Learn Hardcore Romanian: În dormitor nu mă uit la televizor, doar citesc înainte de culcare. - In the bedroom I don’t watch TV, I only read before going to sleep.

So nu uit la televizor would be incorrect, and even uit televizorul would mean I forget the TV, not I watch TV.
To say I watch TV, you must use the reflexive form mă uit (la televizor).

Is mă uit la televizor literally “I look at the TV”? Is this the normal way to say “I watch TV” in Romanian?

Yes, literally mă uit la televizor is “I look at the TV”, but in everyday Romanian this is the standard way to say “I watch TV”.

A few options and nuances:

mă uit la televizor – the most common, natural way to say I watch TV
mă uit la un film – I’m watching a movie
privesc televizorul / privesc la televizor – more formal or literary, sounds a bit stiffer in casual speech
vizionez un film – I’m viewing a film (formal, often in written language, ads, program guides)

So if you’re talking about your usual habits or what you’re doing right now, mă uit la televizor is exactly what you should use.

Why is nu placed before mă uit? Could I say mă nu uit instead?

No, you cannot say mă nu uit. In Romanian, the standard order is:

nu (negation particle)
any clitic pronouns (like mă, te, îl, o, etc.)
the conjugated verb

So in your sentence:

nu (negation)
mă (reflexive pronoun)
uit (verb)

→ nu mă uit

Other examples:

nu te uiți (you don’t watch)
nu îl văd (I don’t see him)
nu o cunosc (I don’t know her)

Putting mă before nu (mă nu uit) is ungrammatical. The negation nu must come first, directly before the verb group.

Why is there no eu in nu mă uit la televizor? Would Eu nu mă uit la televizor also be correct?

The pronoun eu (I) is usually dropped in Romanian because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is:

mă uit → the -t ending plus the reflexive mă tell us it’s I.

So:

(Eu) nu mă uit la televizor
Both forms are grammatically correct.

We normally omit eu unless we want to emphasize the subject:

Eu nu mă uit la televizor, dar sora mea se uită.
I don’t watch TV, but my sister does.

Here eu stresses I (as opposed to someone else). In your original sentence, without any contrast, leaving eu out is more natural.

Why does the sentence start with În dormitor? Could I also say Nu mă uit la televizor în dormitor, doar citesc înainte de culcare?

Yes, you can say it both ways:

În dormitor nu mă uit la televizor, doar citesc înainte de culcare.
Nu mă uit la televizor în dormitor, doar citesc înainte de culcare.

Both are grammatically correct and mean essentially the same thing.

The difference is one of focus:

Starting with În dormitor highlights the place:
In the bedroom, I don’t watch TV… (maybe implying that in other rooms you might).
Placing în dormitor later (Nu mă uit la televizor în dormitor) sounds a bit more neutral and more similar to English word order.

Romanian word order is relatively flexible, especially with adverbials like în dormitor, and speakers use position to add subtle emphasis.

Why is it în dormitor and not la dormitor? What’s the difference between în and la here?

Both în and la can refer to places, but they’re not interchangeable.

în = in, inside → it emphasizes being inside a space
la = at, to → it’s more general: at a place, to a place

A dormitor is a room that you normally think of as an interior, enclosed space, so în dormitor (in the bedroom) is the natural choice:

în dormitor – inside the bedroom
în bucătărie – in the kitchen
în baie – in the bathroom

la dormitor would sound odd or incorrect in standard Romanian in this context. You do use la with some buildings or places, especially when you mean “at someone’s place” or a public place:

la școală – at school
la magazin – at the store / to the store
la Maria – at Maria’s place

But for rooms inside a house, în is the usual preposition.

Why do we say la televizor? Could we say just mă uit televizor without la?

You must use la here. In Romanian, with the verb a se uita (la) (to look at / watch), the preposition la is required to introduce what you’re looking at:

mă uit la televizor – I watch TV
mă uit la film – I watch a movie
mă uit la stele – I look at the stars

Saying mă uit televizor is incorrect. The pattern is:

a se uita la + [thing/person you look at]

Also note:

televizor = the physical TV set (or TV in general, in everyday speech)
televiziune = television as a medium/industry (like “television” vs “TV set”)

For “watch TV” (as in watch programs on a TV), mă uit la televizor is the standard, natural expression.

What exactly does doar mean here, and can I replace it with numai?

doar means “only / just” in this sentence:

…doar citesc înainte de culcare.
…I only read / I just read before going to sleep.

You can usually replace doar with numai without changing the meaning:

…numai citesc înainte de culcare.

Differences:

In modern spoken Romanian, doar is very common and neutral.
numai is also common, maybe slightly more colloquial in some regions, but still standard.

Both are fine here. There’s a different word, decât, which is used with negation (nu … decât = only), but that would require changing the structure:

Nu fac decât să citesc înainte de culcare.
I do nothing but read before going to sleep.

In your sentence, doar (or numai) before the verb is the simplest and most natural.

Why is the simple present (nu mă uit, citesc) used here? In English we would probably say “I’m not watching TV, I just read before going to sleep.”

Romanian has only one present tense form, and it covers both:

English simple present (I read, I watch)
English present continuous (I am reading, I am watching)

So:

nu mă uit la televizor
– can mean I don’t watch TV (usually)
– or I’m not watching TV (right now), depending on context.
doar citesc înainte de culcare
– can mean I only read before bed (as a habit)
– or I’m just reading before bed (right now / every night)

Romanian relies on context or adverbs (like acum = now, de obicei = usually) to make the nuance clear, rather than using a separate continuous tense form.

What does înainte de culcare literally mean, and why do we use de plus culcare instead of a verb like “to sleep”?

Literally, înainte de culcare means “before (the) going-to-bed” or “before bedtime”.

Breakdown:

înainte (de) = before
culcare = going to bed / the act of lying down to sleep

Culcare is a verbal noun derived from the verb a se culca (to go to bed, to lie down to sleep). Romanian very often uses de + verbal noun to express “before doing X / after doing X”:

înainte de culcare – before going to bed
după masă / după masă de prânz – after lunch
după muncă – after work

You could use a clause instead:

înainte să mă culc – before I go to bed
înainte să adorm – before I fall asleep

These are also correct, but înainte de culcare is shorter and very idiomatic when talking about bedtime routines.

Where does the reflexive pronoun go in negative sentences? Could we ever say something like nu uit mă la televizor?

The reflexive (and other clitic pronouns) have a fixed position in relation to nu and the verb:

Correct order:

nu (negation)
clitic pronoun(s) (like mă)
verb

So:

nu mă uit – I don’t watch / I’m not watching
nu te uiți – you don’t watch
nu se uită – he/she doesn’t watch

Forms like:

nu uit mă la televizor
uit nu mă la televizor

are ungrammatical. The verb and its clitics form a tight unit, and nu must be placed right before that unit: nu mă uit.

Could I say citesc doar înainte de culcare instead of doar citesc înainte de culcare? What’s the difference?

Both orders are possible, but they emphasize slightly different things:

doar citesc înainte de culcare
– Emphasis is more on the action:
I only *read before bed (I don’t do other activities like watching TV).*
citesc doar înainte de culcare
– Emphasis shifts more toward the time:
I read *only before bed (I don’t read at other times of the day).*

In your original sentence, the contrast is with watching TV in the bedroom, so doar citesc înainte de culcare (focusing on the action) fits very naturally.