# "I would like to learn Russian".....?



## Thomas26

I thought it would be: нравился бы изучать русский, but another person told me it is Мне нравится  изучать русский. Why would I use Мне нравится? I thought "нравится" is the он\она conjugation, not the я conjugation.

Thanks in advance


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## eni8ma

Он мне нра́вится — I like him.
Я им нра́влюсь — They like me.

Copied and pasted from wiktionary


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## Maroseika

Both are wrong. I would like to learn Russian means: Я бы хотел изучать русский язык.
As for Мне нравится изучать русский, it means 'I like learning Russian".
Нравился бы изучать русский is wrong anyway. Impersonal form would be Мне нравилось бы изучать русский (conditional).


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## VitalinaT

Мне бы хотелось учить/изучать русский.) = I wish to learn English.
Мне нравится кто-то/что-то. - I like somebody/something


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## Maroseika

eni8ma said:


> what about
> - Мне бы нравится изучать русский.


Мне бы понравилось изучать русский, если бы... (только я начал его изучать).
The problem is that pure conditional and "polite" indicative moods coincide, cf.:
*Я бы сказал*, что уже пора уходить.
Если бы спросили меня, то *я бы сказал*, что уже пора уходить.

Я бы хотел поесть.
Если бы я не позавтракал, то сейчас я бы уже хотел поесть.


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## Thomas26

Maroseika said:


> Both are wrong. I would like to learn Russian means: Я бы хотел изучать русский язык.
> As for Мне нравится изучать русский, it means 'I like learning Russian".
> Нравился бы изучать русский is wrong anyway. Impersonal form would be Мне нравилось бы изучать русский (conditional).



Sorry, how can Мне нравилось бы изучать русский be conditional when нравилось is present tense, I thought conditional tense was Нравился....?? Thanks!


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## Thomas26

What about this?? хотел бы изучать русский? Same idea? (I would (conditional) want/like to learn Russian?)


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## Maroseika

Thomas26 said:


> Sorry, how can Мне нравилось бы изучать русский be conditional when нравилось is present tense, I thought conditional tense was Нравился....?? Thanks!


Нравилось is past tense, neuter gender, нравился - past musculine, and they both can be used in conditional, as well like feminine нравилась:
Если бы ты узнала его получше, он бы тебе понравился.
Если бы ты узнал ее получше, она бы тебе понравилась.
Если бы я узнал это производство получше, оно бы тебе понравилось.


Neuter is also widely used in the impersonal constructions:
Мне бы пришлось, тебе было бы тяжело, etc.



> What about this?? Я хотел бы изучать русский? Same idea? (I would (conditional) want/like to learn Russian?)


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## Thomas26

eni8ma said:


> Он мне нра́вится — I like him.



Why do you conjugate the verb to the OH/OHA form, Why not say "нравлюсь=I like"

and instead you say

"нра́вится= he/she/it likes"

Sorry, coming from English/Spanish and some Polish it just isnt making sense right now.


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## morzh

Нравлюсь - I am liked. Not I like.
Я ей нравлюсь - She likes me (lit. - I am liked by her).

Она мне нравится - I like her. (lit. She is liked by me).

The verbs with "-ся" are reflexive verbs and the usage, though not entirely the same, not quite unlike the Spanish reflexive verbs (ending by -se and such).


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## Thomas26

morzh said:


> Нравлюсь - I am liked. Not I like.
> Я ей нравлюсь - She likes me (lit. - I am liked by her).
> 
> Она мне нравится - I like her. (lit. She is liked by me).
> 
> The verbs with "-ся" are reflexive verbs and the usage, though not entirely the same, not quite unlike the Spanish reflexive verbs (ending by -se and such).



Thank you, this is making sense now. Like in Spanish Me gusta la comida (lit. The food pleases me)....and not Yo gusta la comida (I like the food)


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## idialegre

Maroseika said:


> I would like to learn Russian means: Я бы хотел изучать русский язык.




Is Я хотел бы изучать русский язык just as good? Or is it more idiomatic to place бы first?


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## Natalisha

idialegre said:


> Is Я хотел бы изучать русский язык just as good? Or is it more idiomatic to place бы first?


