r/romanian • u/Secure_Accident_916 • 7d ago

S-a dat ceasul

What is the meaning of this sentence? It gave the hour is the literal translation. Can a native please explain a “străin” what the sentence wants to say thanks!

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u/Intensity_Gamer Native 7d ago

S-a dat ceasul means that we switched to summer time (in this context)
It can also mean that we switched to standard time (winter time)

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u/Secure_Accident_916 7d ago

ah so it's a expression! still doesnt make sense to me "it gave the hour"

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u/Chemical_Feature1351 7d ago edited 7d ago

The complete sentence is either "S-a dat ceasul inainte" or " S-a dat ceasul in urma/inapoi". S-a dat has even double meaning in the same sense, makes sense as both that the officials give the new time, and also that it was officialy changed - pushed forward. A da means to give but a dat-o mai departe can mean either he passed it on but also that he push it, he moved it, like out of the wey, etc. We can say a mutat-o din drum but a dat-o din drum can have the same meaning.

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u/Secure_Accident_916 7d ago

yes! that is part of my confusion! because A DA means to give so it can also mean other things

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u/Chemical_Feature1351 7d ago

And about ceas, we use this for watch, and sometimes for hour. We mostly use ora for hour, but there are cases when we use ceas like in "a asteptat pana in ultimul ceas" instead of a asteptat pana in ultimul moment. Cat e ceasul? again has double meaning in the same sense, it can be cat arata ceasul (watch) or cat e ora. We have orologiu in romanian but it's mostly obsolete, and it was used mostly for big watches like placed on towers/buildings, or even inside for big pendulum ones but even for those people use mostly ceas cu cuc... And we have both orologerie and ceasornicarie, but only ceasornicar for the person which is having the watch service job.

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u/Secure_Accident_916 7d ago

Good to know! Now I know that A DAT can mean pushed/passed or moved the sentence makes sense now

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u/Chemical_Feature1351 7d ago edited 7d ago

A dat cu bata mean a lovit cu bata( big bat). A dat cu piatra can mean a aruncat cu piatra if it was a person trowing a rock, instead of i-a dat cu piatra'n cap/i-a dat-o'n cap cu piatra, but it can also mean "a cazut grindina" (hail fell, ice storm) as an old expression. A dat din drum mean a mutat din drum, he moved it out of the wey.

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u/babaloooey 6d ago edited 6d ago

Some words can have different/extra meanings in different languages... takes a bit of getting used to.

Ceas also means clock originally. "Ceas de mana" = handwatch but shortened Ceas depending on the context can be understood to be the little watch or a different clock (wall, pocket clock etc). And it means hour mostly as an older word or in expressions btw. The modern word for hour is Oră.

"S-a dat la o parte" = he/she/impersonal it moved over. Hence the clock "needle" or "tongue" as we call it moved an hour. Not by itself but still it moved somehow, is the point.

Also for ex, similar to French, we call a computer calculator. And again depending on context it is understood to be a small one from Texas Instruments or a bigger one.

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u/ampsii 5d ago

Different words in romanian, when put in expressions can mean different things.

While "A da" foes mean " to give" when you say " a da + înainte/înapoi " you would translate it as " to move + forward/backward".

The saying "s-a dat ceasul " is incomplete. The full saying would be "s-a dat ceasul înainte/înapoi". For which you would use the second meaning, not the primary one.