Hailing a taxi in Bucharest

basic conversation patterns

România Internațional, 19.03.2017, 12:00

Each end very foreigner traveling to Romania is cautioned about how expensive the taxi fare is, or about how to be very careful when you negotiate your taxi fare with the driver BEFORE you get into his taxi. For all the suspicion and the negative reputation hovering over taxi drivers in Bucharest, things have changed for the better, and at present, chances are that you’re not going to pay a rip-off price if you chose to take a taxi in Romania’s capital city. In this lesson, we present you with the basic conversation patterns used when approaching a taxi driver in Bucharest.

We begin with a series of useful words and phrases:

Liber=available

Merge=to go

Unde mergem=where to?

Taximetrist=taxi driver

Blocul galben=the yellow block of flats

Calea Victorie=Victoria Road

A duce=take

Lucra=work

And here some of the words above used in meaningful, communicative patterns:

Sinteti liber?

Are you available?

Unde mergem, domnule ?

Where to, sir?

Unde mergem, doamna?

Where to, ma’am?

As dori sa ma duceti in Calea Victoriei nr 23.

Please take me to 23 Victoria Road.

Lucrez ca taximetrist doar de trei luni.

I’ve only been working as a taxi driver for three months.

Mi-ati putea spune dumneavoastra unde anume este locul unde doriti sa ajungeti?

Could you tell me where exactly the place you’d like to go to is?

Este blocul galben de linga cladirea Bancii Comerciale Romane.

It’s the yellow block of flats near the Romanian Commercial Bank building.

Thank you ALL for the interest you take in Romanian culture, and for being so keen on learning Romanian with us. Good Bye! La revedere!