Fiica citește o carte.

Because Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun, not in front of it.

• fiică = daughter
• fiica = the daughter

So fiica already includes the meaning of the daughter.

The dictionary form is fiică, meaning daughter.

When Romanian makes it definite, it adds the article to the noun:

• fiică = daughter
• fiica = the daughter

So if you look this word up, you would usually look for fiică.

Because o carte means a book, while cartea means the book.

Romanian makes this same definite/indefinite distinction as English:

• o carte = a book
• cartea = the book

So in Fiica citește o carte, the daughter is reading a book, not a specific already-known book.

Yes. O can function as:

• the feminine form of one
• the feminine singular indefinite article a/an

In this sentence, o is understood as a, so o carte means a book.

Because carte is feminine, the form is o.

Citește is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb a citi, meaning to read.

So it can mean:

• he reads
• she reads
• it reads

In this sentence, because the subject is fiica, it means she reads or the daughter reads.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Romanian present tense often covers both:

• she reads
• she is reading

So Fiica citește o carte could mean either The daughter reads a book or The daughter is reading a book, depending on the situation.

Romanian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are not needed. This is very common.

Instead of saying Ea citește for She reads, Romanian can simply say Citește, because the verb form already shows the person and number.

In this sentence, the subject is stated explicitly as fiica, so there is no need to add ea.

No. In Romanian, verbs usually agree with the subject in person and number, but not in gender.

So citește is the same form for:

• el citește = he reads
• ea citește = she reads

The fact that fiica is feminine does not change the verb form here.

Yes. Subject + Verb + Object is a very normal and neutral word order in Romanian.

So:

• Fiica = subject
• citește = verb
• o carte = object

Romanian word order is fairly flexible, and other orders are possible for emphasis, but Fiica citește o carte is the most straightforward version.

Fiica is in the nominative case because it is the subject.

O carte is the direct object, so it is in the accusative case.

In this sentence, though, the forms do not visibly change much, because for many Romanian nouns the nominative and accusative look the same.

Because carte is a feminine singular noun, and the feminine singular indefinite article is o.

Compare:

• un băiat = a boy
• o fată = a girl
• o carte = a book

So o matches the gender and number of carte.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• fiica ≈ FEE-ee-ka
• citește ≈ chee-TEHSH-te

A few useful pronunciation points:

• c before i or e usually sounds like ch
• ș sounds like sh
• the final e in citește is pronounced; it is not silent

So the whole sentence is roughly:

FEE-ee-ka chee-TEHSH-te o KAR-te