Chapter 12 of 16 · Explore the Romanian path
Verbs and stories · Chapter 12 of 16
The past a story is told in, and who said it
The most useful chapter for reading. Learn the two-word past that carries a fable along, the second past that holds it still, and how Romanian tags who said what.
≈ 4 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- The story past is two words: a plus a fixed form — a mers.
- Four new verbs; the rest are shapes you have.
- A second past describes instead of moving: era, avea.
- In a speech tag the verb comes first: a spus vulpea.
- Speech is wrapped in „…”.
The most useful section on the path for reading. One guess first: văd is “I see”, and the story column has a văzut
The same word now, and in a story
A fable is told in the past, and the past is two words. Read across each row: the shape for something happening now, then the shape a story uses.
| English | Happening now | In a story |
|---|---|---|
| is | este | a fost |
| has | are | a avut |
| sees | vede | a văzut |
| says | spune | a spus |
| asks | întreabă | a întrebat |
| answers | răspunde | a răspuns |
| goes | merge | a mers |
| comes | vine | a venit |
| falls | cade | a căzut |
Read the third column twice: recognising it beats any rule about how it is built. The little word changes with who — am văzut
The second past: how things were
A story has to describe as well as move things along. These shapes hold the scene still, and a page usually carries both kinds.
Six small words a story runs on
Small joining words carry a page along. These six come up in almost every fable, so learn to know them on sight.
| English | Romanian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| and | și | shee |
| but | dar | dahr |
| very | foarte | FWAHR-teh |
| now | acum | ah-KOOM |
| because | pentru că | PEN-troo kuh |
| one day | într-o zi | IHN-troh zee |
Nearly every fable opens A fost odată ca niciodată…
“Good day,” said the fox.
„Bună ziua”, a spus vulpea.
BOO-nuh ZEE-wah, ah spoos VOOL-pyah
a spus
Add
Moving, or describing
- Vulpea a văzut o pasăre.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Vulpea a văzut o pasăre.VOOL-pyah ah vuh-ZOOT oh PAH-suh-reh “The fox saw a bird” - A venit vântul.
The doing word comes first.
Show answer +Hide answer −
A venit vântul.ah veh-NEET VIHN-tool “The wind came” - Tika era foarte tristă.
This one holds the story still.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Tika era foarte tristă.TEE-kah yeh-RAH FWAHR-teh TREES-tuh “Tika was very sad”