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Questions & Answers about Я уважаю учителя.
Why are there no articles like the or a in Я уважаю учителя?
Russian doesn’t have separate words for “a” or “the.” Nouns by themselves carry both definite and indefinite meanings, and context or word order often tells you whether it’s “a teacher,” “the teacher,” or just “teacher” in general.
What case is учителя in, and why this form?
Here учителя is the accusative singular of an animate masculine noun. Russian verbs of action take a direct object in the accusative. For masculine animate nouns, accusative looks exactly like genitive, so учитель → учителя.
How do I know учителя isn’t nominative plural or just genitive?
Context and the verb уважаю (“I respect”) show that it’s a direct object, not a subject or possessive. Although the nominative plural of учитель is spelled учителя as well, that form has a different stress pattern in speech and wouldn’t make sense as a subject here – the verb form уважаю is 1st person singular, so the noun must be the object.
Why does the verb уважаю end in -ю?
Уважать belongs to the first conjugation (verbs ending in -ать). In the present tense, 1st person singular ends in -ю:
я уважаю, ты уважаешь, он уважает, мы уважаем, вы уважаете, они уважают.
What’s the difference between уважать and уважить?
Уважать is imperfective – it describes an ongoing or habitual respect (“I respect”). Уважить is perfective – it would describe the act of bringing respect to completion (“to come to respect” or “to pay respect once”). In practice, you virtually always use the imperfective уважать for feelings or states like respect.
Can I drop the Я and just say Уважаю учителя?
Yes. Russian often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you the person. Уважаю учителя is perfectly natural and sounds a bit more colloquial or emphatic (“I do respect the teacher”).
How would I say “I respect the teachers” (more than one)?
Use the accusative plural of учитель, which is учителей (animate nouns add -ей):
Я уважаю учителей.
Does word order matter? Could I say Я учителя уважаю?
Word order in Russian is flexible for emphasis. The neutral order is Subject–Verb–Object (Я уважаю учителя). Moving words around shifts the focus:
– Я учителя уважаю (emphasizes “I,” as opposed to someone else)
– Учителя я уважаю (emphasizes “the teacher,” as opposed to someone else)
– Уважаю (я) учителя (emphasizes the action of respecting).