Drumeția începe azi.

Because drumeția is the definite form: the hike.

In Romanian, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun, not written as a separate word like English the.

• drumeție = a hike
• drumeția = the hike

So this sentence is specifically talking about a particular hike.

In this sentence, the noun drumeție is feminine singular, and its definite form is made by adding -a:

• drumeție → drumeția

This is a very common Romanian pattern. Unlike English, Romanian usually attaches the to the noun itself.

So:

• fată = girl
• fata = the girl

and similarly:

• drumeție = hike
• drumeția = the hike

Începe is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb a începe, meaning to begin / to start.

Here it agrees with drumeția, which is singular:

• drumeția începe = the hike starts / is starting

A few related forms:

• eu încep = I start
• tu începi = you start
• el/ea începe = he/she/it starts

Romanian often uses the present tense for scheduled or near-future events, especially when there is a time word like azi.

So Drumeția începe azi can naturally mean:

• The hike starts today
• The hike is starting today

This is similar to English sentences like The meeting starts at 5.

Yes. Azi means today, and it is essentially a shorter form of astăzi.

Both are correct:

• Drumeția începe azi.
• Drumeția începe astăzi.

In many contexts, azi sounds a bit shorter and more conversational, while astăzi can sound slightly more formal or fuller, but both are very common.

Yes. Romanian word order is fairly flexible.

The neutral order here is:

• Drumeția începe azi.

But you could also say:

• Azi începe drumeția.

Both are correct. The difference is mainly one of emphasis:

• Drumeția începe azi focuses first on the hike
• Azi începe drumeția puts more focus on today

A helpful approximation is droo-me-TSI-a.

A few pronunciation notes:

• ț is pronounced like ts in cats
• ia at the end is pronounced as two syllable sounds together, roughly ee-a
• the stress is typically on ți: dru-me-ȚI-a

So the key thing for English speakers is not to pronounce ț like English t or th. It is a clear ts sound.

A rough pronunciation is uhn-CHE-pe, but the first vowel is not exactly like any normal English vowel.

Useful parts:

• î is a Romanian vowel with no exact English equivalent
• ce here sounds like che in check, but shorter
• începe is stressed on the second syllable: în-CE-pe

So the overall pronunciation is approximately uhn-CHE-pe, with the understanding that î is a special Romanian sound.

Because Romanian does not usually need a subject pronoun when the subject is already clear.

Here, the subject is explicitly stated:

• Drumeția = the hike

So there is no need to add anything like English it. Romanian simply says:

• Drumeția începe = The hike starts

Even when the subject is not a noun, Romanian often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already gives information about the person.

It is singular: the hike.

You can tell from both the noun and the verb:

• drumeția = singular definite noun
• începe = singular verb form

If it were plural, you would have:

• drumețiile încep azi = the hikes start today

So in your sentence, one specific hike is being talked about.