Many, many years ago, I was in Bucharest and I was out in town with a woman on a date. We were climbing some stairs when she slipped and banged her knee into the side of the guardrail. I immediately asked if she was okay (she was) and then she taught me how to say this in Romanian. The adjective to use in this situation … Continue reading Word of the Day: Teafăr
Oh mercy! The other day while speaking with someone, I heard one of my all time favorite Romanian words and I realized I’d never put it on the blog. The word in question is bucluc (book-look), which DEX charmingly describes as “an unpleasant situation” or “discord” or “an argument”. Sometimes it’s difficult to find an exact English translation for Romanian words but in this case … Continue reading Word of the Day: Bucluc
It’s no surprise that Romanians eat a lot of meat (especially pork!) and thus have a lot of slang expressions and euphemisms based on the word carne (meat). One interesting one is în carne și oase, which literally translates to “in meat and bones”. But what does it mean? It’s exactly equivalent to the English expression “flesh and blood”, as in meeting someone in person … Continue reading Expression of the Day: În carne și oase
The other day I was racking my brain trying to think of a few words that people learning Romanian might hear but might be difficult to find in the dictionary as they are a kind of slang or euphemistic speech. And then this came across my Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/#!/DeWeekendRo/status/68277315414671360 Yes! What does razna mean, and what does it mean to “take” it? Plainly put, “o … Continue reading Word of the Day: Razna
Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve done an old-fashioned Romanian language lesson, eh? But it’s Friday and for some odd reason, I always get the urge to write on the subject at the end of the week. So let’s do it! Click on the links below to see the gender and declinations for each word, some of which can be very tricky for those … Continue reading Vessels and Containers
All Things Romania 