Learn Hardcore Russian: Вообще, я предпочитаю учить слова сразу в контексте, а не отдельно. - In general, I prefer to learn words immediately in context rather than separately.

вообще literally means “in general” or “overall.” At the start of a sentence it often acts as a discourse marker, introducing a general statement or habitual tendency. It softens the tone, making the preference sound like a usual habit rather than an absolute rule. You could omit it (“Я предпочитаю…”) without changing the core meaning, but you’d lose that conversational nuance.

Why is the verb учить used in its imperfective form here rather than a perfective like выучить?

The imperfective aspect (учить) describes ongoing, habitual, or repeated actions. Since the speaker is talking about their regular preference for the process of learning vocabulary, the imperfective is appropriate. A perfective verb like выучить would focus on the completed action (“to learn completely”), which doesn’t fit a general habit.

What case is слова, and why is it used that way?

слова is the accusative plural of слово. In Russian, inanimate nouns have the same form in nominative and accusative plural. Here it functions as the direct object of учить (“to learn words”).

Why is в контексте in the prepositional case? Could one use the instrumental instead?

The preposition в meaning “in” requires the prepositional case for location or abstract contexts: в контексте = “in context.” If you switch to instrumental (контекстом) you’d need either no preposition or a different one (e.g. с контекстом) and it would shift the meaning to “using context as a tool.” The original phrasing emphasizes doing something within a context.

What nuance does сразу add in сразу в контексте?

сразу means “immediately” or “right away.” Here it stresses that the learner prefers to start studying words straight away in context, without first isolating them.

Why is the conjunction а used instead of но in а не отдельно?

Both а and но can be translated as “but,” but а typically contrasts two options or circumstances with a softer, more neutral tone. In а не отдельно, а simply highlights the contrast “in context rather than separately,” without implying strong objection.

Why is there a comma before а не отдельно?

In Russian, a comma is placed before coordinating conjunctions like а, но, да, etc., when they link clauses or contrasting parts. Even though а не отдельно is a short, elliptic clause, the comma marks the shift and contrast between the two ideas.

What part of speech is отдельно, and why is that form used here?

отдельно is an adverb meaning “separately.” It modifies the verb учить to explain how the action is done. The corresponding adjective отдельный wouldn’t work because you need an adverb to describe a verb’s manner.