# na vs. mă rog



## jboone

A general question on interjections or filler words that are commonly dropped into conversation. 

Here in Hunedoara I very often hear na (useful examples given by frunza in post #8 here), either at the beginning of a sentence, or just by itself (kind of like, 'hmm' or 'yeah' in English). So, two questions:

What other common interjections or fillers are used, in addition to na?

I hear "mă rog" less frequently, as its meaning seems a bit more specific. How is mă rog different from na?

Many thanks for any opinions!


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## Reef Archer

_*Na*_ is more like *well...* in my opinion.
A variant is *no*, a little bit up north of Hunedoara. Up until last year, it was so hip to use that _no_ nonsense, there was no sentence spoken without it.

_*Mă rog*_ is something like _*whatever, dude!*_, *be it your way*, while *na* is more... demonstrative, final, definite. When you say *na*, you are certain of something; *na* kind of makes the point itself.


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## farscape

There are in fact three different expressions:
- na -> here, take it (almost rude or very familiar) ex. "Na, așa-ți trebuie!" -> Take this/deal with it, it's what you deserve!
- no -> specific to the Transylvania region, almost a filler ( no bun, atunci plecăm- bine, atunci plecăm); also read the post #9 from the same thread about the spelling mistake na vs no)
- mă rog -> OK, yeah sure and also a filler (mă rog, dacă trebuie, atunci mă duc -> OK if it's a must then I'll go)


Later,


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## Zareza

Mă rog [mə.roɡ]   - with irony/ indignation/ superiority/ disgust/ curiosity

Și, mă rog, unde te duci?  - And now, where are you going?
Și, mă rog, tu ce vrei acum?  - And now, what do you want?


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## irinet

Hi,

There are two more colloquial usages about '*na':*
1.'Ei, na!' in Moldavian region is often used as 'is that so/really?'
2. 'Na' used for the polite form of 'poftim' when giving something to someone = 'here you are'.

I would add that in point of the types of sentences,  '*mă rog' *can be used in interrogatives while *'na'* cannot. Also, these fillers are different in point of meaning as the contributors here have just shown.


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## Zareza

I have just seen the movie _*Persuasion*_ - a 2007 British television film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel _Persuasion_.
Mă rog = _I pray_ it is mentioned at 25:03 and 1:02:17. It seems to have the same meaning (RO/ENGL).
_Pray, do you have anyone in mind? _(curiosity)_
And who, pray, is Mrs. Smith?_ (indignation)


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## farscape

The Romanian "mă rog" - as an interjection - is usually ironic whereas the English "pray" - pray, do tell - means please (and a bit archaic) in the cited context.

It's true that I've seen it (pray) used in an ironic way too, in contemporary constructions.

Later,
f.


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## irinet

In no way, 'pray' can be compared to 'mă rog'.
While the former is high - class, even aristocratic in tone, or as we say, 'prețios', pedant, 'mă rog' is, as Farscape has pointed, not only ironic but also carries a negative meaning to and from the participants of the dialogue upon the content, viz 'the reply carrying the doubt', already mentioned here, too.

Note, Zareza, that I do not refer to the reflexive-intransitive verb 'a se ruga' ( =pray) like in: '_Do pray I am right!' = Să te rogi să am dreptate!'_, which is not the case here.


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## Zareza

Oh, yes.
_Pray_ (adv.) 
- (old use or ironic) used to mean ‘please’ when you are asking a question or telling somebody to do something
- (old use or formal)  a forceful way of saying "please"


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