Learn Hardcore Romanian: Uneori învăț singur acasă, fără grup. - Sometimes I study alone at home, without a group.

Uneori învăț singur acasă, fără grup. – neutral, very natural.
Învăț uneori singur acasă, fără grup. – a bit more focus on the verb “învăț”.
Învăț singur acasă, uneori, fără grup. – sounds more like an afterthought: “I sometimes do this.”

Putting uneori at the very start is probably the most common and neutral way to say it in everyday speech.

Why is there no word for “I” in the sentence? Where is the subject?

The subject “I” is contained in the verb form învăț.

Romanian is a “pro‑drop” language: the personal pronoun is usually omitted because the verb ending shows who the subject is.

(Eu) învăț = I learn / I study
Here, învăț clearly means “I …”, so eu is normally left out.

You can say Eu învăț singur acasă, fără grup. if you want to emphasize I (e.g. contrast with someone else), but in neutral statements it’s more natural to leave eu out.

What exactly does învăț mean here: “I learn” or “I study”? And what form is it?

Învăț is the 1st person singular, present tense, of the verb a învăța.

a învăța can mean:
- to study (for school/exams, to work on material)
- to learn (to acquire knowledge or a skill)

In many school or homework contexts, învăț is best translated as “I study”:

Acum învăț. – “I’m studying now.”

Grammatically:

infinitive: a învăța
present, 1st person singular: (eu) învăț

Can a învăța also mean “to teach”? How would that work with this sentence?

Yes. A învăța is a bit special: it can mean both “to learn” and “to teach”, depending on context.

Eu învăț română. – I learn Romanian / I study Romanian.
Eu îl învăț română. – I teach him Romanian.
(notice îl = “him”)

In your sentence, there is no direct object (no “someone” or “something”), so the only natural interpretation is “I learn / I study”.

To say “Sometimes I teach alone at home, without a group”, you’d have to add an object like:

Uneori învăț copiii singur acasă, fără grup. – Sometimes I teach the children alone at home, without a group.

Why is it singur and not something like de unul singur? Are there other ways to say “alone”?

Singur is the basic word for “alone / by oneself”, and it’s totally natural here.

Common variants:

singur – alone
- Uneori învăț singur acasă.
de unul singur – literally “by one’s self (alone)”, a bit more expressive
- Uneori învăț de unul singur acasă.
pe cont propriu – “on my own”, more figurative
- Uneori învăț pe cont propriu acasă.

All three are correct, but singur is the shortest and most neutral in this context.

Does singur change if the speaker is female or if it’s plural?

Yes. Singur behaves like an adjective and agrees in gender and number.

Singular:

masculine: singur
feminine: singură

Plural:

masculine / mixed group: singuri
feminine only: singure

So:

A man would say: Uneori învăț singur acasă, fără grup.
A woman would normally say: Uneori învăț singură acasă, fără grup.

In everyday speech, women do sometimes say singur by analogy with the masculine, but the grammatically correct form for a female speaker is singură.

What’s the difference between acasă and casă / la casă? Why is acasă used here?

Acasă is an adverb meaning “at home”.

Sunt acasă. – I am at home.

Casă is a noun meaning “house”.

O casă – a house
casa – the house

La casă literally means “at (a/the) house”, and is typically used when you really mean the physical building, or in some other specific contexts (e.g. la casă can also mean “at the checkout” in a shop).

In your sentence, you mean “at home”, so the correct and natural choice is acasă:

Uneori învăț singur acasă… – Sometimes I study alone at home…

Could the words singur and acasă be swapped? For example: Uneori învăț acasă singur?

Yes, they can be swapped, and both orders are grammatically correct.

Uneori învăț singur acasă, fără grup. – very natural, common order.
Uneori învăț acasă singur, fără grup. – also correct; the focus feels a bit more on where first, then on how.

Romanian word order is relatively flexible. Here, both versions are fine; the original sounds slightly more fluent and idiomatic in casual speech.

Why is it fără grup and not fără un grup? When would you add the article?

With fără (“without”), Romanian often uses a bare noun when speaking in general:

fără grup – without (any) group, without groups in general
fără colegi – without classmates
fără bani – without money

You add an article when you’re talking about a specific group:

fără grupul meu – without my group
fără grupul de studiu – without the study group

Fără un grup (“without a group”) is grammatically correct but sounds more like:

“without any kind of group at all / without a single group”, which is less natural for this general habit statement.
In everyday speech about studying habits, fără grup is the straightforward choice.

Is the comma before fără grup obligatory? What does it change?

The comma is not strictly obligatory here; it mostly reflects a natural pause and emphasis.

Uneori învăț singur acasă, fără grup.
– There’s a slight pause; fără grup is highlighted as an extra, clarifying piece of information.
Uneori învăț singur acasă fără grup.
– Feels a bit more “run‑on”, with less separation.

Both are acceptable. Writing the comma is common and helps show that fără grup is an additional detail, not something tightly fused to acasă.

How are the special Romanian letters in this sentence pronounced: î, ă, and ș / ț (as in învăț, acasă)?

Key sounds here:

î / â – same sound in modern Romanian, a central vowel [ɨ], something between English i in “sit” and u in “put”, but more central.
- învăț ≈ in-VAHTS (but with that special î at the start).
ă – a short, neutral vowel [ə], like the a in “about” or e in “taken” when unstressed.
- acasă ≈ a-KA-suh
- fără ≈ FUH-ruh
ș and ț don’t appear in this short sentence, but for reference:
- ș = “sh” as in she
- ț = “ts” as in cats

Putting it together roughly:

Uneori învăț singur acasă, fără grup.
≈ oo-neh-OR in-VAHTS SEEN-gur a-KA-suh FUH-ru group (with Romanian “r” rolled or tapped).