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

I learn new words in order to speak Russian fluently.

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

• я: I
• говорить: to speak
• новый: new
• слово: the word

Questions & Answers about Я учу новые слова, чтобы говорить по-русски свободно.

Why is it учу and not some other verb like изучаю or учусь?

Russian has several different verbs around “learning/studying”:

• 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.

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