calmează-te
To calm down in Romanian is calmează-te.
The phrase is used to instruct someone to become less excited.
Meaning: To become less excited (verb)
What does it mean word for word?
This is a reflexive construction where calmează means 'calm' and the suffix -te means 'yourself'.
How does it change in a sentence?
calmează-te is the singular imperative form. The form calmați-vă is the plural or polite imperative.
Did you know?
- In moments of high tension, Romanians might say stai așa, which literally means 'stay like this'. In this context, it functions as a command to stop reacting and calm down.
- Be careful with your tone when using the polite form calmați-vă, as if used with an angry person, it can sound extremely condescending or patronizing in Romanian culture.
- The reflexive suffix -te in calmează-te is a remnant of the Latin reflexive pronoun. This shows how Romanian preserved the Roman way of expressing an action performed on oneself.
Examples in context
- Doar calmează-te și las-o să treacă.Just calm down and let it go.This sentence is useful for practicing how to use calmează-te in a longer instruction.Tatoeba #11081275 by CataG, translation #6489092 by OsoHombre
- Calmează-te.Calm down.This sentence is useful for practicing the standalone use of calmează-te.Tatoeba #5165955 by fathe, translation #435575 by CK
- Vă rog, relaxați-vă.I kindly ask you to relax
- Relaxează-te.Relax
- Ia-o ușor.Take it easy
- Calmează-te puțin, nu este o problemă atât de mare.Calm down a little, it is not such a big problem.
Example conversation
Andreea is very upset about a mistake at work.
- AlexandruAndreea, te rog, calmează-te.Andreea, please, calm down.
- AndreeaNu pot, Alexandru, sunt foarte nervoasă!I can't, Alexandru, I am very nervous!
- AlexandruVom rezolva totul împreună.We will resolve everything together.
- AndreeaMulțumesc, ai dreptate.Thank you, you are right.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
