Learn Hardcore Russian: Я учу новые слова, чтобы говорить по-русски свободно. - I learn new words in order to speak Russian fluently.

учить (учу, учишь)
- accusative object = to learn / memorize specific things
- Я учу новые слова. – I’m learning (memorizing) new words.
- Он учит стихи. – He learns/memorizes poems.
изучать (изучаю, изучаешь)
- accusative object = to study (a subject) in depth
- Я изучаю русский язык. – I study the Russian language (as a subject).
учиться (учусь, учишься)
- place or infinitive = to study / to be a student / to learn how to do something
- Я учусь в университете. – I study at university.
- Я учусь говорить по-русски. – I am learning to speak Russian.

In your sentence, you’re focusing on specific items (new words), so учу новые слова is the most natural.
You could also say:

Я изучаю новые слова… – This sounds more like “I am studying the new words,” maybe in a more systematic, analytical way. It’s possible but less typical in everyday speech for vocabulary.
Я учусь новым словам… – Grammatically possible but sounds more like “I am being taught new words,” with the focus on the process/teacher rather than you actively memorizing them.

So учу is the default, natural choice for learning vocabulary.

What tense/aspect is учу, and does it mean “I learn” or “I am learning”?

учу is:

Present tense
1st person singular
Imperfective aspect of учить.

Russian doesn’t separate “I learn” and “I am learning” like English does. Я учу can mean:

“I am learning” (right now / these days), or
“I learn” (as a regular activity).

The exact meaning comes from context. In your sentence, with новые слова, it’s understood as “I am learning new words (these days / in general)” for the goal of speaking fluently.

What case are новые слова in, and why?

новые слова is in the accusative plural:

новые – plural accusative form of the adjective новый (new)
слова – plural accusative (and nominative) of слово (word)

Why accusative? Because новые слова are the direct object of the verb учу:

Кого? Что? (Whom? What?) – I learn what? → новые слова

So the structure is:

Я (subject, nominative)
учу (verb)
новые слова (direct object, accusative plural)

Why is there a comma before чтобы?

In Russian punctuation, a comma is usually placed before чтобы when it introduces a subordinate clause of purpose.

Your sentence actually contains two clauses:

Я учу новые слова – main clause
(я) чтобы говорить по-русски свободно – subordinate clause expressing purpose (“in order to speak Russian fluently”)

Rule:
When чтобы = “in order to” and introduces a purpose clause, you almost always put a comma before it:

Я учу новые слова, чтобы говорить по-русски свободно.
Он рано встаёт, чтобы успеть на работу.

So the comma is required here by standard punctuation rules.

What exactly does чтобы mean here, and how is it different from что бы?

In your sentence, чтобы is a single word meaning “in order to / so that” and introduces a purpose:

Я учу новые слова, чтобы говорить по-русски свободно.
→ I learn new words in order to speak Russian fluently.

чтобы vs что бы:

чтобы (one word) – conjunction, usually “so that / in order to / for”
- Я пришёл, чтобы помочь. – I came to help.
что бы (two words) – relative pronoun + particle, with different meanings depending on context; often part of phrases like:
- Что бы ни случилось… – Whatever happens…
- Что бы он ни делал… – Whatever he does…

In your sentence it must be чтобы as a single word. Writing что бы here would be wrong.

Why is it говорить and not говорю or another form?

After чтобы (when it means “in order to”), Russian typically uses the infinitive to express the purpose:

Я учу новые слова, чтобы говорить по-русски свободно.
– I learn new words (in order) to speak Russian fluently.

Some patterns:

чтобы + infinitive – more neutral/colloquial, especially when the subject is the same:
- Я работаю, чтобы заработать деньги. – I work to earn money.
чтобы + (past tense) + … – used when you want to emphasize a desired result, often with a change of subject:
- Я хочу, чтобы он говорил по-русски свободно. – I want him to speak Russian fluently.

Here, the subject of both actions is the same (Я → учу / говорить), so чтобы говорить (infinitive) is the natural choice.

Why is it по-русски and not something like на русском or по-русскому?

Russian has two common ways to say “in Russian” (language):

по-русски – adverb, literally “in a Russian way / Russian-style”
- говорить по-русски – to speak Russian
- писать по-русски – to write in Russian
на русском (языке) – prepositional phrase
- говорить на русском (языке) – to speak in Russian
- читать на русском – to read in Russian

Both говорить по-русски and говорить на русском are correct; по-русски is slightly more common in everyday speech for “speak Russian.”

Why not по-русскому?
Because по-русски is a fixed adverbial form, not a regular case of the adjective. It behaves like an adverb, not like “by Russian / along Russian / according to Russian” or anything like that.

