Although I often write about the strange and mysterious aspects of the Romanian language (and its grammar), sometimes things are fairly straightforward. One example is the prefex “ne” in Romanian, which generally follows right along with the prefix “un” in English, to indicate an opposite meaning. adevarat/neadeverat – true/untrue placut/neplacut – pleasant/unpleasant However there are some words you need to know which – very importantly … Continue reading Double Plus Ungood
One of the interesting things about the Romanian language is that is has two words for “kiss” (either the noun or the verb), both of them coming from Latin, yet having two very distinct meanings. The first one – pup – comes from the Latin word for kissing someone, now only surviving in Italian (mostly in colorful phrases I won’t detail here) and Romanian. The … Continue reading When A Kiss Is Just a Kiss
Living here in Romania and speaking English, it’s natural that I’m going to run into a few religious foreigners. Outside of Bucharest, I think half the foreigners or more are here primarily for religious purposes. Anyway, the other day one of them used a Romanian expression (correctly) and I had to cover my mouth not to bust out laughing. The reason I was smiling so … Continue reading Expression of the Day: De Mama Focului
Certainly not a “slang” word but just one of those mysterious Romanian words with a shadowy and uncertain past, ajun simply means the day (or night) before an important event. In this case, Ajunul (“the day/night before”) Craciunului (“of the Christmas”) simply means the night/day before Christmas, or as it is said in English, Christmas Eve. If you speak Romanian, I found this religious tale … Continue reading Word of the Day: Ajunul Craciunului
One word you’ll definitely never find in any dictionary is this word “nush“, occasionally written as “nuş”. Although when I say “written” I mean that only in online, “slangy” conversations will you ever see it in written form as it won’t appear in newspapers, magazines or books. It is however used in every day (verbal) conversations a lot more often. What is it? A contraction … Continue reading Slang Word of the Day: Nush
All Things Romania 