Nimeni nu trișează în jocul acesta.

Yes, from an English perspective it looks like a double negative, but in Romanian this is normal and required. This is called negative concord.

• nimeni = no one / nobody
• nu = the normal negative particle used with the verb

So:

• Nimeni nu trișează = No one cheats

You usually cannot drop nu here in standard Romanian.

Compare:

• Nimeni nu vine. = No one is coming.
• Nimeni nu știe. = Nobody knows.

So even though English uses just one negative word, Romanian commonly uses both.

Nimeni means no one / nobody and refers to people only.

In this sentence, it is the subject:

• Nimeni nu trișează = No one cheats

A few useful comparisons:

• nimeni = no one / nobody
• cineva = someone
• toată lumea = everyone

Examples:

• Nimeni nu răspunde. = Nobody is answering.
• A venit cineva? = Did someone come?
• Toată lumea știe. = Everyone knows.

Grammatically, nimeni behaves as a singular subject in Romanian, even though its meaning is collective in a sense.

So the verb is in 3rd person singular:

• nimeni nu trișează = no one cheats
• not nimeni nu trișeazău or any plural form

This is similar to English in meaning, because no one cheats also uses a singular idea.

Trișează is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb a trișa, meaning to cheat.

So:

• eu trișez = I cheat
• tu trișezi = you cheat
• el/ea trișează = he/she cheats
• nimeni nu trișează = no one cheats

In this sentence, it can mean:

• No one cheats in general
• or No one is cheating, depending on context

Romanian present tense often covers both the simple present and present progressive meanings that English separates.

A rough pronunciation is:

trișează ≈ tree-SHEH-zuh

The special letters are important:

• ș = sh as in ship
• ă = a short central vowel, something like the a in sofa
• ț (not in this word, but common in Romanian) = ts as in cats

So:

• trișează has ș = sh
• the final ă is not a full English a, but a reduced vowel

Literally, it means in this game.

Breaking it down:

• în = in
• jocul = the game
• acesta = this

So Romanian is expressing this game as:

• jocul acesta = literally the game this

That structure is very common in Romanian.

Both are correct and both mean this game.

Two common ways to say it are:

• acest joc
• jocul acesta

In many everyday contexts, jocul acesta sounds very natural and common.

Very roughly:

• acest joc can sound a bit more compact or slightly more formal/bookish
• jocul acesta is also standard and very common in speech and writing

So:

• Nimeni nu trișează în jocul acesta.
• Nimeni nu trișează în acest joc.

Both are fine.

Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun, unlike English.

So:

• joc = game
• jocul = the game

This is called the enclitic definite article.

Other examples:

• băiat = boy

• băiatul = the boy

• carte = book
• cartea = the book

So in jocul acesta, you have:

• jocul = the game
• acesta = this

Together: this game

Yes. În usually means in, and here it works naturally with joc.

So:

• în jocul acesta = in this game

Depending on the sentence, Romanian can also use other structures with games, but în is completely normal when you mean something happening within the game.

For example:

• În jocul acesta, regulile sunt clare. = In this game, the rules are clear.

Yes, Romanian word order is somewhat flexible.

The neutral order here is:

• Nimeni nu trișează în jocul acesta.

But you could also say:

• În jocul acesta nimeni nu trișează.

This puts more focus on în jocul acesta = in this game.

The basic meaning stays the same, but the emphasis changes slightly.

Yes, a trișa is a normal modern Romanian verb meaning to cheat, especially in games, tests, or similar situations.

Examples:

• A trișat la examen. = He/She cheated on the exam.
• Nu trișa la joc! = Don’t cheat in the game!

It is a common everyday word. Learners may notice that it sounds like a borrowing, and it is indeed not one of the oldest native-looking verbs, but it is perfectly normal in contemporary Romanian.