
Generaţie (f.) – Generation (Pl. Generaţii)
Familie (f.) – Family (Pl. Familii)
Bărbat (m.) – Man (Pl. Bărbaţi)
Copil (m.) – Child (Pl. Copii)
Băiat (m.) – Boy (Pl. Băieţi)
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