I know you asked for native or advanced speakers of Romanian, but there currently aren't any around that I know of, so:
languagepotato wrote:1. is iute hot as in spicy or hot as in warm?
Spicy
2. tips for remembering the plural of nouns, or is rote memorization the best way to go here?
Yeah, you're pretty much stuck with rote memorization FWICT. I think it's usually -
i for masculine nouns, -
le for feminine nouns, and -
uri for neuter nouns, though.
Dunno whether I qualify as an "advanced" speaker of Croatian, but I think I can at least attempt an answer to these questions (plus if I'm wrong, then hopefully, someone will point it out, and I'll learn something, too!
):
1. what's the difference between narandžast and narančast, wiktionary mentions them both for the color orange?
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian: A Textbook claims that
narandžast is Serbian and Bosnian and
narančast is Croatian.
same thing for bijel vs beo
A similar difference that's a bit harder to explain:
bijel is the form in Standard Croatian, and
beo is the form used in Standard Serbian. (
Bijel is common in Serbia, too. I don't think anyone uses
beo in Croatia, but I may be wrong).
siv vs sinji, and crven vs rumen?
2. is the difference between plav and modar: blue vs purple-y blue?
I think these are all different kinds of gray, red, and blue. I get the impression that
sinji is basically 'beige' rather than 'gray',
rumen is more like 'pink' rather than '(dark) red', and
modar is a darker shade of blue than
plav.
3. when do you use which form of the adjectives, i'm familiar with cases and number in adjectives, i'm not that familiar with definite/indefinite distinction in adjectives? Is it as the name implies, the difference between a/the
Heh...This is probably one of the trickiest parts of BCS grammar to me.
So, no. Unfortunately, it's more complicated than that.
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian: A Grammar doesn't even use those terms because it considers them so misleading. Instead, it calls them just "short" vs. "long." This is what it says on p. 20-21 (I've added translations in brackets for the phrases that aren't translated in the book itself):
17a. "Indefinite" vs. "definite"
In terms of meaning, the distinction short vs. long in adjectives is usually referred to as indefinite vs. definite. This is because in a number of instances the difference between short and long forms corresponds roughly to that between the English indefinite and definite articles, respectively. Thus, the adjective in the BCS phrase crn kaput would correspond to English A black coat while that in BCS crni kaput would correspond to English THE black coat. In other words, speakers use indefinite adjectives to provide "new" information (to introduce an idea for the first time), while they use definite adjectives to identify something that is already known (or "defined"), after which they go on to say something else new about it. For example:
Indefinite:
Rade, je li to nov kaput? Rade, is that a new coat?
Da. On je nov. Yes. It's new.
Definite:
Taj novi kaput je moj. That new coat is mine.
Gd[j]e je moj novi kaput? Where is my new coat?
17b. "Short vs. long" and "indefinite vs. definite"
Unfortunately, the correspondence between English articles and BCS adjective endings works in only a few instances. To complicate matters further, the BCS distinction between short and long adjectives is gradually being lost. For adjectives with both short and long forms, all one can say with certainty is that the short forms (those with presumed indefinite meaning) are used frequently in predicative position (as in Pas je crn [The dog is black]), and that the long forms (those with presumed definite meaning, as in Taj crni pas je moj [That black dog is mine]) are used in most other instances. The dictionary form is the masculine singular short form.
In general terms, it is advisable for learners to keep the concepts short vs. long separate from indefinite vs. definite - not only because the English / BCS correspondence is such an imperfect match, but also because there are a number of adjectives which have only short forms or only long forms. Most grammarians confuse the issue by calling these adjectives "only indefinite" or "only definite". This is both incorrect and misleading. For instance, adjectives such as engleski "English", srpski "Serbian", hrvatski "Croatian", američki "American", and the like, have only long forms, yet they can be used in both definite and indefinite contexts. There are also adjectives which have only short forms, such as the pronominal adjectives ovaj [this] and moj [my]; yet the meaning conveyed by these pronominal adjectives is clearly one of definiteness. In addition, the adjective mali "small" also exists only in the long form. Some speakers use this single long form in both meanings while others prefer to use a different adjective in the indefinite meaning - one which also means small and which does have both long and short forms (malen / maleni).
languagepotato wrote:is this the difference:
zelen miš peva - a green mouse sings
zeleni miš peva - the green mouse sings
No, I think the first sentence is just ungrammatical.
4. which of these is the version you'd use to make the general fact statement (something like for example: young mammals drink milk)?
I think only the definite form is grammatical in this example, too.