Anul acesta lucrez acasă.

Literally, anul acesta is the year this. In natural English, that becomes this year.

Romanian often expresses this/that + noun with the noun first and the demonstrative after it. So even though the word order looks unusual to an English speaker, anul acesta is a very normal way to say this year.

Because -ul is the Romanian definite article attached to the end of the noun.

• an = year
• anul = the year

When the demonstrative comes after the noun, Romanian normally uses the definite form of the noun:

• anul acesta = this year

So the -ul is not extra; it is part of the standard structure.

Yes, you can also say acest an. Both anul acesta and acest an mean this year.

The difference is mainly structural and sometimes stylistic:

• anul acesta = noun + definite article + demonstrative
• acest an = demonstrative + noun

Both are correct and common. Anul acesta is extremely natural in everyday Romanian, while acest an can sound a bit more compact or slightly more formal depending on context.

Because an is a masculine singular noun, so the demonstrative must match it.

• masculine singular: acesta
• feminine singular: aceasta

So:

• anul acesta = this year
• but săptămâna aceasta = this week

The demonstrative has to agree with the noun in gender and number.

Lucrez is the 1st person singular present tense of the verb a lucra (to work).

So:

• (eu) lucrez = I work / I am working

Romanian present tense often covers both English simple present and present continuous, depending on context.

Because Romanian often drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.

In lucrez, the ending shows that the subject is I, so eu is not necessary.

• Lucrez = I work / I am working
• Eu lucrez = I work with extra emphasis, contrast, or clarity

So the version without eu is perfectly normal.

Because acasă is an adverb meaning at home / home, so it does not need a preposition here.

That is why Romanian can simply say:

• lucrez acasă = I work at home

This is similar to how English can say I’m home or I’m staying home, where home also behaves a bit differently from an ordinary noun phrase.

They are close, but not always identical in nuance.

• lucrez acasă = I work at home
• lucrez de acasă = I work from home

In modern usage, de acasă is often the more typical phrase for working remotely from home.
Acasă by itself focuses more on the location; de acasă more clearly expresses the idea of working from home rather than at an office.

So your sentence is natural, but if you specifically mean remote work, learners will often also hear Anul acesta lucrez de acasă.

Romanian word order is fairly flexible, and putting Anul acesta first sets the timeframe right away.

So:

• Anul acesta lucrez acasă. = neutral, natural way to say This year, I work/am working at home.
• Lucrez acasă anul acesta. = also possible, but the focus feels a bit different

Starting with the time phrase is very common when you want to frame the whole statement by when it happens.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Lucrez in the present tense can express:

• a general/habitual fact: I work at home
• a current situation: I’m working at home
• a situation limited to the current year: This year I’m working at home

In this sentence, Anul acesta strongly suggests a time-limited situation during the current year, so English might naturally translate it as This year I’m working at home or This year I work from home, depending on context.

Yes, anul ăsta is very common in everyday spoken Romanian.

• anul acesta = standard, neutral
• anul ăsta = more informal, conversational

Both mean this year. If you are aiming for clear standard Romanian, anul acesta is an excellent choice. If you want to sound more casual in speech, anul ăsta is very natural.