Unit 8
Hai să mergem la piață (Let’s go to the market!)
Unit 8: Hai să mergem la piață (Let’s go to the market!)
In this unit you will learn about :
• Fruit and Vegetables
• Adjectives
Dialog (Dialogue)
Merve and her Erasmus colleague, Meryem go to the market for fresh food. They stop by a woman selling fruit.
Merve: Merele astea sunt foarte frumoase.Cât costă ?
These apple are very nice. How much do they cost?
Femeia: 4 lei kilogramul, sunt ieftine și bune.
4 lei a kilo, they are cheap and good.
Meryem : Şi care e preţul perelor?
And what is the price of the pears?
Femeia : 5 lei. Câte kilograme doriţi?
5 lei. How many kilos do you want?
Meryem : Depinde ... Pot să gust perele?
It depends ... Can I taste the pears?
Femeia: Da, domnișoară, sunt zemoase şi dulci, din grădina mea.
Yes, miss, they are juicy and sweet , from my garden.
Meryem: Sunt într-adevăr bune, dar luăm doar un kilogram.
They certainly are good! But we ll just have a kilo.
They move on to the next stall, which sells vegetables .
Merve Vreau două kilograme de cartofi noi, dar de ce sunt aşa de scumpi?
I want two kilos of new potatoes, but why are they so expensive?
Țăranul : Nu e sezonul lor acum, sunt de seră.
(Peasant) :They are not in season now. They are from a greenhouse.
Merve: Atunci mai bine luăm numai nişte morcovi şi nişte ceapă.
Then we’ ll just have some carrots and onions.
Cum daţi morcovii ?
How much do you want for the carrots?
Țăranul :5 lei kilogramul.
5lei a kilo.
Merve: Și ceapa?
And the onions?
Țăranul: 3 lei.
Merve :Luăm patru morcovi şi un kilogram de ceapă.
We’ll have four carrots and a kilo of onions.
Plătim totul împreună.
We'll pay for it all together.
Țăranul: Vreţi o pungă?
Do you want a carrier bag?
Merve :Nu, avem pungă, mulţumim.
No, we 've got a bag, thank you!
As we could notice in the dialogue, the apples are nice(merele sunt frumoase) and they are cheap and good(sunt ieftine și bune).The pears are juicy and sweet.(perele sunt zemoase și dulci). Frumoase, ieftine, bune, zemoase and dulci are all adjectives.
Adjectives
An adjective is a word that describes a noun ( its quality, size, color, and other characteristics). The words huge and red are adjectives in the sentence "a big, red vehicle."
In Romanian adjectives agree with the nouns in gender, number and case. Unlike in English, the
typical place for an adjective in a sentence is after the noun, not before it.
Whenever an adjective precedes a noun, the intention is purely emphatic.
Some adjectives have four endings, masculine singular and plural and feminine singular and plural, in agreement with the noun they describe, but others can have only 3 endings, or only 2 and there are adjectives that do no change at all.
Unlike English, Romanian needs the adjective to change its form to match the noun. As previously mentioned, Romanian nouns are classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter, and the plural is indicated by a variety of endings. Romanian adjectives behave similarly. Here are a few pointers to help you utilize the correct form.
Practice
Read the text and underline all the words described by adjectives
Piața Centrală este mare și aglomerată.Merve și Meryem cumpără legume și fructe de la piață pentru că acolo roșiile sunt gustoase, cartofii sunt mari și ouăle sunt proaspete.Cireșele sunt dulci și castraveții sunt verzi.Lor le place laptele proaspăt și pâinea proaspătă dar și ardeii, roșiile și castraveții proaspeți pentru salată.de fapt,toate legumele și fructele sunt proaspete și vânzătorii sunt amabili
(The Central Market is big and crowded. Merve and Maryem buy vegetables and fruits from the market because there the tomatoes are tasty , the potatoes are big and the eggs are fresh. The cherries are sweet and the cucumbers are green. They like fresh milk and fresh bread but also fresh peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers for salad. In fact, all vegetables and fruits are fresh and the sellers are kind.)
