# Я учу русский язык уже год



## Edgardg

Hi, 
Does the sentence mean that I've been studying or teaching Russian for a year?
"Я учу русский язык уже год."

Thank you


----------



## jester.

As far as I know, "учить" means "to study".


----------



## Insider

Yes, you're right. The sentence written in Russian means the same written in English.  

But still, we'd better wait for the natives.

Insider


----------



## Thomas1

Edgardg said:


> Hi,
> Does the sentence mean that I've been studying or teaching Russian for a year?
> "Я учу русский язык уже год."
> 
> Thank you


IMO, you can translate that into Polish as:
Uczę się języka rosyjskiego już rok/już od roku.

On second thought I think it could also be translated as:
Uczę języka rosyjskiego już rok/już od roku.
This one is wrong, please, see some later posts for clarification.
Tom

I guess they can mean both but wait for natives' confirmation.


----------



## Crescent

Why, thank you... I am honored to be here. (big smile)
So it is my turn to declare again that you're all indeed correct. 'учить' from which comes the 'учу'- is indeed to study, as opposed to 'преподавать' which is 'to teach.'
So... to say 'I have been teaching russian for a whole year' would be : я _преподаю_ русский язык уже год.


----------



## Insider

jester,

The verb _to teach _also means "учить". But it means учить кого-нибудь - to teach somebody.


----------



## Thomas1

Crescent said:


> Why, thank you... I am honored to be here. (big smile)
> So it is my turn to declare again that you're all indeed correct. 'учить' from which comes the 'учу'- is indeed to study, as opposed to 'преподавать' which is 'to teach.'
> So... to say 'I have been teaching russian for a whole year' would be : я _преподаю_ русский язык уже год.


 


Insider said:


> jester,
> 
> The verb _to teach _also means "учить". But it means учить кого-нибудь - to teach somebody.


I'm a bit confused by these answers.  
Does the original sentence can have two meanings?


----------



## Anatoli

Edgardg said:


> Hi,
> Does the sentence mean that I've been studying or teaching Russian for a year?
> "Я учу русский язык уже год."
> 
> Thank you


100% correct - grammar and words 
We use present tense in these cases, time expressions explain that the action "has been happening" over a period.

учить can (apart from to learn, to study also) mean to teach but it would require a human object.

я учу*сь* - I study, learn (am studying, learning) - no object (учить*ся*), ususally without object or if with an object then dative, not accusative
я учу русский (язык) - I learn/study Russian (accusative)
я учу *его* русск*ому* язык*у* - I teach him Russian (accusative, dative)


----------



## papillon

Thomas1 said:


> I'm a bit confused by these answers.
> Does the original sentence can have two meanings?


Yes. The verb учить actually means either to learn or to teach. I would say most of the time it's used in the sense of "to learn smth", so without context I assumed it meant I've been studying Russian for 1 year already.
However, it could also mean that I've been teaching Russian for 1 year. As Crescent pointed out, to avoid this confusion the verb преподавать or обучать is often used for teach instead of учить.

Many times the types of direct/indirect objects used in the sentense tell you the meaning:
Я учу русский язык (language as d/o) -- I am studying Russian
Я учу детей русскому языку (language as i/o) -- I am teaching Russian to children.

EDIT: I see Anatoli and I have come up with almost identical examples


----------



## Edgardg

Thank you all. So without a context "Я учу ..." can mean both  .

Cheers, Edgard


----------



## Gvcc1girl

Just FYI from someone who's studied Russian on and off over the past 18 years... This verb generally gives me problems.  You can use the verb учить to indicate you are currently studying the language, but if you are telling someone you have "studied over a period of time" (ie- months, years, or any period of duration), you can use изучать.

ie- я уже 18 лет изучала русский язык.  (I have been studing Russian over the past 18 years).

The verb изучать is indicative of long-term study with the end-goal being proficiency or mastery of the language or skill (ie- you could use it not only in reference to Russian, but also Mathematics, English, etc...)

Just something that I thought you may find helpful.

Good luck with your studies!