What part of speech is по-русски, and how is it formed?

по-русски is an adverb.

It’s historically formed from:

the preposition по-
plus an old case form of русский (Russian), giving an adverb meaning “in Russian (language), in a Russian way.”

Modern Russian treats по-русски as a single adverb, like:

по-английски – in English
по-испански – in Spanish
по-французски – in French

Each of these typically comes after verbs like:

говорить – speak
читать – read
писать – write
понимать – understand

So говорить по-русски literally = “to speak (in a) Russian (way)” → to speak Russian.

Why is it свободно and not свободный?

In English you say “speak fluently” – “fluently” is an adverb that modifies the verb “speak.”

In Russian:

свободный – adjective (“free,” “unconstrained”)
свободно – adverb, formed from the adjective, meaning “freely, fluently”

After a verb (говорить, писать, читать, etc.), you normally use the adverb:

говорить свободно – to speak fluently / freely
читать быстро – to read quickly
писать красиво – to write beautifully

So свободно (adverb) correctly modifies the verb говорить.
свободный would need a noun: свободный человек, свободный день, etc.

What aspect is говорить, and would сказать or поговорить work here?

говорить is imperfective – it describes an ongoing, repeated, or general action:

говорить по-русски – to speak Russian (in general / as a skill).

Purpose clauses with чтобы + infinitive often use imperfective when the focus is on an ability or regular action:

Я учу новые слова, чтобы говорить по-русски свободно.
– I learn new words in order to be able to speak Russian fluently (as a general skill).

Using a perfective like сказать or поговорить would be wrong here because they refer to single, completed actions:

сказать – to say (once)
поговорить – to have a talk (for a while, but as one event)

You don’t “learn new words in order to say (once) in Russian” – you learn them to speak in general, so говорить (imperfective) is correct.

Can I change the word order, for example: Я учу новые слова, чтобы свободно говорить по-русски?

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, especially with adverbs like свободно and по-русски.

All of these are natural:

Я учу новые слова, чтобы говорить по-русски свободно.
Я учу новые слова, чтобы свободно говорить по-русски.
Я учу новые слова, чтобы говорить свободно по-русски.

Nuances:

Option 1 (your original) is very common and neutral.
Option 2 slightly highlights “fluently” by putting свободно earlier.
Option 3 is also fine; свободно and по-русски both modify говорить, and speakers may choose the order based on rhythm or emphasis.

What you generally wouldn’t do is separate говорить from по-русски too far, because they form a tight unit: говорить по-русски. But putting свободно before or after that unit is OK.

Could I drop the я and just say Учу новые слова, чтобы говорить по-русски свободно?

Yes, that’s perfectly grammatical and quite natural in context.

Russian often omits the subject pronoun я, because the verb ending (-у in учу) already shows who the subject is:

(Я) учу новые слова, чтобы говорить по-русски свободно.

Both versions mean the same thing. Including я can sound slightly more explicit or emphatic (“I am the one who is learning…”), but it’s not required.

How would you pronounce this whole sentence, and where is the stress?

Word by word with stressed syllables in CAPS and approximate English hints:

Я – ya (like “ya” in “yard”)
учу́ – u-CHU (stress on чу, “oo-CHOO”)
но́вые – NO-vy-ye (stress on но)
слова́ – slo-VA (stress on ва)
что́бы – SHTO-by (spelled что́бы, but usually pronounced with ш: што́бы)
говори́ть – go-va-REET’ (stress on ри, soft ть at the end)
по-ру́сски – pa-ROOS-kee (double сс, stress on ру)
свобо́дно – sva-BOD-na (stress on бо)

Full sentence (with main stresses):

Я учу́ но́вые слова́, што́бы говори́ть по-ру́сски свобо́дно.

Note: in careful speech you’ll hear что́бы with [ш] or [чш]-like sound; everyday pronunciation is closer to што́бы. Both are acceptable in practice; the spelling is always чтобы.

Is there any difference in meaning between Я учу новые слова, чтобы говорить по-русски свободно and Я учу новые слова, чтобы говорить свободно по-русски?

Grammatically, both are correct and mean the same: I learn new words to speak Russian fluently.

Subtle nuance:

…чтобы говорить по-русски свободно.
– Slightly keeps the phrase говорить по-русски as one block, then adds свободно; natural, very common.
…чтобы говорить свободно по-русски.
– Puts a little more emphasis on how you speak (свободно) before specifying по-русски.

In everyday conversation, they are effectively interchangeable; the difference is more about rhythm and personal style than meaning.