Learn Hardcore Russian: Человек, запоминающий новые слова в светлом офисе, быстрее учит язык. - The person memorizing new words in the bright office learns the language faster.

Запоминающий is a present active participle (действительное причастие настоящего времени) derived from the verb запоминать. It acts like an adjective modifying человек, so the phrase человек, запоминающий новые слова… means “the person who is remembering new words…”.

Why are there commas around запоминающий новые слова в светлом офисе?

In Russian, a participle phrase that follows its noun is normally set off by commas as a detached (non-restrictive) modifier. Here the commas mark that extra descriptive information about человек; you could remove the whole clause and still have a grammatical sentence: Человек быстрее учит язык.

Why is новые слова in the accusative case (and not genitive)?

The verb запоминать takes a direct object in the accusative case. Since слова is an inanimate plural noun, its accusative form coincides with the nominative: новые слова.

What case is светлом офисе, and why is that case used?

Светлом офисе is in the prepositional case, which is used after the preposition в to indicate location (“in a bright office”). The adjective светлый agrees with офис in gender (masculine), number (singular), and case (prepositional).

Why do we say учит язык instead of учится языку?

While учиться + dative (e.g. учится языку) is grammatically correct and means “to learn,” Russian speakers often prefer учить язык (verb учить + accusative) to express “learning a language.” For more formal style, one could also use изучать язык.

What is the function of быстрее, and why is it placed before учит?

Быстрее is the comparative form of the adverb быстро, meaning “more quickly” or “faster.” Adverbs in Russian typically precede the verb they modify, so быстрее учит means “learns faster.”

Could we say учит быстрее instead of быстрее учит, and would the meaning change?

Yes, учит быстрее is also correct. Word order in Russian is relatively flexible. Placing the adverb after the verb doesn’t change the core meaning, though the emphasis may shift slightly onto the action of learning.

Why isn’t there a relative pronoun like который before запоминающий?

Russian often replaces full relative clauses with participles. Instead of saying человек, который запоминает новые слова…, the participle запоминающий makes the sentence more concise while preserving the same meaning.