Breakdown of Я дал себе честное обещание каждый день учить русский.
Questions & Answers about Я дал себе честное обещание каждый день учить русский.
Russian often uses дать обещание (to give a promise) where English says “make a promise.”
- дать обещание = “to give a promise” → idiomatic Russian for “to make a promise”.
- себе is the dative of я and means “to myself / to me”.
So Я дал себе обещание is literally “I gave myself a promise,” but idiomatically: “I made a promise to myself.”
You could also say:
- Я пообещал себе каждый день учить русский. – “I promised myself to study Russian every day.”
Both are natural. дать обещание just sounds a bit more formal/emphatic than пообещать.
себе and себя are different cases of the same reflexive pronoun:
- себе – dative case (“to myself / to yourself / to herself…”)
- себя – genitive/accusative case (“myself / yourself / herself…” as a direct object or after many prepositions)
The verb дать (“to give”) takes:
- a direct object in the accusative (what is given), and
- an indirect object in the dative (to whom it is given).
In this sentence:
- обещание (promise) is what is being given → direct object (accusative).
- себе (to myself) is the receiver → indirect object (dative).
So Я дал себе обещание is structured like English “I gave myself a promise” (where “myself” is grammatically an indirect object, corresponding to dative себе).
дал is past tense, masculine form of дать:
- masculine: дал
- feminine: дала
- neuter: дало
- plural: дали
So:
- Я дал себе честное обещание… – said by a man.
- Я дала себе честное обещание… – said by a woman.
давал / давала / давали are past imperfective forms and usually refer to repeated or ongoing actions in the past (“was giving / used to give”). Here, you’re talking about one specific act of making a promise, so the perfective дал is correct.
If you said Я давал себе честные обещания…, it would mean something like:
- “I used to give myself honest promises…” (repeated habit), not one specific promise.
By default, Russian places adjectives before the noun:
- честное обещание – “an honest/sincere promise”
- новая книга – “a new book”
- интересный фильм – “an interesting movie”
The pattern обещание честное is possible but unusual; it sounds like you’re stressing or contrasting the adjective, for example:
- Обещание честное, а выполнять его никто не собирается.
“The promise is honest, but no one intends to keep it.”
In your sentence there is no contrast; it’s just a normal description, so честное обещание is the natural word order.
честное обещание can be translated as either:
- “an honest promise”
- “a sincere promise”
It suggests that you really mean it and intend to keep it.
You can absolutely omit it:
- Я дал себе обещание каждый день учить русский.
“I made myself a promise to study Russian every day.”
That’s fully grammatical; it just sounds slightly less emphatic/solemn than with честное.
Both are correct:
- учить русский
- учить русский язык
In everyday speech, the word язык is often dropped when it’s clear we’re talking about a language. It’s like English omitting “language” sometimes (“I study Russian” vs. “I study the Russian language”).
учить русский язык can sound a bit more explicit or textbook-like, but in normal conversation учить русский is very common and natural.
Both relate to learning/studying, but their nuance is slightly different:
- учить русский – more general and very common in speech; can sound a bit more about the act of learning (like doing exercises, memorizing).
- изучать русский – emphasizes systematic, thorough study (more formal/academic-sounding).
So:
Я дал себе честное обещание каждый день учить русский.
– everyday, conversational, very natural.Я дал себе честное обещание каждый день изучать русский.
– also correct; sounds a bit more formal or serious, like “to study Russian (in depth) every day”.
Here русский is in the accusative singular masculine:
- verb: учить (“to learn / to study” something)
- “what” is learned: русский → direct object (accusative)
For inanimate masculine nouns and adjectives, the accusative form is the same as the nominative:
- nominative: русский (язык)
- accusative: русский (язык)
So it looks like the nominative, but grammatically it’s the accusative: you are studying (the) Russian (language).
Yes, Russian word order is flexible. These are all acceptable:
- Я дал себе честное обещание каждый день учить русский.
- Я дал себе честное обещание учить русский каждый день.
- Я честное обещание дал себе каждый день учить русский. (less neutral, more emotional/emphatic)
The most natural/common would be 1 and 2.
The meaning is essentially the same: “I made a sincere promise to study Russian every day.”
A slight nuance:
- Positioning каждый день right before учить or right after учить русский keeps the rhythm clear that the daily action is the studying. If you moved каждый день too far away (e.g., to the very beginning), context would still make it clear, but it might sound more marked:
Каждый день я дал себе честное обещание учить русский. – sounds off, because “I gave myself a promise every day” is weird.
So: keep каждый день near учить.
учить is imperfective, used for:
- ongoing processes
- repeated/habitual actions
- not focused on completion of the whole action
You’re promising to do this every day, i.e., to engage in the process daily, so imperfective учить is correct.
выучить русский (perfective) means “to learn Russian (completely, to have mastered it).”
If you said:
- Я дал себе честное обещание выучить русский.
that would mean: “I made myself a sincere promise to (eventually) learn Russian (to completion).” It focuses on the final result, not on the daily habit. Both are possible, but the meanings differ:
- учить русский каждый день – promise about regular effort.
- выучить русский – promise about eventual success / final mastery.
Yes, that’s very natural:
- Я пообещал себе каждый день учить русский.
Differences:
- дал себе честное обещание – a bit more formal/solemn, almost like a set phrase (“I gave myself an honest promise”).
- пообещал себе – simpler, more neutral; just “I promised myself”.
Semantically they’re almost the same in this context.
Both express “every day,” but:
- каждый день – neutral, very common in spoken language.
- ежедневно – more formal/literary/official, like “daily” or “on a daily basis.”
Your sentence with ежедневно:
- Я дал себе честное обещание ежедневно учить русский.
This is correct, but it sounds a bit more bookish or written. каждый день is more conversational.
No, no comma is needed here.
Structure:
- Я дал себе честное обещание – main clause.
- каждый день учить русский – infinitive phrase functioning as the content of the promise (what kind of promise).
Russian does not require a comma between the main verb and an infinitive phrase that depends on it. So:
- Я дал себе честное обещание каждый день учить русский. – correct, no commas.