Я люблю читать новости о мире и о разных странах.

Breakdown of Я люблю читать новости о мире и о разных странах.

я
I
читать
to read
и
and
страна
the country
о
about
любить
to like
разный
different
новость
the news
мир
the world
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Questions & Answers about Я люблю читать новости о мире и о разных странах.

Why do we say люблю читать and not something like люблю читал?

In Russian, when you say you like doing something in general, you almost always use любить + infinitive.

  • люблю читать = I like to read / I like reading
  • люблю слушать музыку = I like listening to music
  • люблю готовить = I like to cook

The form читал is a past-tense verb (I was reading / I read), not an infinitive, so люблю читал is ungrammatical. After люблю / люблю́, you want the infinitive читать.

Why is новости plural, when news in English is uncountable and looks singular?

Russian treats новости as a normal countable plural noun:

  • singular: новостьa piece of news, a news item
  • plural: новостиnews, the news

In everyday Russian, people almost always talk about новости in the plural to mean “the news” in general:

  • Я смотрю новости.I watch the news.
  • Свежие новости.The latest news.

So although English uses an uncountable noun news, Russian uses the regular plural новости.

What case are мире and странах, and why are they in that case?

Both мире and странах are in the prepositional case.

The preposition о (about) requires the prepositional case:

  • о миреabout the world
    • мир (nominative) → о мире (prepositional)
  • о разных странахabout different countries
    • страна (nominative) → о странах (prepositional plural)
    • разные (nominative plural) → разных (prepositional plural feminine, agreeing with странах; in this declension type, prepositional plural = genitive plural form)

So the structure is:
о + [noun in prepositional case] (plus any adjectives also in prepositional).

Why is the adjective разных used here instead of разные?

Разных is the prepositional plural form of the adjective, agreeing with странах (also prepositional plural).

  • Nominative plural: разные страныdifferent countries (as the subject or object)
  • Prepositional plural: о разных странахabout different countries

In Russian, adjectives must agree with their nouns in gender, number, and case. Since странах is feminine, plural, prepositional, the adjective must also be feminine, plural, prepositionalразных.

Why is the preposition о repeated: о мире и о разных странах? Could we just say о мире и разных странах?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance:

  1. о мире и о разных странах

    • Repeating о sounds a bit more careful, clear, and slightly more formal or emphatic.
    • It strongly separates the two objects: about the world and about different countries.
  2. о мире и разных странах

    • Omitting the second о is also correct and is common in speech.
    • It sounds a bit more compact and colloquial.

Your original sentence with repeated о is perfectly natural and maybe just a bit more explicit.

Could we use про instead of о here? What is the difference between о мире and про мир?

You could say:

  • читать новости про мир и про разные страны

This is grammatically fine, but there’s a stylistic difference:

  • о is more neutral and standard, often used in written language and in any style.
  • про is more colloquial, typical in everyday spoken Russian.

In many everyday contexts, о and про overlap in meaning (about), but:

  • In formal writing, news articles, academic contexts, о is preferred.
  • In casual speech, про is very common.

So о мире и о разных странах sounds a bit more neutral/standard than про мир и про разные страны.

Why is the subject я included? Could we drop it and just say Люблю читать новости…?

Yes, you can drop it:

  • Я люблю читать новости о мире и о разных странах.
  • Люблю читать новости о мире и о разных странах.

Both are correct.

Russian is a “pro‑drop” language: the verb form люблю already encodes the person (я, I), so the pronoun is often omitted when it’s obvious from context. Including я can:

  • make the subject a bit more explicit or emphatic,
  • or just sound a bit more “full” or neutral in many contexts.

In isolation, the sentence with я feels slightly more complete, but in a longer conversation the shorter Люблю читать… would be very natural.

What is the gender of новости, and what is its singular form?

Новости is feminine plural.

  • Singular: новость (feminine) – a piece of news
  • Plural: новостиnews / the news

Examples:

  • Это хорошая новость.This is good news (one piece of news).
  • У меня для тебя две новости.I have two pieces of news for you.
  • Я читаю новости.I read the news.
Why is мире spelled with at the end instead of мирe with some other ending? How is мир declined?

Мире is the prepositional singular form of мир.

Basic singular forms of мир (masculine, inanimate):

  • Nominative: мирworld; peace
  • Genitive: мира
  • Dative: миру
  • Accusative: мир
  • Instrumental: миром
  • Prepositional: о мире

The prepositional ending for many masculine nouns like мир is , hence о мире.

What aspect is читать, and could we use почитать instead?

Читать is imperfective aspect. It focuses on the process or repeated action: to read (in general, habitually).

  • Я люблю читать новости… = I like reading news (in general, as a habit).

Почитать is perfective and usually implies reading for a while, a completed episode:

  • Я хочу почитать новости.I want to read the news (for a bit, this time).

In your sentence, you’re talking about what you like doing in general, so the imperfective infinitive читать is the natural choice. Using почитать here would sound odd.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Я новости люблю читать о мире и о разных странах?

Russian word order is fairly flexible, but not every permutation sounds natural.

Natural options include:

  • Я люблю читать новости о мире и о разных странах. (neutral, standard)
  • Новости о мире и о разных странах я люблю читать. (emphasis on news about the world and different countries)
  • Я люблю новости о мире и о разных странах читать. (slightly marked, mild emphasis on читать)

Your version Я новости люблю читать о мире и о разных странах is understandable, but the placement of новости is a bit awkward in this context. It’s better to keep читать новости together:

  • Я люблю читать новости о мире и о разных странах.
  • or, more stylized: Новости о мире и о разных странах я люблю читать.
How should the words in this sentence be stressed (pronounced) correctly?

Stresses:

  • Я люблю читать новости о мире и о разных странах.

Word by word:

  • я́ or я – usually unstressed here (the main stress is on the verb люблю́)
  • люблю́ – stress on -лю́
  • чита́ть – stress on -та́ть
  • но́вости – stress on но́- (NO-vo-stee)
  • о ми́реми́-
  • и – no stress (it’s a conjunction)
  • о ра́зныхра́-
  • страна́хна́

So the main stressed syllables are: люблю́ чита́ть но́вости о ми́ре и о ра́зных страна́х.

Could мир here mean “peace” instead of “world”?

The noun мир can mean both “world” and “peace”, and the form о мире works for either meaning. The actual meaning comes from context.

  • читать новости о мире almost always means “read news about the world”, i.e. international news.
  • If you wanted to emphasize “peace”, you’d need context like:
    • новости о мире и войнеnews about peace and war

In your sentence, combined with о разных странах, the meaning is clearly “about the world and about different countries”, not about peace.