"Tu taci sau vorbești?"
Translation:Are you silent or are you speaking?
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Question: I saw in another discussion that "taci" is used to mean silent or quiet as a character trait. Is "vorbesti" therefore also used as a character trait? In that case, should an acceptable translation of this sentence be "Are you quiet or talkative?"
"taci" and "vorbesti" are both verbs (for example, "shut up!" is "taci!"), i'm not sure in what context they could refer to character traits. for "talkative" you could say "vorbăreț", and for silent/quiet, "tăcut".
Meowagain, that doesn't mean shut up, it means be quiet or be silent but it doesn't mean shut up because shut up is rude and taci is used when you really need someone to be quiet, but you don't say it out of lack of consideration, you said because the other person is inconsiderate to to you, if you've already asked them to be quiet for example, you need quiet, and they are forgetful or don't understand. Sometimes it's necessary to ask people, sharply, to be quiet, but it's not because you're inconsiderate to them, but because of the urgency of the situation
Iul1, by saying to someone "taci!" you're most likely to be rude, unfortunately... "taci" or "taci odată" usually means "shut up", and it's used when the person keeps talking and it's bothering someone. It might be less rude when you're talking with someone, and you suddenly hear some important news at the radio, and you want to pay attention to them, so you say quickly "taci"/"taci un pic" ("shut up a little bit"), being a little considerate, and after hearing the news, you keep on with the conversation
If the sentence said are you quiet or are you talkative, in Romanian you would say esti tacut sau vorbaret (with the t with the tail that makes the ts sound)
Because do you keep quiet is translated as 'tu ramai tacut" and translated back to english "you remain quiet"