Learn Hardcore Romanian: În camera de zi se povestesc povești vesele și se sărbătoresc zile de naștere. - In the living room, cheerful stories are told and birthdays are celebrated.

Literally it’s more like “stories tell themselves” and “birthdays celebrate themselves”, but in real Romanian it simply means that people (in general) tell the stories and celebrate the birthdays, without naming them. It’s a very common way to talk about general, habitual actions.

Why are the verbs povestesc and sărbătoresc in the plural form?

Because they agree with the grammatical subjects:

povești (stories) is plural → se povestesc (3rd person plural)
zile (days) is plural → se sărbătoresc (3rd person plural)

Even though the sentence starts with În camera de zi, the subject of povestesc is povești (vesele), and the subject of sărbătoresc is zile (de naștere).

Compare:

Se povestesc povești vesele. – Cheerful stories are told.
Se povestește o poveste veselă. – A cheerful story is told.

Singular subject → singular verb; plural subject → plural verb.

Why not use sunt povestite and sunt sărbătorite instead of se povestesc and se sărbătoresc?

You can say:

În camera de zi sunt povestite povești vesele și sunt sărbătorite zile de naștere.

Grammatically it’s correct. But:

se + verb is much more common in everyday Romanian for this “impersonal passive” meaning.
sunt povestite / sunt sărbătorite sounds a bit more formal or bookish, and a bit heavier stylistically.

So the sentence with se is more natural and typical in spoken and neutral written Romanian.

What is the difference between se povestesc povești and se spun povești?

Both are correct, but there’s a nuance:

a povesti = to tell, to narrate, to recount (it often suggests telling a story with some detail)
a spune = to say, to tell (more general)

So:

Se povestesc povești vesele. – Focus a bit more on the act of storytelling.
Se spun povești vesele. – More general stories are told, slightly more neutral.

The slight “repetition” povestesc povești (literally “story-tell stories”) is completely normal and idiomatic in Romanian.

Why is it în camera de zi and not în cameră de zi? What exactly does camera de zi mean?

cameră = a room (indefinite, singular)
camera = the room (definite, singular – the definite article is attached at the end in Romanian)

camera de zi is a fixed expression meaning “the living room”. Literally, “the day-room” (the room used during the day, for daily activities, guests, etc.).

în cameră de zi would sound wrong in this context.
We say în camera de zi = in the living room (a specific one, assumed to be known from context, like “the” living room of the house).

So:

Use cameră de zi when you mean the type of room in general:
Avem o cameră de zi mare. – We have a big living room.
Use camera de zi when you mean a particular one:
Te aștept în camera de zi. – I’m waiting for you in the living room.

What does de zi in camera de zi and de naștere in zile de naștere actually mean?

de often corresponds to English “of / for” and is used to build noun–noun phrases.

camera de zi
- literally: “room of day” / “day room”
- idiomatic meaning: living room (room used during the day, for daytime activities)
zile de naștere
- literally: “days of birth”
- idiomatic meaning: birthdays

So both de zi and de naștere are descriptive complements that tell you what kind of room/days they are.

Why is there no article in zile de naștere? Could we also say zilele de naștere?

In the sentence:

se sărbătoresc zile de naștere

the phrase is indefinite and generic: “birthdays (in general) are celebrated”. We’re not talking about specific, already-mentioned birthdays.

If you say:

se sărbătoresc zilele de naștere

then you mean “the birthdays”, i.e. specific ones that the listener already knows about (for example, the birthdays of the family members you’ve been talking about).

So:

zile de naștere – some birthdays, birthdays in general (indefinite)
zilele de naștere – the birthdays (definite, specific)

The original sentence talks about what typically happens in the living room, so the indefinite form fits best.

How does adjective agreement work in povești vesele and what nuance does vesele have?

povești = stories

feminine, plural

vesel / veselă / veseli / vesele = cheerful, merry, happy(-ish)

masculine singular: vesel
feminine singular: veselă
masculine plural: veseli
feminine plural: vesele

Since povești is feminine plural, the adjective must also be feminine plural → vesele.

Nuance of vesel:

describes something cheerful, lively, merry, light-hearted
between “happy” and “fun/funny”; it often suggests a warm, positive mood rather than deep happiness.

So povești vesele are cheerful / light-hearted / fun stories.

Can the word order change? For example, can I say Se povestesc în camera de zi povești vesele?

Yes. Romanian allows some flexibility in word order to change the focus. All of these are grammatical:

În camera de zi se povestesc povești vesele.
Neutral; sets the place first.
Se povestesc povești vesele în camera de zi.
Focuses more on the activity (stories being told); the place comes as extra info.
În camera de zi, povești vesele se povestesc și zile de naștere se sărbătoresc.
A bit more stylistic, with povești vesele and zile de naștere fronted for emphasis.

The original order is the most natural, “unmarked” way to say it.

Is povestesc povești considered redundant, since the verb and the noun are so similar?

It might feel redundant in English, but in Romanian it’s very normal.

a povesti = to narrate, to tell a story
povești = stories

So a povesti povești is like “to story-tell stories”, but it doesn’t sound strange to native speakers. It’s similar to English expressions like:

“sing songs”
“dream dreams”
“fight fights”

You could avoid the repetition by saying, for example:

În camera de zi se povestesc întâmplări vesele.
(Cheerful / funny events are narrated.)

But povestesc povești vesele is perfectly idiomatic.

What exactly is the tense and aspect here? Is it something like English “are being told” / “are told”?

The verbs povestesc and sărbătoresc are in the present indicative.

In this se + present pattern, the meaning is very often:

habitual / general present: what usually happens

So:

În camera de zi se povestesc povești vesele și se sărbătoresc zile de naștere.
≈ “In the living room, cheerful stories are told and birthdays are celebrated (there, as a rule / that’s what happens there).”

It can also describe something happening “now”, but without a time adverb, speakers typically understand it as a general, habitual description.

How would you say the same thing in a more explicit active-voice sentence?

A natural active version would be:

În camera de zi, oamenii povestesc povești vesele și sărbătoresc zile de naștere.
– In the living room, people tell cheerful stories and celebrate birthdays.

Here, oamenii (people) is the explicit subject that the se-construction leaves implicit.

The meaning is almost the same; the se version sounds a bit more like a general description of what “is done” there, regardless of who exactly does it.

How do I pronounce the special Romanian letters in this sentence (ă, î, ș, ț)?

In the sentence În camera de zi se povestesc povești vesele și se sărbătoresc zile de naștere you encounter:

î in În – like a tight, central vowel, somewhat between English i in “bit” and u in “put”, but more central. It’s a distinctive Romanian sound.
ă in sărbătoresc and (not in this sentence, but same sound) fată – like the a in “sofa” or “about”.
ș in și, naștere – like English sh in “she”.
ț in words like toți (not in this sentence, but same letter) – like ts in “cats”.

Very roughly (without full IPA), you could approximate:

În camera de zi se povestesc povești vesele și se sărbătoresc zile de naștere.
≈ “Un kah-meh-ra de zee seh poh-ves-TESK poh-VESH-tee VEH-se-le she seh sur-buh-to-RESK ZEE-le de NASH-te-re”

This is only an approximation, but it should be close enough to be understood.

Why is it zi in camera de zi, but zile in zile de naștere?

Because they serve different grammatical roles:

camera de zi – here zi is singular (day) inside a fixed expression meaning living room. It’s just part of the compound noun.
zile de naștere – here zile is the real subject of the second verb; it’s plural because we’re talking about birthdays in general, more than one.

So:

zi = day (singular)
zile = days (plural)

They’re just different forms of the same noun used in two different phrases.