If we analyze the text we will notice certain differences between these words.
Some adjectives have four endings,masculine singular and plural and feminine singular and plural agreeing with the noun they describe
Ex
| masculin singular | feminin singular | masculin plural | feminin plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amabil | amabilă | amabili | amabile | kind |
| Proaspăt | proaspătă | proaspeți | proaspete | fresh |
| Gustos | gustoasă | gustoși | gustoase | tasty |
| Scump | scumpă | scumpi | scumpe | expensive |
| Aglomerat | aglomerată | aglomerați | aglomerate | crowded |
| Frumos | frumoasă | frumoși | frumoase | beautiful |
There are other adjectives which have three endings, with only one plural form
| masculin singular | feminin singular | masculin și feminin plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nou | nouă | noi | new |
| Mic | mică | mici | small |
Adjectives ending in e have only two forms
| Masculin și feminin singular | masculin și feminin plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Mare | mari | big |
| Dulce | dulci | sweet |
| Verde | verzi | green |
There is also a group of ajectives (mostly borrowings from French) which have only one form maro(brown), roz(pink),, gri(grey), bej(beige)
Practice:
1.Change the form of the adjectives to match it with the preceding noun
a.parc...........................(mari)
b.casă............................ (nou)
c.castraveți......................(verde)
d. mere............................(dulce)
e.apartament....................(scumpă)
f.piață..............................(mici)
g.fruct..............................(proaspete)
h.vânzătoare ....................(amabili)
i.cartof.(potato)................(scumpe)
j.roșii................................(gustoasă)
k.stradă.(street).................(aglomerat)
2.Give all the endings of these adjectives
3. Write ten sentences using ajectives in any form(masculine, feminine, singular, plural)
A Glimpse of Romanian Culture:
Gender Roles and Statuses
Gender Division of Labor
The Relative Status of Women and Men
Following WWII, communists were successful in elevating women's legal standing, granting them equal rights in marriage and the employment. Ceaușescu's regime was a step backward for women in many aspects. His population-control attempts forced women to choose between bearing children they didn't want and couldn't afford or pursuing illegal and hazardous abortions. Women of childbearing age were also subjected to mandatory gynecological examinations to verify that they had not had abortions.Family, Marriage, and Kinship
Marriage. Marriages were traditionally arranged by the couple's parents through a matchmaker. A dowry, generally consisting of linen and embroidery, was anticipated from the bride's family. Traditional rural weddings were big celebrations attended by the entire community. The ceremony featured not only the bride and groom and their parents, but also grandparents, godparents, the matchmaker, attendants, presenters, cooks, and a large number of other individuals.Young people nowadays are expected to choose their own partners, although many aspects of the old ceremony are still observed. Traditionally ,the bride has her hair braided in an ornate way and wears a flower, jewel, and ribbon crown. A white leather vest and a cap with feathers, flowers, and leaves are worn by the groom. The groom's beard is shaved by the best man to represent his departure from his prior lifestyle. Both the bride and groom ask their parents to forgive them for leaving the family during the ceremony.
The Communists made civil ceremonies a legal obligation and opposed church weddings in order to destroy Christianity.
They also gave women greater rights in marriage, including equal control of children and property. When divorce laws were liberalized, the rates of divorce skyrocketed. To stem that trend, stricter laws were imposed in the 1960s, and divorce rates fell somewhat but remain high.
Household Unit:
Several generations living together is not uncommon. Many people are forced to live in close quarters due to housing shortages. In the 1980s, the national average for living space per person was ten square meters; this has improved marginally, but still falls short of the government's aim of fourteen square meters per person by 2000.Kinship Groups:
Helping extended family members is highly valued in the national culture. Ceaușescu's cabinet, which was mostly staffed by his family, was an example of this. Because extra laborers were always needed in the fields, traditional households were huge patriarchal groupings. However, urbanization has resulted in smaller families and a reduction in the value of family relationships.(https://www.everyculture.com/No-Sa/Romania.html)