Learn Hardcore Romanian: Vreau să învăț română împreună cu familia mea. - I want to learn Romanian together with my family.

You could say Eu vreau să învăț română…, but that usually adds emphasis, like “I want to learn Romanian…” (maybe in contrast to someone else).

What does the structure “vreau să învăț” mean exactly?

Vreau să învăț literally is:

vreau = I want
să învăț = a special form that corresponds to “(that) I learn”

In Romanian, after many verbs of desire, intention, etc. (like a vrea – to want), you often use “să + verb (present tense form)” instead of an infinitive.

So:

vreau să învăț ≈ I want to learn
but more literally: I want that I learn (using the subjunctive with să).

Why can’t I just say “Vreau învăța română” like English “I want to learn Romanian”?

Because Romanian grammar doesn’t work like English here:

English: want + to + infinitive → want to learn
Romanian: vreau + să + conjugated verb → vreau să învăț

Using the bare infinitive învăța after vreau is not idiomatic Romanian in this context. The natural construction is:

✅ Vreau să învăț română.
❌ Vreau învăța română. (ungrammatical / very wrong)

So always think: vreau să + [I-form of the verb]:

vreau să merg – I want to go
vreau să citesc – I want to read
vreau să învăț – I want to learn

What form is “învăț”? Is it infinitive or something else?

Învăț is not the infinitive. It is:

1st person singular, present tense, indicative
of the verb a învăța (to learn, to study, to teach depending on context).

Basic forms:

Infinitive: a învăța
I learn: (eu) învăț
you (sg.) learn: (tu) înveți
he/she learns: (el/ea) învață

With să (subjunctive marker), the form să învăț is formally called subjunctive present, but it looks the same as the normal “I” form in the present.

Why is it “română” and not “românesc” or something else?

In this sentence, română is short for limba română = the Romanian language.

română (feminine adjective used as a noun) ≈ Romanian (language)
- Vreau să învăț română. – I want to learn Romanian.
românesc / românească usually means Romanian as an adjective describing things:
- tradiții românești – Romanian traditions
- un film românesc – a Romanian movie

So, when you mean the language, you normally say:

română (standing for limba română) or explicitly limba română
not românesc.

Can I also say “Vreau să învăț limba română…”? Is that more correct?

Yes, you can, and it’s perfectly correct:

Vreau să învăț română.
Vreau să învăț limba română.

Both are grammatical and natural. The difference is slight:

română alone is a bit shorter and more casual in everyday speech, especially when it’s clear you mean the language.
limba română is a bit more explicit, slightly more formal or careful, and very common in written language or in more serious contexts (school, courses, etc.).

In practice, you will hear both all the time.

What does “împreună cu” mean, and can I move “împreună” somewhere else in the sentence?

Împreună cu means “together with”:

împreună = together
cu = with
împreună cu familia mea = together with my family

Word order:

The most natural is exactly as in your sentence:
- ✅ Vreau să învăț română împreună cu familia mea.
You can sometimes move it a bit for emphasis:
- ✅ Împreună cu familia mea, vreau să învăț română. (more emphasis on together with my family)

But you should keep “împreună” and “cu” next to each other:

❌ Vreau să învăț împreună română cu familia mea.
sounds off / unnatural; împreună is normally paired directly with cu.

Can I drop “împreună” and just say “cu familia mea”? Does the meaning change?

Yes, you can say:

Vreau să învăț română cu familia mea.

This is still correct and will often be understood as “together with my family”, but there is a slight nuance:

cu familia mea = with my family (could mean with their help, with them as teachers, or at home with them, context-dependent)
împreună cu familia mea emphasizes “together with” – that all of you are learning as a group.

In many contexts they overlap, but împreună cu makes the idea of doing it jointly more explicit.

Why is it “familia mea” and not just “familie mea”?

Because in Romanian, with this type of possessive (my, your, his…), the possessed noun usually takes the definite article.

Pattern:

[noun + definite article] + [possessive adjective]

So:

familie = family
familia = the family
familia mea = my family

Other examples:

carte – book
- cartea mea – my book
mașină – car
- mașina ta – your car

So “familie mea” without the article is incorrect in standard Romanian; it must be familia mea.

Why is it “mea” and not “meu” for “my”?

Romanian possessives have to agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

Forms of “my”:

meu – masculine singular
- fratele meu – my brother
mea – feminine singular
- sora mea – my sister
mei – masculine plural / mixed plural
- prietenii mei – my (male/mixed) friends
mele – feminine plural
- surorile mele – my sisters

The noun familie is feminine singular. With the definite article it is familia.
Feminine singular → you must use mea:

familia mea = my family
not:
❌ familia meu

Why is it spelled “familia” and not “familiea” for “the family”?

Romanian adds the definite article as a suffix:

familie (family) + -a (feminine singular article) → familia (the family)

When a feminine noun ends in -ie, adding -a usually gives -ia, not -iea:

copie → copia (the copy)
bucătărie → bucătăria (the kitchen)
familie → familia

So “familiea” is never used; the correct form is familia.

Is “Vreau să învăț română împreună cu familia mea” polite enough, or should I use a different form of “want”?

Vreau is neutral and direct; it’s fine in most informal and many neutral situations.

If you want to sound more polite, softer, or more tentative, you can use a conditional form:

Aș vrea să învăț română împreună cu familia mea.
= I would like to learn Romanian together with my family.

This sounds more like a polite wish/request than a straightforward statement of desire.

So:

Vreau… – I want… (neutral, direct)
Aș vrea… – I would like… (more polite / softer)

How do I pronounce the tricky Romanian sounds in this sentence?

Approximate pronunciation (using English-friendly hints):

Vreau – /vraw/ or /vryow/
- vr together, like v
  - rolled/flapped r
- eau here sounds close to “ow” in cow.
să – /sə/
- ă is like the a in sofa or English uh.
în (in învăț, împreună) – /ɨn/
- â / î is a central vowel with no exact English equivalent; think of a harder, tenser “uh”.
învăț – roughly ɨn-VUHTS
- ț is like ts in cats.
română – ro-MÂ-nə
- ro like “ro” in robot
- stressed syllable on -mâ- (same ɨ-sound as î/â)
- final ă = uh.
împreună – ɨm-pre-OO-nə
- stress on -u-: pre-u-
familia – fa-MEE-lya
mea – meh-ah (very close to “meh-ah” but smooth).

You don’t need to be perfect from the start; just aim to distinguish:

ă (softer, relaxed uh)
â / î (tenser, central vowel)
and pronounce ț as ts, not like English “z”.