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topumWe took a road trip through Transylvania last summer and learned a lot of interesting stuff. Including that in Romanian they have different types of singular 'you': 'dumneavoastra', 'dumneata', 'mata', 'matale' and 'tu'. And they all have slightly different flavours.
'Dumneavoastra' is the most respectful or formal. 'Tu' is the most informal. The others are somewhere in between. I understand that 'mata' and 'matale' are very close to 'dumneata' but still slightly less formal. It gives the Romanians huge flexibility in managing the tone of a conversation and the distance between its participants just by using the right 'you' and sometimes jumping between them.
In cities everyone seemed to use 'dumneavoastra' in formal situations, with older people and with adults they just met. Not necessarily so in the villages. But there people very often used it with their parents.
They used 'dumneata' with people of their own age they just met in informal situations. But sometimes also between friends. I understand that it also depends on who else in addition to the two friends participates in the conversation.
Sometimes it is straight to 'tu' if it feels right. People much older than you are very likely to jump straight to it with you. But then so are the kids very often.
The choice does not seem to be straightforward and seems to depend on many things but it is completely intuitive to Romanians.
'Dumneavoastra' is the most respectful or formal. 'Tu' is the most informal. The others are somewhere in between. I understand that 'mata' and 'matale' are very close to 'dumneata' but still slightly less formal. It gives the Romanians huge flexibility in managing the tone of a conversation and the distance between its participants just by using the right 'you' and sometimes jumping between them.
In cities everyone seemed to use 'dumneavoastra' in formal situations, with older people and with adults they just met. Not necessarily so in the villages. But there people very often used it with their parents.
They used 'dumneata' with people of their own age they just met in informal situations. But sometimes also between friends. I understand that it also depends on who else in addition to the two friends participates in the conversation.
Sometimes it is straight to 'tu' if it feels right. People much older than you are very likely to jump straight to it with you. But then so are the kids very often.
The choice does not seem to be straightforward and seems to depend on many things but it is completely intuitive to Romanians.
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Date: 2016-02-18 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-18 09:20 pm (UTC)