I’ve been in Moldova for around 21 months… and I still have so much to learn about speaking and reading Romanian. I can get by though, as some days are better than others. These 3 phrases are my favorites, and often bring lots of laughter when I use them, especially with my host family.
“Castravete mort.”
Disclaimer: this is one that I accidentally created… It should have been “Castravete murat” which translates to “picked cucumber”… but I said “dead cucumber”. We now refer to pickles in my host family home as “dead cucumbers/castravete mort”.
“Eu sunt plin.”
Again, this is one that I had “created”, but this time it’s because we use this phrase in English. We really do have some interesting phrases that are confusing to non-native English speakers. But anyway, this phrase translates to “I am full”. I use this phrase when my host mom offers me more food, “no thank you, I am full…” in which case she’ll bursts into laughter. Apparently it doesn’t quite translate well and doesn’t make any sense. I have now taught them how to say it in English and I still use it in Romanian… and it continues to bring lots of laughs each time.
“Trage un poi de somn.”
This one translates to “having a chicken sleep” or “having a baby chicken nap”. I love using it with my host family, which as you can see from this theme, it brings lots of laughter. First time I used this phrase was early on in my service and they were shocked that I knew it — many thanks to pre-service language training! 😉
Awww, these are cute! I “created” a similar one for I’m full – when I’m done eating but there’s still food left (aka almost every time) I say, o sa explodez!! So now if I even look like I might be done, my host mom will say, you afraid you’re going to explode? Hehe.
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Haha, awe that’s adorable!!
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The Romanian word “pui” does not refer simply to chickens. It is used for the young of many animals, meaning “little one” , for example: pui de leu- lion cub or little lion; “pui de elefant”- little elephant, etc. It follows that in the expression “un pui de somn” it simply means “a little nap” and not a full size one- there is no reference to chickens.
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Thank you for your clarification, xyz. I am just going from what I have been told and what has been explained to me.
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Love this post, of course! I’ve found they have quite an inventive phrase for taking a nap here in Nicaragua, too. It’s “echar un pelón” which more or less literally translates into “throw a bald man”. It’s so great 🙂
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Ha! That’s a great one! 🙂
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