Question 1

Why is the verb испытываю used with the noun любопытство, instead of simply saying я любопытен?

Accepted Answer

In Russian you can express “to experience a feeling” by pairing испытывать (to experience) with a noun that names that feeling, e.g. испытывать страх, испытывать радость. Here испытываю любопытство literally means “I experience curiosity.” By contrast, я любопытен uses the adjective любопытный in the short-form masculine to mean “I am curious.” Both are correct, but:  
- испытывать + noun emphasizes the sensation or state as something you go through.  
- я любопытен simply describes a permanent or general trait (“I’m a curious person”).

Question 2

What’s the difference between испытываю and чувствую in contexts like this?

Accepted Answer

Both verbs can introduce emotional or sensory experiences, but with slight nuance:  
- чувствовать (to feel) is more general and colloquial: я чувствую радость, я чувствую холод.  
- испытывать (to experience) sounds more formal or literary and often pairs with abstract nouns (страх, любопытство, приятные ощущения).

In everyday speech you might say мне любопытно or я любопытен, but испытываю любопытство is perfectly correct if you want a slightly elevated style.

Question 3

Why is it о новых открытиях? What case is used and why does новых end with -ых and открытиях with -ях?

Accepted Answer

The preposition о (about) always takes the prepositional case. In plural that means:  
- Adjectives get -ых or -их (here новых).  
- Nouns get -ах or -ях (here открытиях).

So о новых открытиях literally means “about new discoveries.”

Question 4

Why is the verb читаю in the present tense, and could you use a perfective instead?

Accepted Answer

Читаю is the present-tense form of the imperfective verb читать, which describes an ongoing or habitual action (“I read / I’m reading”). If you used a perfective like прочитать, you couldn’t form a present tense (there is no present прочитаю meaning “I am reading” – that means “I will read”). Perfectives focus on completed actions, so you would say когда я прочитаю о новых открытиях, я ... to mean “when I have read about new discoveries, I ...”

Question 5

How does the conjunction когда work here, and can I put the time clause first?

Accepted Answer

Когда means “when” and introduces a subordinate clause of time (когда читаю о новых открытиях). You can place it either after the main clause or before it with no change in meaning:  
- Я испытываю любопытство, когда читаю о новых открытиях.  
- Когда я читаю о новых открытиях, я испытываю любопытство.

Both are correct; dropping я in the subordinate clause is also common if the subject is obvious.

Question 6

Can I drop the pronoun я in я испытываю любопытство?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Russian is a pro-drop language: the verb ending -ю in испытываю already shows first-person singular. You could simply say Испытываю любопытство, когда читаю о новых открытиях. Including я adds a bit more emphasis or clarity, but isn’t grammatically required.

Я испытываю любопытство, когда читаю о новых открытиях.

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