• In this unit you will learn about :

• • How to say things in the past

• • Past Tense of the Verbs :to hear, to go, to want

• • Talk about the weather

Dialog (Dialogue)

Merve meets Marius, her Romanian colleague, in the street .
Marius: Bună, Merve! Ce surpriză plăcută!
     Hi, Merve!What a nice surprise!
Merve: Bună, Marius! Mă bucur să te revăd!
     Hi, Marius!Glad to see you again!
Marius :Am auzit că voi, studenții Erasmus, ați fost la Lainici săptămâna trecută.
     I have heard that you,the Erasmus students, went to Lainici last week.
Merve: Așa este, am fost la Lainici duminica trecută.
     That’s right, we went to Lainici last Sunday.
Marius :Cum a fost și de ce ați vrut să mergeți acolo?
     How was it and why did you want to go there?
Merve: Am vrut să vizităm o mănăstire românească ortodoxă și , în plus, este foarte aproape de Târgu-Jiu.Ne-a plăcut foarte mult.
     We wanted to visit a Romanian Orthodox church and, besides, it’s very close to Târgu-Jiu.We liked it very much.
Marius :Cu ce ați mers acolo?
     How did you go there?
Merve :Am mers cu trenul, e un peisaj minunat în Valea Jiului.
     We went by train, there is a wonderful landscape in the Jiu Valley.
Marius: Cum a fost vremea?
     What was the weather like?
Merve:A fost soare, o vreme perfectă pentru excursii.
     It was sunny, a perfect weather for trips.
Marius: Ce v-a plăcut cel mai mult?
     What did you like most?
Merve:Totul: arhitectura, picturile, peisajul, pacea și liniștea de acolo.A fost o experiență minunată!
     Everything: the architecture, the paintings, the landscape, the peace and tranquility there.It was a wonderful experience!

Saying things in the past

In the dialogue Marius and Merve described a number of actions in the past:
Am auzit că voi, studenții Erasmus, ați fost la Lainici.
Am vrut să vizităm o mănăstire românească.
Am mers cu trenul.
A fost o experiență minunată!
The past tense in Rornanian is forrned frorn two elernents: the auxiliary AM, Al, A for the singular and AM, AȚI, AU for the plural and the past form (participle) of the verb.

The auxiliary verb has the following forms:

The .participle is formed by replacing the infinitive ending with the ending. . The participle endings are different according to each class of verbs. Phonetic mutations may occur in the verb root.

Here are the past forrns of the verbs in the dialogue
1. A fi (to be)

2.A auzi(to hear)

3.A merge(to go)

4.A vrea(to want))

Useful Phrases

Cum e vremea astăzi ?(What s the weather like today?)


Este cald.(It s warm)
Este soare.(It s sunny)
Este vreme bună(The weather is fine).

Cum a fost vremea ieri?(What was the weather like yesterday?)

A fost cald.
A fost soare.
A fost vreme bună
A fost înnorat (cloudy).
A fost vreme rea(bad weather)
A fost răcoare. (cool)
A fost vânt ( windy).

Practice

1.Say what the weather is like today and what it was like yesterday/the day before yesterday/last week.

2. Fill in with the right form of the auxiliary(am,ai....etc) and then try to translate into English using a dictionary.
Noi .......... fost la mănăstire ieri.
Voi ............ fost obosiți după cursul de limba romana. .
Ieri...............fost la cumpărături.
Unde ........... fost profesoarele în pauză?
Când ............fost în excursie?
Cu cine .......fost Merve la Lainici?
.Ea........... fost bolnavă săptămâna trecută.

3.Write five sentences about Merve’ s trip to Lainici.

A Glimpse of Romanian Culture:

Religion


Religious Beliefs:70% of the population is Romanian Orthodox, 6% Roman Catholic (of which 3% is Uniate), 6% Protestant, and 18% has no religious connection. Religion was suppressed under communism, with churches being demolished and clergy being arrested. The government limited but did not prohibit religious practice. The Romanian Orthodox Church as a whole did not resist the government, and clergymen were frequently used as government tools.
The history of Romanian Orthodoxy can be traced back to the Great Schism of 1054 between Eastern and Western Christianity. The Romanian Orthodox Church is a branch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which has a more mystical bent than Roman Catholicism. Icons, or pictures of Christ, angels, saints, and other holy beings, play a significant role in Orthodox worship. They are thought to be a conduit between the physical and spiritual realms, with the saint incarnated in the icon's tangible components.


Practitioners of religion: The Patriarch of Constantinople is the highest figure in Eastern Orthodox Church. He is not thought to be infallible. During the communist government, many Romanian priests betrayed their parishioners by cooperating with the secret police. Some, like Laszlo Tokes, stood up to government coercion, leading to popular uprisings that eventually led to Ceaușescu's demise.


Holy Places and Rituals: The placing of icons in Romanian Orthodox churches follows a certain pattern. Life-size depictions of the archangels Gabriel and Michael are frequently found above the door, above which are many rows of additional icons, including saints, martyrs, and apostles. The images are displayed on an iconostasis, which is a wall inside the church. The icon of a saint is put on the altar for devotees to kiss on his or her feast day. It is also traditional for a family to have an icon in their home. Guests cross themselves and bow before the icon before welcoming the hosts when entering a residence.
The central rite in Orthodox liturgies is the Eucharist, or Holy Communion. Hundreds of candles are lit during Sunday morning services, and the fragrance of incense fills the church. Worshipers do not sit or kneel; instead, they stand.
In the Eastern Orthodox calendar, Easter is the most important feast. Palm Sunday, when palm leaves or pussy willows are brought home from church, marks the start of the festival. This is followed by Lent, a forty-day time of penance that concludes on Good Friday. Three days later, Easter Sunday is marked with lavishly adorned eggs, feasting, and a midnight church.
On December 6 (Saint Nicholas Day), family feasts start the holiday season. Young folks dress up and play colinde, traditional songs that express wishes for luck, the night before Christmas.


Death and the Afterlife:Vampire belief, popularized by the Dracula story in the late 1800s, has a long history in folk culture and is still practiced in more traditional rural communities. It is thought that the soul does not always leave the body after death, in which case the body does not decompose but instead haunts the deceased's town, claiming victims with a touch or even a gaze. Garlic, as well as food offerings made on Saint George's Day (23rd of April), are considered to deter vampires. The practice of concealing mirrors in a deceased person's home stems from vampirism and the worry that the dead person's ghost will see its reflection and be unable to escape.

(https://www.everyculture.com/No-Sa/Romania.html)