Learn Hardcore Russian: Журналист любит описывать город. - The journalist likes to describe the city.

Журналист – subject (the/a journalist)
любит – main verb (likes / loves)
описывать – infinitive verb, dependent on любит (to describe / describing)
город – direct object (the city)

So structurally it is: (Subject) журналист + (verb) любит + (infinitive) описывать + (object) город.

Why is любит used and not some other form of любить?

Любит is the 3rd person singular present tense form of любить (to love / to like):

я люблю – I like
ты любишь – you like (singular, informal)
он / она / оно любит – he / she / it likes
мы любим – we like
вы любите – you like (plural / formal)
они любят – they like

Since the subject is журналист (he or she, singular), Russian uses любит.

The whole phrase любит описывать means likes (or loves) to describe / likes describing.

What is the difference between описывать and описать, and why is описывать used here?

Russian verbs come in aspect pairs:

описывать – imperfective: to describe (process, repeated action, habit)
описать – perfective: to describe (once, completely, as a finished result)

After verbs of liking/preference such as любить, Russian almost always uses the imperfective infinitive, because it expresses a general or habitual activity:

Журналист любит описывать город. – The journalist likes describing the city (as an activity, in general).

Using описать here (любить описать) would sound unnatural and is normally incorrect in this context.

What case is город in, and why doesn’t it have any ending change here?

Город is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of the verb описывать.

For masculine inanimate nouns like город, the nominative (dictionary form) and accusative singular are the same:

Nominative: город – the city (subject)
Accusative: город – the city (object)

So even though the form looks the same, grammatically it is accusative in this sentence.

Why is there no word for a or the (article) before журналист and город?

Russian has no articles (no direct equivalents of English a / an / the).

Whether you read журналист as a journalist or the journalist, and город as a city or the city, depends entirely on context, not on a separate word.

So Журналист любит описывать город can be translated as:

The journalist likes to describe the city.
A journalist likes describing the city.

All of these are possible depending on what was said before.

Can the word order change, and does that change the meaning?

Yes, Russian word order is more flexible than English. The neutral, most common order here is:

Журналист любит описывать город.

Possible variations and their feel (in speech, usually with different intonation):

Город любит описывать журналист. – The journalist is the one who likes to describe the city (emphasis on журналист).
Любит журналист описывать город. – Poetic/marked, emphasising любить/описывать; less neutral.

The basic meaning stays similar, but the focus/emphasis changes. For everyday speech, the original order is the most natural.

How would I say The journalist loved to describe the city (in the past)?

You keep the same structure but change любит (present) to любил or любила (past, depending on gender):

Журналист любил описывать город. – The (male) journalist loved to describe the city.
Журналистка любила описывать город. – The (female) journalist loved to describe the city.

In Russian, verbs in the past tense agree with the grammatical gender of the subject.

Is журналист always masculine? How do I say female journalist?

Журналист is grammatically masculine. It can refer to a man or, in some modern, neutral usage, to a woman, but grammatically it behaves as masculine.

For a clearly female journalist, you can say:

журналистка – female journalist

Examples:

Журналист любит описывать город. – The journalist (male, or gender-neutral in some contexts) likes to describe the city.
Журналистка любит описывать город. – The (female) journalist likes to describe the city.

How would I say The journalist loves describing cities (in general) instead of the city?

You use the plural of город: города (plural, accusative = nominative for inanimate).

Журналист любит описывать города. – The journalist likes to describe cities.

Here города means cities in general.

How would I say He likes to describe the city or She likes to describe the city?

Add the appropriate pronoun and keep the same verb structure:

Он любит описывать город. – He likes to describe the city.
Она любит описывать город. – She likes to describe the city.

You can also omit the pronoun in context, but then you usually still need some noun or previous mention to know who is being talked about. In the original sentence, журналист already plays that role.

How do you pronounce each word, and where is the stress?

Approximate pronunciation with stressed syllables in capitals:

Журналист – zhoor-na-LEEST (IPA: [ʐʊrnɐˈlʲist]) – stress on ли
любит – LYU-bit (IPA: [ˈlʲubʲɪt]) – stress on лю
описывать – a-PEE-sɨ-vatʹ (IPA: [ɐˈpʲisɨvətʲ]) – stress on пи
город – GO-rət (IPA: [ˈgorət]) – stress on го

Key points:

ю in любит is a single sound [ʲu], like you but after a palatalized л.
ы in описывать is a sound that doesn’t exist in English; it’s a central, slightly back vowel.
Unstressed о (like the second о in город) is pronounced closer to a.