Они продолжают бороться.

Yes, Russian often can leave subject pronouns out when the verb form already makes the subject clear.

So:

• Они продолжают бороться. = They continue to fight / struggle.
• Продолжают бороться. can also mean the same thing, if the context already tells you who they are.

Russian uses pronouns like они for clarity, contrast, or emphasis more than English does.

Продолжают is the 3rd person plural present tense form of продолжать.

Breakdown:

• продолжать = to continue
• продолжаю = I continue
• продолжаешь = you continue
• продолжает = he/she/it continues
• продолжаем = we continue
• продолжаете = you all / formal you continue
• продолжают = they continue

So они продолжают literally means they continue.

After продолжать, Russian usually uses an infinitive to say continue doing something.

So the structure is:

• продолжать + infinitive

Examples:

• продолжать работать = to continue working
• продолжать говорить = to continue speaking
• продолжать бороться = to continue fighting / struggling

This is similar to English continue to fight.

Бороться can mean both:

• to fight
• to struggle

The exact sense depends on context.

For example:

• physical fight or active resistance
• political or social struggle
• struggle against difficulties, illness, injustice, etc.

So this sentence could describe actual fighting or a more figurative struggle.

The -ся ending is a common Russian verb ending, often called a reflexive marker.

In some verbs it clearly means something like oneself, but in many cases it is just part of the verb and must be learned with it.

Here, бороться is simply the normal dictionary form meaning to fight / struggle. You should learn it as a whole word.

Important:

• бороть by itself is not the usual verb you want here
• бороться is the standard verb meaning to struggle / fight

So treat бороться as its own verb, not as бороть + oneself in a literal English sense.

Бороться is imperfective.

That fits well here because продолжают бороться describes an ongoing process. They are still in the middle of the struggle.

In Russian, imperfective verbs are commonly used for:

• ongoing actions
• repeated actions
• general processes

Since continue doing something already emphasizes an ongoing action, the infinitive after it is normally imperfective.

The stress is:

• они́
• продолжа́ют
• боро́ться

A rough pronunciation guide:

• они́ ≈ a-NEE
• продолжа́ют ≈ pra-dal-ZHA-yut
• боро́ться ≈ ba-RO-tsa

A useful thing to know: in -ться, the combination often sounds close to -ца in normal speech.

So боро́ться is pronounced closer to ba-RO-tsa than an English speaker might expect from the spelling.

Yes. In natural English, this Russian sentence can often be translated as:

• They continue to fight.
• They keep fighting.
• They go on fighting.

All of these can work, depending on style and context.

The Russian sentence itself is neutral and simply expresses continuation of the action.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English.

The neutral order is:

• Они продолжают бороться.

But you might also see:

• Продолжают они бороться.
• Бороться они продолжают.

These alternatives can shift emphasis or sound more stylistic, but the basic meaning stays the same.

For learners, the standard order Они продолжают бороться is the safest one to use.

Yes, that is possible, but it is a slightly different structure.

• Они продолжают бороться. = They continue to fight / struggle.
• Они продолжают борьбу. = They continue the fight / struggle.

The second version uses the noun борьба (struggle, fight) instead of the verb бороться.

Both are natural. The choice depends on style:

• продолжают бороться sounds more action-focused
• продолжают борьбу sounds a bit more formal or abstract

Very often, yes.

Common patterns:

• бороться с кем/чем = to fight against someone/something

  • бороться с врагом = to fight the enemy
  • бороться с болезнью = to struggle with an illness

• бороться за что = to fight for something

  • бороться за свободу = to fight for freedom

So your sentence can be expanded, for example:

• Они продолжают бороться с системой.
• Они продолжают бороться за свои права.

Борются simply means they fight / they are fighting / they struggle.

Продолжают бороться adds the idea that the action is still going on or is being continued.

Compare:

• Они борются. = They are fighting / struggling.
• Они продолжают бороться. = They continue to fight / They keep struggling.

So продолжают adds a clearer sense of persistence or continuation.

It usually suggests an ongoing situation, but context decides how narrow or broad the time frame is.

It can mean:

• they are continuing right now
• they have not stopped over a longer period
• they remain engaged in the struggle

So it does not have to mean only this exact moment. It can describe a larger continuing process.

Yes. The ending -ют marks 3rd person plural for this verb type.

So when you see продолжают, you know the subject is they.

That is one reason Russian can often omit они: the verb ending already tells you the subject is plural third person.

So even without они, продолжают already contains the idea of they continue.