Romanian Class Intermediate 003

Romanian Dialogue
Ce îţi place să faci în timpul liber?

Ştefan: Salut, Aurel! Ce mai faci? Cu ce te ocupi?
Aurel: Salut, Ştefan! Am fost destul de ocupat cu lucrul!
Ştefan: Şi ce îţi place să faci în timpul liber?
Aurel: Problema e că nu am prea mult timp liber.
Ştefan: Ai dacă îţi faci!
Aurel: Aşa este. Îmi place să fac sport. Puţină mişcare nu strică.
Ştefan: Ce sport îţi place?
Aurel: Îmi place să alerg prin parc. De asemenea, îmi place să fac exerciţii în
sala de sport.
Ştefan: Oricum se vede pe tine că te menţii în formă.
Aurel: Ţie ce îţi place să faci în timpul liber?
Ştefan: Îmi place să îmi petrec timpul liber cu familia. Bine, hai că trebuie să
plec acum. Mai vorbim. Salut.
Aurel: Transmitele salutări alor tăi.

English Translation
What do you like doing in your free time?
Ştefan: Greetings, Aurel! How are you? What have you been up to?
Aurel: Greetings, Ştefan! I have been pretty busy working!
Ştefan: And what do you like doing in your free time?
Aurel: Problem is that I don’t really have much free time.
Ştefan: You do if you take the time!
Aurel: That’s right. I like doing sports. A little exercise doesn’t hurt.
Ştefan: What sport do you like?
Aurel: I like jogging in the park. I also like working out in the gym.
Ştefan: One can tell you are in good shape.
Aurel: How do you like spending your free time?
Ştefan: I like spending my free time with my family. Well, I have to go now. We’ll talk again some other time. Bye.
Aurel: Give my best regards to your folks.

Cultural and Grammar Notes

The meaning of the verb a plăcea is „to like”, as in „like doing something”. One must notice, that in Romanian, the verb a plăcea is preceded by the personal pronoun in the dative case. Furthermore, the verb a plăcea is followed by a verb in the conjunctive mood. The conjungation of the verb in the conjunctive mood follows the pattern we have learned so far. The only exception from the rule is the form of the third person singular. This form has to be learned separately for each verb: îmi place, îţi place, îi place (both feminine and masculine form), ne place, vă place, le place
Here are a few more examples with the verb a plăcea. Pay attention to the conjugation of the verbs in the conjunctive mood. These verbs are in boldfaced for the sake of emphasis.

Îmi place să călătoresc. Nu îmi place să fac politică.
I like travelling. I don’t like politics.
Îţi place să citeşti? Nu îţi place să te întîlneşti cu vecinul de la etajul doi.
Do you like reading? You don’t like meeting the neighbour on the second floor.
Îi place să cînte. Nu îi place să citească.
He likes singing. He doesn’t like reading.
Ne place să mergem la munte. Nu ne place să mergem la mare.
We like going to the mountains. We don’t like going to the seaside.
Vă place să faceţi muncă voluntară? Nu vă place să participaţi la şedinţe de lucru.
Do you like doing volunteer work? You don’t like participating in work meetings.
Le place să bea bere. Lor nu le place să bea apă minerală.
They like drinking beer. They don’t like drinking mineral water.

For the sake of revision, let us take a closer look at the conjugation of the verbs in the above sentences. First, the conjugation in the indicative mood, than, I will point out the third person singular exception by placing it between brackets.
There are four basic conjugation verb groups.
1. The first group is that of verbs ending in –a in the infinitive form (dictionary form). One such verb is a cînta (sing)
eu cînt, tu cînţi, el/ea cîntă (să cînte), noi cîntăm., voi cîntaţi, ei/ele cîntă
2. The second conjugation group is that of verbs with an –ea ending in the infinitive mood
a bea
eu beau, tu bei, el/ea bea, noi bem, voi beţi, ei/ ele beau
The verb is a bea is the only exception where the exception to the rule does not apply. Therefore, even the third person singular form of the verb in the subjunctive mood will be the same as the third person singular form of the verb in the indicative mood.
el bea (he drinks) – îi place să bea (he likes drinking)