----------



## Anatoli

Gvcc1girl said:


> originally: я уже 18 лет изуча*ла* русский язык
> correct: я уже 18 лет изучаю русский язык.  (I have been studing Russian over the past 18 years).



You should use present tense in these type of sentences


----------



## Gvcc1girl

Really?  I work at a language institute (not in any way tooting a horn-- grammar and I don't get along too well) and the Russian instructors seem to make no distinction to the students... they seem to accept the past tense as correct.  Now that I think about it, I guess it would be more correct to say it in the present tense if my studies are ongoing... right?


----------



## Anatoli

Gvcc1girl said:


> Really?  I work at a language institute (not in any way tooting a horn-- grammar and I don't get along too well) and the Russian instructors seem to make no distinction to the students... they seem to accept the past tense as correct.  Now that I think about it, I guess it would be more correct to say it in the present tense if my studies are ongoing... right?


Yes, that's correct. Your original sentence would mean that you studied but then stopped or if you refer to a paste event that followed your studies, e.g.:

Когда я приехала в Россию, я уже 18 лет изучала русский язык.
When I arrived in Russia, I had already been studying Russian for 18 years.


----------



## Taty_87

Anatoli said:


> 100% correct - grammar and words
> We use present tense in these cases, time expressions explain that the action "has been happening" over a period.
> 
> учить can (apart from to learn, to study also) mean to teach but it would require a human object.
> 
> я учу*сь* - I study, learn (am studying, learning) - no object (учить*ся*), ususally without object or if with an object then dative, not accusative
> я учу русский (язык) - I learn/study Russian (accusative)
> я учу *его* русск*ому* язык*у* - I teach him Russian (accusative, dative)



Your explaination is very useful!


----------



## oirobi

Учить кого-то (somebody - animate) = to teach someone
Учить что-то (something - inanimate) = to learn/study something

I've been studying Russian for a year. = Я учу русский (уже) год.
I've been teaching (them) Russian for a year. = Я преподаю (им) русский (уже) год.


----------



## marco_2

Do you still use the older expression (which in the past was the only one accepted, at least by my Russian teachers): *Я учусь русскому языку *or it is totally obsolete?


----------



## oirobi

This one, indeed, sounds quite out of date, although readily intelligble. Better use direct object constructions (Я учу руский язык). 

Учусь is more preferred the following infinitives (Я учусь читать/петь/водить/ходить = I learn to read/sing/drive/walk)


----------



## marco_2

OK, thank you. But I can say *Я учусь вокалу у знаменитого Салмонелли, *(no matter whoever it is)?


----------



## oirobi

marco_2 said:


> OK, thank you. But I can say
> *Я учусь вокалу у знаменитого Салмонелли, *(no matter whoever it is)?



 Yup! Just wanted to add that if some sort of art is involved, then it's exactly "учусь + dative" that should be used (don't ask me why )))

 I've been learning this art for five years now = Я учусь этому искусству уже 5 лет (same holds for vocalism)

M-m, you seem to know all the ins-n-outs better than native speakers... )))


----------



## Ptak

I can't believe that several answers in this thread, including those from native speakers, said that the original sentence can have both meanings, "I've been studying Russian" and "I've been teaching Russian". The original sentence in no way can mean "I've been _teaching_ Russian for a year"! It has only one meaning and is absolutely clear without any context.

"I've been teaching Russian for a year" would be: _Я преподаю русский язык уже год_. Or, if you need to use the words from the original sentence: _Я учу *людей* (*детей*, *студентов*, whoever) русск*ому* язык*у* уже год_. With _людей_ it sounds quite clumsy. With _детей_ or _студентов_ it's more or less okay.


----------



## grinski

Я учу русский язык (I study, learn with wide context) = Я учусь русскому языку (I study/ learn by myself or at classes with a very slight accent on self-studying compared to the previous example).
Я учу русскому языку [кого-то] (I teach [somebody], a bit simplistic, nonetheless correct grammar). Я обучаю русскому языку, я преподаю русский язык is better.


----------

