Learn Hardcore Russian: Любопытный студент спрашивает, почему правило работает именно так. - A curious student asks why the rule works exactly like that.

Often it is positive or neutral: любопытный студент = a student who is inquisitive, interested in learning.
It can also be mildly negative, like nosy, if used about someone who asks inappropriate questions:
- Он слишком любопытный. – He’s too nosy.

Context decides whether it feels more like inquisitive or nosy. In your sentence it’s clearly positive: a student who wants to understand the rule better.

Why is студент in the nominative case here?

Студент is the subject of the sentence — the one doing the action спрашивает (asks).
In Russian, the subject normally appears in the nominative case.

Pattern:

Кто? Что? (Who? What?) → nominative
Кто спрашивает? – Студент.

So любопытный студент is just a noun phrase in nominative: curious student (subject).

Why is the verb спрашивает used instead of спросил or спрашивает о?

Aspect and tense
- спрашивает – imperfective, present tense: is asking / asks (right now or generally).
- спросил – perfective, past tense: asked (completed action).

Your sentence describes a situation as it happens (or as a general habit), so present imperfective спрашивает fits.

Direct vs. “about”
- спрашивать
  - прямой вопрос (direct question):
    - Студент спрашивает, почему правило работает… – He asks why the rule works…
- спрашивать о чём-то – ask about something in general:
  - Студент спрашивает о правиле. – He asks about the rule.

Here he is asking a specific why-question, so спрашивает, почему… is the natural structure.

Why is there a comma before почему?

The comma marks the beginning of a subordinate clause (a dependent clause).

Main clause: Любопытный студент спрашивает – The curious student asks
Subordinate clause (object clause): почему правило работает именно так – why the rule works this way

In Russian, subordinate clauses introduced by words like что, почему, когда, если etc. are normally separated from the main clause by a comma:

Я знаю, что это правда.
Он спросил, когда вы придёте.

What is the difference between почему and зачем?

Both can be translated as why, but they ask about different things:

почему – asks about cause / reason (why something happens).
- Почему правило работает так? – Why does the rule work like that? (What causes this behavior?)
зачем – asks about purpose / goal (for what purpose).
- Зачем это правило нужно? – Why do we need this rule? (What is it for?)

In your sentence we are asking about the reason/mechanism of how the rule works, so почему is correct.

What does правило mean here, and which case is it in?

Правило means rule (a grammar rule, law, instruction, etc.).

In the sentence it is in the nominative singular and acts as the subject of the verb работает within the subordinate clause:

Subordinate clause: почему правило работает именно так
- Что работает? – правило. → nominative, subject.

Why is the verb работает used with правило? Can a rule really “work”?

Yes. In Russian, like in English, rules, methods, systems, mechanisms etc. can “work” in a figurative sense:

Это правило всегда работает. – This rule always works.
Этот метод не работает. – This method doesn’t work.

So правило работает именно так ≈ the rule functions / behaves / applies in exactly this way.

What does именно add to the meaning? Could we omit it?

Именно adds emphasis: exactly / precisely / specifically.

почему правило работает так – why the rule works like this
почему правило работает именно так – why the rule works exactly like this (and not some other way)

You can omit именно grammatically, but then you lose that nuance of precision/contrast. With именно, the student is not just asking why the rule works; he wants to know why it works this particular way.

What is the role of так in this sentence?

Так means this way / like this / so and refers to the manner in which the rule works.

так = “in this way” (often pointing to an example or explanation given in context)
правило работает так – the rule works like this.

Together with именно, you get a precise emphasis on this exact way of working.

Is the word order fixed, or could we say this sentence differently?

Russian word order is relatively flexible. You can rearrange for emphasis, though not all variants sound equally natural.

Possible and natural:

Любопытный студент спрашивает, почему правило работает именно так.
Студент, любопытный по натуре, спрашивает, почему правило работает именно так. (more complex, with an inserted phrase)

Possible but more stylistic / marked:

Почему правило работает именно так, спрашивает любопытный студент.
This sounds like a narrative style: “‘Why does the rule work this way?’ asks the curious student.”

The original word order is the most neutral and common.

How would the meaning change if we used спросил instead of спрашивает?

Changing спрашивает → спросил gives:

Любопытный студент спросил, почему правило работает именно так.

This shifts:

from present / ongoing / general → past, completed action
from something like “is asking / asks” → “asked (once)”

So the meaning becomes: The curious student asked why the rule works exactly like this. It’s a finished event in the past, not a current or habitual action.

How should I stress the words любопытный, спрашивает, правило, and именно?

Stress is important in Russian. Here are the stressed syllables (capitalized):

любоПЫТный – lyu-bo-PYT-nyy
СПРа́шивает – SPRÁ-shi-va-et (main stress on СПРА́, though in slow careful speech you’ll hear СПРА́-ши-ва-ет)
ПРА́вило – PRÁ-vi-lo
И́менно – Í-me-nno

In standard transcription with stress marks:

любопы́тный
спра́шивает
пра́вило
и́менно