Learn Romanian › juca
juca
to play /ʒuˈka/
verb#336 most common
Also: to act (a role), to gamble (e.g. on stocks or lottery), to dance (regional, dated)
Example sentences
El joacă fotbal.
He plays football.
Copiii se joacă în curte.
The children are playing in the yard.
Ieri am jucat cărți cu prietenii mei.
Yesterday I played cards with my friends.
Ea juca la teatru când era tânără, dar acum nu mai joacă.
She used to act in theater when she was young, but she doesn't act anymore.
Dacă ai juca mai des șah, ai deveni un jucător mai bun.
If you played chess more often, you would become a better player.
Se spune că soarta noastră se joacă adesea în momente pe care nici nu le observăm.
It is said that our fate often plays out in moments we don't even notice.
Conjugation
| Present Active | Simple Past Active | Simple Future Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | joc | jucai | voi juca |
| 2sg | joci | jucași | vei juca |
| 3sg | joacă | jucă | va juca |
| 1pl | jucăm | jucarăm | vom juca |
| 2pl | jucați | jucarăți | veți juca |
| 3pl | joacă | jucară | vor juca |
Word family
Etymology
Juca comes from Latin iocari (or its popular form iocare), meaning to joke or to jest, itself built on the noun iocus, a joke or a game. The same Latin root spread across the Romance languages with the meaning narrowed to play. In Romanian the verb widened to cover sports, games, cards, acting a role on stage, and, in reflexive form, children playing.
Learn Romanian the way that sticks.
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,027 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,027 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free