Breakdown of Am de gând să mă apuc de sport anul acesta.
sportul
the sport
anul
the year
să
to (subjunctive marker)
acesta
this one
Questions & Answers about Am de gând să mă apuc de sport anul acesta.
How exactly does the phrase a avea de gând să work to show intention?
This phrase literally translates to "to have of thought to". To use it, you just conjugate the verb a avea (here, am for "I"), keep de gând unchanged, and follow it with să plus your action verb in the subjunctive mood.
Why is there a mă before apuc?
The verb for "to take up" or "to start doing something" is the reflexive verb a se apuca. Because the person doing the action is "I", the reflexive pronoun is mă. If you drop the mă, the non-reflexive a apuca just means "to grab" or "to catch".
Why do we need the word de right before sport?
The verb a se apuca requires the preposition de to introduce the activity you are starting. Whenever you say you are taking up a new hobby or task, you use a se apuca de followed by the activity.
Why is it anul acesta instead of just an acesta for "this year"?
In Romanian, when a demonstrative word like acesta (this) is placed immediately after the noun, that noun must take a definite article at the end. That is why an (year) becomes anul (the year) before acesta.