There's no difference between 'я хотел бы' and 'я бы хотел'.


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## Maroseika

idialegre said:


> Is Я хотел бы изучать русский язык just as good? Or is it more idiomatic to place бы first?


I agree with Natalisha, that in the present case there is no difference, but the very example is not very representative, because the phrase is rather bookish or better say text-bookish.
In the "natural" phrases, I think there is some nuance:
- Чем сегодня займемся?
- Я бы в кино сходил vs Я сходил бы в кино.

- Прыгнем с этой скалы?
- Я бы не рискнул vs Я не рискнул бы.

The formers sound more colloquial and natural in oral speech. 
At least this is how I feel it.


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## rusita preciosa

Thomas26 said:


> Thank you, this is making sense now. Like in Spanish Me gusta la comida (lit. The food pleases me)....and not Yo gusta la comida (I like the food)


 exactly!


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## mabimabi

Let's imagine this situation: I meet a friend whom I haven't seen for a long time. And I ask him: "Have you learnt Russian language?"

Is it correct: "ты изучала английский язык?"


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## Maroseika

mabimabi said:


> Let's imagine this situation: I meet a friend whom I haven't seen for a long time. And I ask him: "Have you learnt Russian language?"
> 
> Is it correct: "ты изучала английский язык?"


If you presume she learnt it and in the end has learnt and now can speak Russian, your variant is not correct, it should be Ты выучила русский язык?
But if you mean to ask whether she learnt it, it's correct.


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## LilianaB

Hi, Thomas. You are trying to apply rules from other languages to Russian. There are no such grammatical distinctions between first conditional or third conditional, and many other phenomena in Russian. You have to use Russian grammar concepts to talk about Russian. Otherwise you will get totally lost.


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## Estuardo

I've  not learnt Russian for long so a question on conditional. Do both clauses in an 'if' sentence have to be in conditional ? Is perfective past more common than imperfective ?
From the above examples I tried to work out 'If I spoke better Russian,I'd spend my holidays in Russia'.
Если я бы говорил (поговорил ?)    лучше                по-русски,то (я) провел бы каникулы в России.

Does this'то' correspond to German 'so' or 'dann' ?


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## gvozd

Estuardo said:


> Если я бы говорил (поговорил ?)    лучше                по-русски,то (я) провел бы каникулы в России.



Если бы я говорил по-русски лучше, я бы провел каникулы в России.

Hard to say about the use of perfective and imperfective past precisely. Too much of miscellaneous nuances.


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## Syline

*Estuardo*
Compare:
If I spoke better Russian,I'd spend my holidays in Russia every year. - Если бы я говорил по-русски лучше, я бы *проводил* каникулы в России каждый год.
If I spoke better Russian,I'd spend my next holidays in Russia. - Если бы я говорил по-русски лучше, я бы *провел* свои следующие каникулы в России.   
If I spoke better Russian, I'd have spent my holidays in Russia. - Если бы я говорил по-русски лучше, я бы *провел* каникулы в России.

You can't use "поговорить" here, as it means either "to have a talk" (Мы поговорили об экзаменах) or "to speak for a short time" (Он немного поговорил по-русски, потом перешел на английский).     



> Does this'то' correspond to German 'so' or 'dann' ?


Do they really differ? I'd say "то" is nearer to "so" by its meaning. "Dann" is "тогда".


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## LilianaB

I think "то" is "то", a specific particle of the Russian language. It is neither _so _nor _dann_ although it has elements of both.


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## Estuardo

Thanks so much for your answers. I start to see some pattern. I've taught languages and studied quite a few but now I'm retired I must finally try to get some understanding of the most difficult one.
Russian seems to have some easy aspects,lack of articles for instance,but the difficulties are huge.Stress patterns,pronunciation,irregular case endings,word order,perfective/imperfective,verbs of motion etc etc.
French,Spanish,Italian scale 1,German scale 2,Dutch 3,Portuguese and Danish 5....Russian 10 !.(English ? Hungarian,Finnish 50,Chinese 100 not that I've ever tried those) Very interesting however
большое спасибо,я часто буду бозврашаться на этот сайт.


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