# "Once upon a time" / Romanian Fairy Tales



## Xophmeister

Dear all,

I have been told that Romanian fairy tales often start with an equivalent to the English "Once upon a time...". However, the literal paraphrasing of the Romanian version is something like, "Once something happened. It was important. Obviously this is the case, because we have a written a story about it." -- Something like that!

Could anyone please let me know what the actual Romanian phrase is?

Many thanks


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## farscape

You are right, the introduction to many Romanian fairy tales (basme) begins with:

"A fost odată ca niciodată, că de n-ar fi, nu s-ar mai povesti" 

This intro is in fact a little poem of four lines, with the underlined words rhyming, first two and then the last two.

I'll make an attempt to explain this English, although you've got the gist of it already and a direct translation into English doesn't always make sense. So here we go:

"A fost odată ca niciodată, că de n-ar fi, nu s-ar mai povesti, un castel..."

"There was once  upon a time, like never before, 'cause if it wasn't we wouldn't tell you this story, a castle..."

As I said, it may not make perfect sense in English, but hey, it's a fairy tale 

Best,


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## Xophmeister

Mulţumesc!


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## farscape

Cu plăcere  I changed the second sentence and I think it sounds better now.

Later,


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## Bostico

sounds indeed good


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## misadro

I am a not particularly a fan of _ ’cause_ _… _I would rather use _for _instead ..
Moreover … _că de n-ar fi _… to me, in fact, reads … _că de n-ar fi fost …_
My try : _Once upon a time, t__here was a … [castle, etc.], __for if t__h__ere __h__ad not been __one such, word would not still go round ..._


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## farscape

Well said, misadro, "for" definitely works way better here 

Later,

.


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