Я начну изучать грамматику.

I will start studying grammar.

Breakdown of Я начну изучать грамматику.

• я: I
• грамматика: the grammar
• изучать: to study
• начать: to start

Questions & Answers about Я начну изучать грамматику.

Why is the verb начну used here instead of начинаю or буду начинать?

Начну is the first-person singular future form of the perfective verb начать. Perfective verbs in Russian don’t have a present tense—they only express completed actions. So начну means “I will start” as a single whole event. In contrast, начинаю is the present tense of the imperfective начинать (“I am starting” or “I start” right now), and буду начинать would be a periphrastic future of the imperfective (“I will be starting”), which emphasizes the process rather than the moment of beginning.

What is the difference between начать and начинать?

Начать is the perfective infinitive (to begin/do something to completion), and начинать is the imperfective infinitive (to be in the process of beginning or to habitually begin).
• Imperfective (начинать): describes ongoing, repeated, or habitual actions (“I’m starting,” “I used to start”).
• Perfective (начать): describes a single, complete action (“I will start,” “I started once”).

Why is изучать in the imperfective aspect and not the perfective изучить?

Изучать (imperfective) focuses on the ongoing process of studying. When you say Я начну изучать грамматику, you indicate you’re beginning the process, not necessarily finishing it. If you used the perfective Я начну изучить грамматику, it would sound odd, because you’d be saying “I will start to learn completely,” but the perfective изучить already implies completion (“I will learn/learned”). Generally, perfective + perfective infinitive is unusual when you mean “start doing something,” so you pair perfective начать with imperfective изучать.

Why are there two verbs начну изучать in a row? How does that structure work?

In Russian, you can combine a perfective verb of “beginning” (like начать, приступить, запустить) with an infinitive in the imperfective aspect to express “start doing X” as a process. The first verb (начну) pinpoints the moment you will begin; the second verb (изучать) describes the action you’ll be doing after that moment.

Why is грамматику in the accusative case, and how do I decline it?

Грамматика is a feminine noun. To make it the direct object of изучать, you put it in the accusative case. For feminine nouns ending in -а in the nominative, the accusative ending is -у:
• Nominative: грамматика (grammar)
• Accusative: грамматику (grammar as an object)

Do I need to include the pronoun Я in the sentence?

No, the pronoun Я (I) is optional in Russian because the verb ending -у in начну already tells you the subject is “I.” You can say simply Начну изучать грамматику. Leaving out Я is common in informal speech or when the subject is obvious.

What is the difference between Я начну изучать грамматику and Я буду изучать грамматику?

• Я начну изучать грамматику emphasizes the point in time when you begin the process of studying grammar.
• Я буду изучать грамматику uses the future tense of the imperfective verb изучать, simply stating “I will study grammar” (emphasizing the future action or duration, not specifically its start).

Is the word order flexible here? Could I say Начну изучать грамматику or move я elsewhere?

Yes. Russian has fairly flexible word order for emphasis. Standard is Я начну изучать грамматику (S-V-O), but you can say:
• Начну изучать грамматику. (omit я)
• Я грамматику начну изучать… (shifts emphasis to “grammar”)
Each variation changes the focus or style but retains the same general meaning.