"Yes, you speak Romanian."
Translation:Da, vorbiți limba română.
34 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
1255
I am confused! Some sentences require the use of limba and some don't. I am new to romana and need to know when to use limba.
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We have three options for translating "We speak Romanian." All three are correct and common.
I. "Vorbim româna" = We speak Romanian. (Româna is the name of the language. Grammatically, it is a noun.)
II. "Vorbim limba română" = "We speak the Romanian language."
This is a useful construction if, for example, you want to say: "Vorbim limba română nu limba germană." You can also say "Vorbim româna nu germana."
"Vorbim limba română" adds more emphasis and is a bit more formal, but it doesn't contain more information.
III. "Vorbim româneşte."
"Româneşte" is an adverb. "Vorbim româneşte" still means "We speak Romanian." The verb "vorbim" allows the use of an adverb like "româneşte" but also the use of a noun like "româna" because it is a transitive verb (all transitive verbs allow the subsequent use of a noun without a preposition).
So, the difference is technical (i.e., grammatical).
Vorbim româneşte = Transitive Verb + Adverb
Vorbim româna = Transitive verb + Noun (direct object).
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Unless the word "language" exists in the English sentence, you don't have a cue that "limba" should be included.
In other words, if you have to translate the following sentence into Romanian, "We speak the Romanian language," then you would say "Vorbim limba română." Otherwise, in regular conversation, the inclusion of the word "limba" is at the latitude of the speaker.
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I do not understand why "da tu vorbiti limba romana" is not accepted and has to be "da vorbiti limba romana"? What,'s the problem if I want to day "you vorbiti",?
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The problem is that you’re using the wrong pronoun. “Vorbiti” is the second person PLURAL form of the verb “to speak.” You cannot use “tu” with this form. The pronoun, if stated, has to be either “voi” (“you all”) or “dumneavoastra” (polite “you” which always requires the plural form of the verb).
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Yes. In Romanian, the verb (in the correct conjugation) contains all the information we need about the subject. This isn't the case in English where it is impossible to differentiate between, for example, "I do," "you do," or "we do" without the pronoun.
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The difference is one of conjugation. The verb "a vorbi" (infinitive form) is conjugated in the present tense indicative as follows: Eu vorbesc / Tu vorbesti / El (Ea) vorbeste / Noi vorbim / Voi vorbiti / Ei vorbesc
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Yes, it is wrong. First, "votbiti" has a typo. The correct form is "vorbiti." Second, "tu" is a personal pronoun in the second person singular form. The verb "vorbiti" is conjugated in the plural form, therefore you have to use either "voi," the plural form of the personal pronoun (i.e., "you all") or the polite pronoun "dumneavoastra" (no English equivalent) which requires the plural form of the verb. The easier option is to simply skip the personal pronoun. Unlike English, Romanian allows us to skip the pronoun because the conjugation of the verb already has all the information we need about the subject.
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The imperative is not the right tense here for two reasons: 1. There is no "!" at the end of the sentence. Imperative sentences are always marked in Romanian with an exclamation mark at the end. 2. The sentence starts with "da." The word "da" at the beginning of the sentence marks this as an answer to a question such as "Vorbiti romaneste?" Therefore the present tense indicative is the right choice.
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“Tu” is the singular form of the pronoun “you.” “Voi” is the plural form of “you” (“you all” in English). The verb “vorbiti” is in plural form (second person), therefore you cannot use the second person singular pronoun “tu”. The subject and predicate of a sentence must agree in number. Given the plural form of the verb, the subject (either stated or implied) must be either “voi” or “dumneavoastra” (which is the polite “you,” always requiring the plural form of the verb).