What does “pe vremea mea” mean in Romanian?
Amintiri din copilărie și vremuri sărace
B1 Romanian listening practice · Standard Romanian · Picked for people who know some
Pe vremea mea (“in my time,” or “back in my day”) is a common Romanian opener for nostalgic storytelling. Older Romanians use it to mark the difference between life before and after the 1989 fall of Ceaușescu’s regime: scarcity, queuing for sugar, ardei umpluți (stuffed peppers) made from whatever was in season, and birthdays where the gift was the anticipation rather than an object.
This clip carries that voice: a speaker remembers her mother’s stuffed peppers and frames the memory with pe vremea mea. The phrase often carries a slightly defensive note: the speaker is asserting that her time mattered, that the meal was real, even when money was tight.
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Harder words in this video
These words are harder than B1. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · OpenSubtitles 2018 (HermitDave) (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Romanian family kitchens during Sunday meals
- ▸In Romanian films about communism and post-89 life (4 luni, 3 săptămâni și 2 zile, Aferim!, Comoara)
- ▸In Romanian grandparents' stories about childhood
- ▸In Romanian rural village reportage and TVR documentaries
- ▸In Romanian stand-up about generational gaps (Cosmin “Micutzu” Nedelcu, Vio Andrei)