Language/Romanian/Vocabulary/Describing-Activities

Romanian → Vocabulary → 0 to A1 Course → Hobbies and Activities → Describing Activities

As a Romanian language teacher with 20 years of experience, I know that vocabulary is essential for learning a new language. In this lesson, we will focus on hobbies and activities and learn how to describe them in Romanian using verbs and adjectives. Whether you're a beginner or an intermediate learner, these words and phrases will help you express yourself fluently in everyday conversations.

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Describing Activities in Romanian

To describe hobbies and activities, we need to use verbs and adjectives in Romanian. Let's start with some common verbs:

Romanian	Pronunciation	English
a citi	a chee-tee	to read
a scrie	a skree-ye	to write
a asculta	a a-skool-ta	to listen
a vedea	a ve-day-ah	to see
a merge	a mer-jay	to go
a face	a fa-chay	to do
a cânta	a koon-ta	to sing
a dansa	a dan-sa	to dance
a alerga	a al-er-ga	to run
a merge cu bicicleta	a mer-jay koo bee-chee-cle-ta	to ride a bicycle
a înota	a ee-nota	to swim

These verbs are quite easy to learn and remember because they are similar to English or have Latin roots, which makes them sound more familiar. However, it's essential to learn their conjugation in the present tense to use them correctly in a sentence. Here's an example:

- Eu citesc o carte. (I read a book.) - Tu scrii o scrisoare. (You write a letter.) - El asculta muzica. (He listens to music.) - Ea vede un film. (She watches a movie.) - Noi mergem la cinema. (We go to the cinema.) - Voi faceți exerciții. (You do exercises.) - Ei cântă la chitară. (They play the guitar.) - Ele dansează în club. (They dance in the club.) - Eu alerg dimineața. (I run in the morning.) - Tu mergi cu bicicleta. (You ride a bicycle.) - Ea înoată în mare. (She swims in the sea.)

As you can see, the verbs are conjugated according to the person (I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they) and the tense (present). We use the present tense to describe current activities or habits. It's essential to practice these verbs with different nouns and create your sentences, so you can master their usage and improve your speaking skills.

Now let's move on to adjectives. Adjectives are used to describe how the hobby or activity is done, what level of intensity or enjoyment someone has. Here are some examples:

Romanian	Pronunciation	English
ușor	oo-shor	easy
greu	gray-oo	hard
interesant	in-ter-esant	interesting
plictisitor	pleek-tee-see-tor	boring
relaxant	re-lax-ant	relaxing
stresant	stres-ant	stressful
distractiv	dis-trak-teev	fun
plăcut	pluh-cute	pleasant
obișnuit	ob-ee-shnuit	usual
nou	noo	new

We use these adjectives to modify the nouns (hobbies and activities) and make the sentence more precise and descriptive. Here are some examples:

- Lectura este ușoară. (Reading is easy.) - Scrisul este greu. (Writing is hard.) - Muzica este interesantă. (The music is interesting.) - Televizorul este plictisitor. (The TV is boring.) - Yoga este relaxantă. (Yoga is relaxing.) - Examenul este stresant. (The exam is stressful.) - Jocul este distractiv. (The game is fun.) - Plimbarea este plăcută. (The walk is pleasant.) - Mersul la muncă este obișnuit. (Going to work is usual.) - Dansul este nou pentru mine. (Dancing is new to me.)

Remember that adjectives have to agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. If the noun is feminine, the adjective has to end in -ă, and if the noun is plural, the adjective has to end in -e. Here's an example:

- Cartea este ușoară. (The book is easy.) - feminine singular - Cărțile sunt ușoare. (The books are easy.) - feminine plural

Now that you have learned how to use verbs and adjectives to describe hobbies and activities let's practice by doing some exercises.

Exercise 1

Match the verbs with the corresponding hobbies and activities:

1. a citi a. to swim 2. a scrie b. to dance 3. a asculta c. to ride a bicycle 4. a vedea d. to read 5. a merge e. to run 6. a face f. to listen 7. a cânta g. to do

Answers: 1. d. to read 2. e. to run 3. f. to listen 4. c. to ride a bicycle 5. b. to dance 6. g. to do 7. a. to sing

Exercise 2

Make sentences about hobbies and activities using the verbs and adjectives from the tables above. Use the first-person singular (eu).

Example: Eu merg la cinema. (I go to the cinema.) 1. Eu citesc _________________. (I read _______________.) 2. Eu fac ___________________. (I do ________________.) 3. Eu înot __________________. (I swim ________________.) 4. Eu dansez ________________. (I dance ________________.) 5. Eu ascult __________________. (I listen ________________.) 6. Eu merg cu bicicleta _________________. (I ride a bicycle ________________.) 7. Eu cânt ____________________. (I sing ________________.) 8. Eu alerg ____________________. (I run ________________.) 9. Eu văd _____________________. (I watch _________________.) 10. Eu scriu ____________________. (I write ________________.)

Answers: 1. Eu citesc o carte plăcută. (I read a pleasant book.) 2. Eu fac exerciții grele. (I do hard exercises.) 3. Eu înot în mare. (I swim in the sea.) 4. Eu dansez în club. (I dance in the club.) 5. Eu ascult muzică interesantă. (I listen to interesting music.) 6. Eu merg cu bicicleta ușoară. (I ride an easy bicycle.) 7. Eu cânt la chitară distractiv. (I play the guitar fun.) 8. Eu alerg dimineața obișnuit. (I run in the morning usual.) 9. Eu văd un film nou. (I watch a new movie.) 10. Eu scriu o scrisoare greu. (I write a hard letter.)

Congratulations! Now you can construct sentences about hobbies and activities using verbs and adjectives correctly. Keep practicing and enjoy learning Romanian.

Table of Contents - Romanian Course - 0 to A1

• Course Presentation

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Greetings and Introductions

• Basic Greetings
• Introducing Yourself

  ---

Pronouns and Verbs

• Personal Pronouns
• Present Tense of Verbs

  ---

Numbers and Time

• Numbers 1-10
• Telling Time

  ---

Adjectives and Adverbs

• Basic Adjectives
• Basic Adverbs

  ---

Family and Friends

• Family Members
• Describing Relationships

  ---

Prepositions and Conjunctions

• Basic Prepositions
• Basic Conjunctions

  ---

Food and Drinks

• Common Foods
• Common Drinks

  ---

Questions and Negations

• Forming Questions
• Negation

  ---

Locations and Directions

• Common Locations
• Giving Directions

  ---

Plurals and Articles

• Plural Nouns
• Definite and Indefinite Articles

  ---

Hobbies and Activities

• Common Hobbies
• Describing Activities

  ---

Romanian Culture and Traditions

• Romanian Holidays
• Romanian Cuisine

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Imperatives and Requests

• Imperative Form
• Polite Requests

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Travel and Transportation

• Modes of Transportation
• Travel Vocabulary

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Romanian Geography and History

• Geography of Romania
• Romanian History

Other Lessons

• Advanced Social and Political Issues
• Science and Technology
• How to Say Hello and Greetings
• Common Locations
• Travel Vocabulary
• How to say Good Bye?
• Describing Relationships
• Verbs in Romanian
• Giving Directions
• City

Sources

• Using prefixes and endings for syntactic analysis of Romanian ...
• The History of the Romanian Language