LESSON TRANSCRIPT

Absolute Beginner S1 #6
A Romanian Family Portrait

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
DIALOGUE
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
VOCAB LIST
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
LESSON FOCUS
OUTRO

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INTRODUCTION
Asia: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Absolute Beginner Season 1
Lesson 6 - A Romanian Family Portrait. Asia Here. Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai. Asia: In this lesson, you’ll learn
about using adjectives to describe people. The conversation takes place at the classroom. Mihai: It's
between Masanobu and a Romanian Language Teacher. Asia: The speakers are a teacher and a student;
therefore, they will speak both formal and informal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.

DIALOGUE
Masanobu: Bună, clasă! Astăzi vă prezint familia mea prin fotografii. Masanobu: Aceasta este mama
mea. Este foarte prietenoasă. Lucrează ca doctor. Masanobu: El este tatăl meu. El este pompier. Este bun
la suflet. Masanobu: Ea este sora mea. Este cercetătoare. Este timidă, dar mereu optimistă. Masanobu: Și
aici este fratele meu. Este destul de sever. Este profesor. Profesorul de limba română: Aha, sever!
Mulțumim, Masanobu. Ai o familie foarte frumoasă. Masanobu: Vă mulțumesc!

Asia: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.

Masanobu: Bună, clasă! Astăzi vă prezint familia mea prin fotografii. Masanobu: Aceasta este mama
mea. Este foarte prietenoasă. Lucrează ca doctor. Masanobu: El este tatăl meu. El este pompier. Este bun
la suflet. Masanobu: Ea este sora mea. Este cercetătoare. Este timidă, dar mereu optimistă. Masanobu: Și
aici este fratele meu. Este destul de sever. Este profesor. Profesorul de limba română: Aha, sever!
Mulțumim, Masanobu. Ai o familie foarte frumoasă. Masanobu: Vă mulțumesc!

Asia: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.

Masanobu: Hi, class! Today I'm introducing my family to you through pictures. Masanobu: This is my
mother. She is very friendly. She works as a doctor. Masanobu: He is my father. He is a firefighter. He is a
good man. Masanobu: She is my sister. She is a researcher. She is shy, but always optimistic. Masanobu:
And here is my brother. He is rather strict. He is a teacher. Romanian Language Teacher: Strict, I see!
Thank you, Masanobu. You have a very nice family. Masanobu: Thank you!

POST CONVERSATION BANTER

Asia: In this conversation, we heard Masanobu talk about his family. Mihai: Yeah, his family sounds nice!
Asia: What’s a typical family like in Romania? Mihai: It’s usually a mother, father, and a couple of children.
Asia: What about the extended family, such as grandparents? Mihai: Several decades ago, the
grandparents would usually live with the family too. Asia: Wow, it’s good to keep the family together like
that! Mihai: Yeah, sometimes the children would build an extension to the house so that they could stay
with the family. Asia: But not anymore? Mihai: No, houses are generally narrower now. And, there are
also blocks of apartments. Asia: That style of housing isn’t as compatible with large families. Mihai: No, it
isn’t. Asia: Okay, now onto the vocab.

VOCAB LIST
Asia: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is...

Mihai: familie [natural native speed] Asia: family Mihai: familie[slowly - broken down by syllable] Mihai:
familie [natural native speed]

Asia: Next we have... Mihai: mamă [natural native speed] Asia: mother Mihai: mamă[slowly - broken down
by syllable] Mihai: mamă [natural native speed]

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Asia: Next we have... Mihai: tată [natural native speed] Asia: father Mihai: tată[slowly - broken down by
syllable] Mihai: tată [natural native speed]

Asia: Next we have... Mihai: soră [natural native speed] Asia: sister Mihai: soră[slowly - broken down by
syllable] Mihai: soră [natural native speed]

Asia: Next we have... Mihai: frate [natural native speed] Asia: brother Mihai: frate[slowly - broken down
by syllable] Mihai: frate [natural native speed]

Asia: Next we have... Mihai: doctor [natural native speed] Asia: doctor Mihai: doctor[slowly - broken down
by syllable] Mihai: doctor [natural native speed]

Asia: Next we have... Mihai: profesor [natural native speed] Asia: teacher; professor Mihai:
profesor[slowly - broken down by syllable] Mihai: profesor [natural native speed]

Asia: Next we have... Mihai: prietenos [natural native speed] Asia: friendly Mihai: prietenos[slowly -
broken down by syllable] Mihai: prietenos [natural native speed]

Asia: Next we have... Mihai: optimist [natural native speed] Asia: optimistic Mihai: optimist[slowly - broken
down by syllable] Mihai: optimist [natural native speed]

Asia: And last... Mihai: sever [natural native speed] Asia: strict, severe Mihai: sever[slowly - broken down
by syllable] Mihai: sever [natural native speed]

KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES

Asia: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first
phrase is... Mihai: familia mea Asia: meaning "my family." What can you tell us about this phrase? Mihai:
This is made of two words. There’s the feminine noun familia, meaning “family.” Asia: And what’s the
second word? Mihai: That is mea, a possessive noun meaning “mine.” Asia: When can you use this
phrase? Mihai: You can use it whenever you want to refer to “my family.” It’s good in both formal and
informal situations. Asia: Can you give us an example using this phrase? Mihai: Sure. For example, you
can say Familia mea are mulți membri. Asia: ...which means "My family has many members."

Asia: Okay, what's the next word? Mihai: ca doctor Asia: meaning "as a doctor." Let’s break this phrase
down. Mihai: The first word, ca, is a preposition, and it has the meaning of “as.” Asia: The second word
sounds a lot like “doctor.” Mihai: That’s what it means! You can use this word to say that someone works
as a doctor. Asia: If you work as a doctor, can you use it to refer to yourself? Mihai: Yes, you can. It can be
used in both formal and informal situations. Asia: Can you give us an example using this phrase? Mihai:
Sure. For example, you can say, El este bucătar, dar lucrează ca doctor! Asia: ...which means "He is a chef
but he works as a doctor!"

Asia: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

LESSON FOCUS

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Asia: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use adjectives to describe people. Asia: We can use adjectives to
describe anything. Mihai: In Romanian, adjectives usually come after the noun. Asia: Is that always the
case? Mihai: Not always. There are some special cases where the word comes before the noun, such as
in poems. Asia: But in regular Romanian, the adjective will be after the noun. Mihai: Right. For example,
we can say, cer albastru. Asia: Meaning “blue sky.” Let’s hear some example sentences. Mihai: Citesc o
revistă interesantă. Asia: “I am reading an interesting magazine.” Mihai: Iarba este verde. Asia: “Grass is
green.” Are there any easy ways to tell if a word is an adjective? Mihai: There are several word endings
that are particular to adjectives in Romanian. Asia: What are they? Mihai: The suffixes -ist, -os, -ic, -iv and -
ar. Asia: These are the most frequent endings for adjectives. Mihai: Yes, there are some others, but those
are the ones you’ll hear the most. Asia: Let’s hear an example. Mihai: Take the adjective mărinimos. Tatăl
tău este mărinimos. Asia: That means “generous,” and the sentence is “Your father is generous.” Let’s
change topic slightly and look at the verb “to work” in more detail. Mihai: In Romanian, this is a lucra.
Unlike in English, you can only use this to talk about employment. Asia: So you can’t use it to say that a
machine is working, for example. Mihai: Right. For example, Eu lucrez ca profesor. Asia: “I work as a
teacher.” Mihai: Ea lucrează la un proiect nou. Asia: “She is working on a new project.”

OUTRO
Asia: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Mihai: La revedere.

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