37 Comments
this is not a question but all i thought of when i read the question was Sebastian Stan
I am not ashamed to say that I'm learning Romanian because of Sebastian Stan ^_^ (and now I'm loving it!) Glad I'm not the only one here for this reason lol
Thank you, Seb, for making us aware of your beautiful native tongue and sharing it with the world! Romanian would probably be closer to extinction without you.
You can say limba română or română. They are interchangeable. Think of it as saying "I speak Romanian" V.S. "I speak the Romanian language"
1376
That would be correct as well. I will let the course authors answer the WHY part! My guess, they wanted to be more formal... More important, you would say: "[Eu] vorbesc limba română " or ”[Eu] vorbesc româna!" Notice the change from indefinite to definite in the word "romana..." And then there is the adverbial expression: "[Eu] vorbesc românește!"
"Vorbesc romaneste" is not correct. I used it when I was in a Romanian village and people laughed at me. I found this: " "Vorbeşti româneşte?" would literally mean "Do you speak in the Romanian way or style?" " So apparently vorbesc romaneste is not correct, cannot explain how though!
- 1376
"vorbesc" = "I speak"; "vorbești" = "you speak"; I might laugh too, if I heard a stranger, with a heavy accent, ask a local native: "vorbești românește"!-) Could it be that they laughed at HOW you said/pronounced it? Also, ”vorbești” = ”you [singular/informal/rude] speak” while ”vorbiți” = ”you [plural/polite/formal] speak”... We can go on and on trying to figure out what/how you MIGHT have said or not... BTW, a fun/educational Youtube clip on this topic is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpdBJRmpzkA
If you are not convinced that it was you the cause of the smiles, then check the official reference: http://www.webdex.ro/online/dictionar/romaneste
I said "vorbesc romaneste". The other sentence is what I found on the internet, someone trying to explain it. And I don´t have any accent,so it can´t be that I pronounced it bad, it was just incorrect!
- 1376
It looks like you did not check the two references that I took the time to provide above!-) BUT, I wish you Happy Holidays and a Great NEW YEAR!
that's strange, I was in Romania and I was asked by a local guy: 'Vorbeşti româneşte?'
- 24
Românește is just an adverb and it suppose the word language (limba) which is not required as everybody knows that "Vorbeşti româneşte" is about language
Is "româneşte" acceptable in place of "limba romana"? I've been to Romania a few times now and have always used, and learned to say, "vorbesc puţin româneşte", an no one has corrected me. However, if "vorbesc puţin limba romana" is the correct way to say it, I'd like to know for future reference.
- 1376
Yes. According to the Romanian DEX, see link above, "româneşte" = "în limba română." Other than Sonkadonka's claim from above, I have never heard anyone to claim that "vorbesc româneşte" would be wrong and I have lived and studied in Romania for more than few months and had the privilege to speak with quite a few Romanians from different parts of the country... BTW, if you check above, you will find a reference to a very educational YouTube clip regarding your question!
- 13
Nu mă las de limba noastră! Sorry for my horrific references, but now, thanks to them I love Romania and Moldova and I try to learn Romanian!
Italian speaker here. Tricky question: how would one say "Sebastian speaks Roman (dialect)"? I'm referring to the one spoken in Rome :)))
- 1376
Why is that tricky? „Sebi vorbește romana”, or „Sebi vorbește dialectul roman” (dialect from Rome) and „Mona vorbește româna” or „Mona vorbește limba română” (Romanian language).
Ok, so, romana = "from Rome", româna = "Romanian".
I still have to acquaint myself with those diacritic signs :)
Thanks!
- 1376
You got it! The good news are that knowing the diacritics will help you with the proper pronunciation!
