# Reported speech



## (Infant)ry

Salutations,
I have been learning Romanian for quite some time now, and I have stumbled upon the use of reported speech. Could you kindly explain the use and the forming of reported speech in brief notes, my internet course does not feature it. P.S. Is the reported speech in Romanian similar to English or Italian reported speech, I mean are there any movements to one tense back (past simple to past perfect, etc.,,). P.S2. Please don`t use any unnecessary and filthy words of Slavic origin in your examples, which are either archaisms, or have Latin synonyms, they do not belong to such illustrious Romance language as Romanian.


----------



## robbie_SWE

(Infant)ry said:


> Salutations,
> I have been learning Romanian for quite some time now, and I have stumbled upon the use of reported speech. Could you kindly explain the use and the forming of reported speech in brief notes, my internet course does not feature it. P.S. Is the reported speech in Romanian similar to English or Italian reported speech, I mean are there any movements to one tense back (past simple to past perfect, etc.,,). P.S2. Please don`t use any unnecessary and filthy words of Slavic origin in your examples, which are either archaisms, or have Latin synonyms, they do not belong to such illustrious Romance language as Romanian.


 
Hi (Infant)ry! 

Let me start off by welcoming you to the forums! I'm not sure that I understand what you mean with reported speech. From what I understand (checked it out in my English grammar books), reported speech is the act of rewriting statements. E.g. 

*Direct speech*  "_I speak English_"
*Reported speech* (no backshift)  "_He says that he speaks English_"
*Reported speech* (backshift)  "_He said that he spoke English_"

Is it what you mean? If it is, then I will return with Romanian examples later.

PS: what do you mean with PS.2? I think I know, but would you mind elaborating. PM me!

 robbie


----------



## (Infant)ry

Yes, that is what I meant, could explain it to me, please. As for my PS.2, by that I meant that those word sound grose in Romanian and are an absolute shame for such a wonderful language to have them. I understand perfectly most of those words because they are the same as in my mother tongue, Croatian. It is simply disturbing when I hear Romanians using words such as: scump, ieftin, dragut, iubi, etc.,,, utterly revolting, if you agree. Thanks in advance.


----------



## robbie_SWE

(Infant)ry said:


> Yes, that is what I meant, could explain it to me, please. As for my PS.2, by that I meant that those word sound grose in Romanian and are an absolute shame for such a wonderful language to have them. I understand perfectly most of those words because they are the same as in my mother tongue, Croatian. It is simply disturbing when I hear Romanians using words such as: scump, ieftin, dragut, iubi, etc.,,, utterly revolting, if you agree. Thanks in advance.


 
If I were to use the same examples that I wrote in my first post then it would be: 

*Direct speech*
 "_I speak Romanian_" = _*Eu vorbesc*_ _*româneşte*_

*Reported speech* (no backshift) 
 "_He says that he speaks Romanian_" = _*El spune că vorbeşte româneşte*_

*Reported speech* (backshift)
  "_He said that he spoke Romanian_" = _*El spunea că vorbise româneşte*_

Hope this helped! 

 robbie

PS: the Romanian _ieftin_ comes from the Greek *efthinós*.


----------



## OldAvatar

> It is simply disturbing when I hear Romanians using words such as: scump, ieftin, dragut, iubi, etc.,,, utterly revolting, if you agree.



No, I don't agree!
And I would say that your remark is an insulting one. And by the way, you don't suppose to put a comma in front of etc. since _et_ means *and*.


----------



## basquiat

Dear (Infant)ry,

I totally agree with OldAvatar.There is nothing "utterly revolting " in using the words you mentioned! On the contrary, I would say. 
I hope this would not disturb you too much
Good luck!


----------



## Trisia

robbie_SWE said:


> *Direct speech*
> "_I speak Romanian_" = _*Eu vorbesc*_ _*româneşte*_
> 
> *Reported speech* (no backshift)
> "_He says that he speaks Romanian_" = _*El spune că vorbeşte româneşte*_
> 
> *Reported speech* (backshift)
> "_He said that he spoke Romanian_" = _*El spunea că vorbise româneşte*_



Robbie  If you want to say _*El spunea că vorbise româneşte *_it would be "he said he *had spoken*/had been speaking Romanian." 

Actually in Romanian we don't really use "backshift" that much. It depends on context.

In English, if memory serves, this is a likely scenario (please correct if I get it wrong):

Andrew: I'm eating a piece of chocolate cake.
Grandma: What? Speak up, boy, I can't hear you.
Ann: He said _he was eating_ a piece of cake, granny. (although in everyday speech you'll probably get "he said _he's eating_")

In Romanian:
Andrei: *Mănînc* o prăjitură.
Bunica: Poftim?
Ana: A spus că *mănâncă* o prăjitură! (no backshift).

Now, if granny asks what Andrew said, an hour after his departure, Ann will probably say:
_ He said he was eating a cake / A spus că mânca o prăjitură._
But she will use the past only because it's been a while, and presumably he's no longer nibbling on that piece of cake.

I'm a bit wary of this myself, but that's how I see it (right now, at half past midnight )

Oh, and Infantry, welcome to the forum. I would love it if you could be as kind as to offer synonyms for all the words you mentioned, Romanian words of Latin origin, of course.


----------



## robbie_SWE

Trisia said:


> Robbie  If you want to say _*El spunea că vorbise româneşte *_it would be "he said he *had spoken*/had been speaking Romanian."
> 
> Actually in Romanian we don't really use "backshift" that much. It depends on context.
> 
> In English, if memory serves, this is a likely scenario (please correct if I get it wrong):
> 
> Andrew: I'm eating a piece of chocolate cake.
> Grandma: What? Speak up, boy, I can't hear you.
> Ann: He said _he was eating_ a piece of cake, granny. (although in everyday speech you'll probably get "he said _he's eating_")
> 
> In Romanian:
> Andrei: *Mănânc* o prăjitură. (*way past your bedtime Trisia *)
> Bunica: Poftim?
> Ana: A spus că *mănâncă* o prăjitură! (no backshift).
> 
> Now, if granny asks what Andrew said, an hour after his departure, Ann will probably say:
> _He said he was eating a cake / A spus că mânca o prăjitură._
> But she will use the past only because it's been a while, and presumably he's no longer nibbling on that piece of cake.
> 
> I'm a bit wary of this myself, but that's how I see it (right now, at half past midnight )
> 
> Oh, and Infantry, welcome to the forum. I would love it if you could be as kind as to offer synonyms for all the words you mentioned, Romanian words of Latin origin, of course.


 
Haha...I knew that sooner or later you would come and shatter my beautiful examples Trisia . 

I see what you mean; I had some trouble myself creating a sentence with backshift in Romanian. 

As for (Infant)ry's comments about the Slavic words in Romanian (and possible Latin synonyms), it would probably be best to open a new and separate thread where we can discuss it freely without endangering this thread's original scope. 

Best Regards, 

 robbie


----------



## (Infant)ry

No problem, sounds like a great idea to me, just wait for my queue on it.


----------

