Aleg lesa roșie.

Romanian often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

• aleg = I choose
• alegi = you choose
• alege = he/she chooses

So Aleg lesa roșie already clearly means I choose the red leash. You could say Eu aleg lesa roșie if you want extra emphasis on I, but it is not necessary.

Aleg is the 1st person singular present tense form of the verb a alege, meaning to choose.

So:

• a alege = to choose
• aleg = I choose

This is a common pattern in Romanian: the dictionary form starts with a + the infinitive, and the actual sentence uses a conjugated verb form.

Lesă is the basic indefinite form of the noun, meaning a leash.

• lesă = a leash
• lesa = the leash

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

So:

• o lesă = a leash
• lesa = the leash

That is why lesa means the leash.

In Romanian, adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• lesa roșie = the red leash

This is the normal Romanian order. English usually says red leash, but Romanian typically says leash red.

In some cases an adjective can come before the noun for style or emphasis, but after the noun is the standard order here.

Because the adjective must agree with the noun in gender and number.

Lesă is a feminine singular noun, so the adjective also has to be feminine singular:

• masculine singular: roșu
• feminine singular: roșie
• masculine plural: roșii
• feminine plural: roșii

Since lesa is feminine singular, you need roșie.

You usually learn the gender together with the noun. In this case, lesă is feminine, and you can also see that from the forms used with it:

• o lesă = a leash
• lesa = the leash
• lesa roșie = the red leash

The feminine article and adjective forms help confirm the gender.

Yes. In Aleg lesa roșie:

• Aleg = I choose
• lesa roșie = the red leash

So lesa roșie is the thing being chosen, which makes it the direct object.

In Romanian, the direct object often appears without any extra marker when it is a normal noun phrase like this one.

Yes. That would mean I choose a red leash instead of I choose the red leash.

Compare:

• Aleg lesa roșie = I choose the red leash
• Aleg o lesă roșie = I choose a red leash

So the difference is definiteness, just like in English.

Yes, Romanian word order is somewhat flexible, but Aleg lesa roșie is the most neutral and natural order.

Other orders may be possible in special contexts, for example for emphasis, but they can sound marked or literary. For a learner, the safest pattern is:

verb + noun + adjective

So here:

Aleg lesa roșie.

The letter ș is pronounced like English sh in shoe.

So roșie sounds roughly like RO-shee-eh, with three parts:

• ro
• și
• e

Also note:

• ș = sh
• ă is a separate Romanian vowel, but it does not appear in lesa because that is the definite form

That is one of the big differences between Romanian and English. Romanian usually uses a postposed definite article, meaning the article is added to the end of the noun.

Examples:

• băiat = boy

• băiatul = the boy

• fată = girl

• fata = the girl

• lesă = leash
• lesa = the leash

So in Aleg lesa roșie, the word lesa already includes the meaning of the leash.

Romanian present tense often covers both English simple present and present continuous, depending on context.

So Aleg can mean:

• I choose
• I am choosing

In a short standalone sentence like this, the exact English translation depends on context, but the Romanian form itself is just the present tense.

Yes, ideally you should use them, because they are part of correct Romanian spelling.

In this sentence, the correct spelling is:

Aleg lesa roșie.

The important diacritic here is:

• ș in roșie

Without diacritics, Romanian can become harder to read and may look nonstandard.