Mingea ricoșează pe masa de joc.

Minge means a ball.
Mingea means the ball.

Romanian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

• minge = a ball
• mingea = the ball

So in this sentence, mingea is the subject: the ball.

Romanian has an enclitic definite article, which means the article is attached to the noun.

For feminine singular nouns, that article is often -a.

With minge, the definite form becomes:

• minge → mingea

So the ending -a is what gives the meaning the.

Ricoșează is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb a ricoșa.

That means it matches subjects like:

• el = he
• ea = she
• mingea = the ball
• obiectul = the object

So:

• a ricoșa = to ricochet / to bounce back
• mingea ricoșează = the ball ricochets / the ball bounces

Many Romanian verbs, especially ones like a ricoșa, form the present tense 3rd person singular with -ează.

So:

• a ricoșa → ricoșează

This is a common pattern in Romanian, similar to verbs like:

• a lucra → lucrează = he/she works
• a dansa → dansează = he/she dances

So ricoșează is just the normal present-tense form for he/she/it ricochets.

Here, pe means on.

So:

• pe masa de joc = on the game table / on the playing surface

This is the ordinary preposition pe meaning location or contact with a surface.

It is not the special pe that marks a direct object with people, as in Îl văd pe Andrei.
In your sentence, it is simply a preposition meaning on.

Because masă is the indefinite form, while masa is the definite form.

• masă = a table
• masa = the table

This happens because the feminine singular definite article is added to the noun, and the spelling changes:

• masă → masa

So masa de joc means the game table / the playing table.

De joc literally means of play or for play, but in natural English it is usually better understood as something like:

• game
• playing
• used for play

So masa de joc is a noun phrase describing a type of table: a table used for a game.

Depending on context, you might translate it more naturally as:

• the game table
• the playing table
• the playing surface

Romanian often uses de + noun in this descriptive way.

Because de joc is the more natural descriptive structure here.

Compare:

• masa de joc = the game table / playing table
  → describes the kind or function of the table
• masa jocului = the game's table
  → sounds more like the table belonging to a specific game

So de joc is the normal choice when Romanian wants to describe what something is for or what kind of thing it is.

No, it is the normal Romanian word order:

• Mingea = subject
• ricoșează = verb
• pe masa de joc = prepositional phrase

So the structure is basically:

Subject + Verb + Place

This is very similar to normal English word order:

The ball + ricochets + on the game table

Romanian word order can be changed for emphasis, but this version is the most straightforward.

A helpful approximation is:

ree-ko-SHEH-uh-zuh

A few important sounds:

• ș sounds like English sh
• ă is a short central vowel, something like the a in sofa
• ea is usually pronounced together as a diphthong

So the word should not sound like English ricochet exactly, even though they are related in meaning.

A rough English-style approximation is:

MEEN-jah ree-ko-SHEH-uh-zuh peh MAH-sah deh zhok

A few notes:

• Mingea sounds roughly like MEEN-jah
• j in joc sounds like the s in measure or the zh sound
• pe is pronounced peh
• de is deh

This is only an approximation, but it helps with the main sounds.

By itself, ricoșează is just present tense, so it does not automatically specify whether it is a single bounce, repeated bouncing, or a general fact.

Depending on context, it could mean:

• the ball ricochets
• the ball is bouncing back
• the ball bounces off

Romanian present tense is often flexible in the same way English present tense can be.

Sometimes yes, but here omitting it would usually make the sentence less clear.

Romanian often drops subject pronouns like el or ea because the verb ending already shows the person. But with a noun like mingea, the speaker normally keeps it if they want to say exactly what is doing the action.

So:

• Ricoșează pe masa de joc.
  = possible in context, but it sounds incomplete without knowing what is ricocheting
• Mingea ricoșează pe masa de joc.
  = clear and natural

It is understandable and correct, but it is a bit more specific than very basic verbs like a sări (to jump) or a se lovi (to hit/bump).

A ricoșa is used when something rebounds after striking a surface, like a ball, bullet, or other object. So it is a fairly precise verb.

That is why it fits well here: it describes the ball bouncing back from the table surface.