Questions & Answers about Я увлекаюсь спортом и бегаю каждое утро.
What does увлекаюсь mean and why does it end with -ся?
The verb увлекаться is a reflexive (or middle‐voice) verb meaning “to be passionate about,” “to take a keen interest in.” The suffix -ся doesn’t make it passive here; it turns увлекать (“to enthrall, carry away”) into “to get carried away by something” (i.e. “to be really into it”).
Why is спортом in the instrumental case?
In Russian, verbs like увлекаться, заниматься, интересоваться require the instrumental case for the thing you’re into or occupied with. So спорт becomes спортом to show “I am passionate about sports.”
How is увлекаться спортом different from заниматься спортом or любить спорт?
- заниматься спортом = “to practice/do sports” (focus on the activity itself)
- любить спорт = “to love sports” (focus on the feeling)
- увлекаться спортом = implies a hobby or deep passion; you regularly get carried away by sports, it’s more than just liking or doing it.
Why is бегаю used here? Can we use побегаю instead?