# Like/Dislike



## pizzakid

Hello!
I have been trying to teach myself Romanian for a few weeks. I would appreciate a translation to Romanian for any of the following phrases to get a better idea of how the language works:

I like to play the flute.
He hates him.
I hate beef.
I don't like beef.
I don't hate him.

And on another note:
He can't play the flute at all.
I shouldn't have said I hated beef.

If there are any variations on how this can be said, I would like to know. Thanks for reading.


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## Trisia

Welcome to the forum 
It's nice that you're learning Romanian, thank you  It's not a very easy language, I know...
I'll give it a shot and maybe other members can come with other (better) versions:

I like to play the flute - _Îmi place să cânt la flaut._
He hates him - _Îl urăşte_ (take care, in this we don't know if the one doing the hating is male of female. You can say "el îl urăşte," which would mean exactly "he hates him," but it's not as natural to use the pronoun)
I hate beef - _Detest carnea de vacă._
I don't like beef - _Nu-mi place carnea de vacă._
I don't hate him - _Nu îl urăsc._

He can't play the flute at all - _Nu poate deloc să cânte la flaut._
I shouldn't have said I hated beef - _Nu trebuia să spun că nu-mi place carnea de vacă._


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## OldAvatar

*Flute *could also be _fluier_. It's hard to determine unless you describe the instrument. I'll go for _fluier_, since it is more popular... **


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## SerinusCanaria3075

Trisia said:


> I like to play the flute - _Îmi place să cânt la flaut._


I just want to take the opportunity to clear up 2 doubts about the _să cânt _construction. In this case we're not talking in the subjunctive mode at all, correct? So I'm guessing the infinitive (_a cânta_) would never be used in such construction either.

1. Is _cânt_ in the _subjonctiv_ mode and if so, it agrees with the 1st person pronoun _*îmi*_, correct?

2. If _*o*_ was to be inserted it would become: 
_o să cânt = I'll play/sing_, correct?

(please  or  )


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## OldAvatar

SerinusCanaria3075 said:


> I just want to take the opportunity to clear up 2 doubts about the _să cânt _construction. In this case we're not talking in the subjunctive mode at all, correct? So I'm guessing the infinitive (_a cânta_) would never be used in such construction either.
> 
> 1. Is _cânt_ in the _subjonctiv_ mode and if so, it agrees with the 1st person pronoun _*îmi*_, correct?
> 
> 2. If _*o*_ was to be inserted it would become:
> _o să cânt = I'll play/sing_, correct?
> 
> (please  or  )



You may use the infinitive without any problems.

_Îmi place a cânta! _It is perfect, correct, gramatically speaking, it is just that it is not very often used in spoken language, except some isolated regions...

_Să cânt_ is actually _„conjunctiv” _in Romanian.

_O să cânt_ is future tense...


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## SerinusCanaria3075

Great, going in the right direction. So _Trisia_'s construction would be the more "popular one" but the infinitive is also grammatically correct like you said.
So since _cânt_ is in the conjunctive/subjunctive mode, if I was to say "_We like to play the flute_":
*Ne* place să cântăm la fluier/flaut. (correct?)



OldAvatar said:


> _Să cânt_ is actually _"conjunctiv” _in Romanian.


Not to get off topic or anything but _subjonctiv/conjunctiv_ can be used depending on the speaker, so should I only use "_conjunctiv_" in Romanian or are both acceptable by the _Academie Română_?


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## OldAvatar

SerinusCanaria3075 said:


> Great, going in the right direction. So _Trisia_'s construction would be the more "popular one" but the infinitive is also grammatically correct like you said.
> So since _cânt_ is in the conjunctive/subjunctive mode, if I was to say "_We like to play the flute_":
> *Ne* place să cântăm la fluier/flaut. (correct?)
> 
> 
> Not to get off topic or anything but _subjonctiv/conjunctiv_ can be used depending on the speaker, so should I only use "_conjunctiv_" in Romanian or are both acceptable by the _Academie Română_?



As far as I know now, after a couple of beers, _subjonctiv _and _conjunctiv _are practically synonims... It is just that the term _subjonctiv _is very rarely known. It has been borrowed from French but people don't use the term anymore. I hope I got it all right .  

*Ne* place să cântăm la fluier/flaut is perfect.


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## SerinusCanaria3075

OldAvatar said:


> _*Ne* place să cântăm* la* fluier/flaut _is perfect.


Now for the big one. Why is _*la*_ used? I think I understand the logic but again, I'm guessing that ending with _flaut*ul*_ would totally change the meaning right? So...
_Ne place să cântăm* la* flaut = We like to play *the* flute._
_Ne place să cântăm flaut*ul* = We like to sing *to the* flute. _(I know it's odd but is it correct?)

(I chose _flaut_ only to remind me of Spanish _flauta_)



OldAvatar said:


> As far as I know now, after a couple of beers, _subjonctiv _and _conjunctiv _are practically synonims... It is just that the term _subjonctiv _is very rarely known. It has been borrowed from French but people don't use the term anymore. I hope I got it all right .


Again, not trying to get off topic but I just wanted to mention that in Spanish it's the complete opposite. _Subjuntivo_ is used 99.9% of the time. On the other hand Italian has _Congiuntivo _as the only choice available (from Latin _Con*j*unctivus_ - although I'm curious about the *J*)


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## robbie_SWE

Trisia said:


> ...
> 
> He can't play the flute at all - _Nu poate deloc să c*â*nte la flaut._
> I shouldn't have said I hated beef - _Nu trebuia să spun că nu-mi place carnea de vacă._


 
Just a minor correction Trisia (since you started with â). 

 robbie


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## OldAvatar

No. _Flaut _is accusative here. You can not put the definite article on it - _flautul_... What am I singing on? I'm singing on a flaut... That would be a mot-a-mot description...
So, _Ne place să cântăm flautul_ is not correct at all! You can not sing the instrument, you use the instrument for singing, this would be the logic.


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## pizzakid

Thanks, guys!


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