Мама учит меня чистить картофель.

Because учит is a finite verb form: he/she teaches / is teaching.

The dictionary form is учить = to teach / to learn (depending on context).
In this sentence, the subject is Мама, so the verb has to agree with она:

• я учу = I teach
• ты учишь = you teach
• она учит = she teaches

So Мама учит... means Mom teaches / is teaching...

Because учить takes a direct object in the accusative when it means to teach someone.

So the pattern is:

• учить кого? = to teach whom?

That gives:

• меня = me (accusative)
• тебя = you
• его / её = him / her

So:

• Мама учит меня... = Mom teaches me...

English speakers often expect something like to me, but Russian uses the accusative here, not the dative.

Because after учить кого-то, Russian often uses an infinitive to say teach someone to do something.

The pattern is:

• учить кого? что делать?

So:

• учит меня чистить = teaches me to peel / to clean

This is very similar to English teach someone to do something.

Other examples:

• Он учит меня читать. = He is teaching me to read.
• Она учит детей плавать. = She teaches the children to swim.

It is in the accusative, but for an inanimate masculine singular noun, the accusative often looks exactly like the nominative.

Here the verb чистить takes a direct object:

• чистить что? = peel / clean what?

So картофель is accusative here. It just happens that:

• nominative: картофель
• accusative: картофель

They are identical in form.

If the noun were animate, or a different gender/number, you would often see a visible change.

Russian often uses a singular noun where English prefers a plural or a mass expression.

Here картофель can mean potato as a food substance or vegetable in a general sense, not necessarily one single potato.

So чистить картофель is a natural way to say to peel potatoes.

In everyday speech, many Russians would more naturally say:

• чистить картошку

That is more conversational.
Картофель sounds a bit more neutral or formal.

Because the sentence focuses on an ongoing process or general skill, not on completion.

• учит is from учить (imperfective): teaching as a process
• чистить is imperfective: peeling as an activity/skill

This fits the meaning Mom is teaching me how to peel potatoes or Mom teaches me to peel potatoes.

If you used perfective verbs, the meaning would shift toward completion or a one-time result. For example:

• научить = to teach successfully, to cause someone to learn
• почистить = to peel/clean completely, one completed action

So Мама учит меня чистить картофель sounds natural for learning a skill.

Yes.

Russian present tense often covers both:

• a general/habitual meaning: Mom teaches me...
• a right-now/process meaning: Mom is teaching me...

Which meaning is intended depends on context.

So without extra context, Мама учит меня чистить картофель can mean either:

• she is generally teaching me this skill, or
• she is doing it now

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English because case endings show the grammatical roles.

The neutral order here is:

• Мама учит меня чистить картофель.

But you could also say:

• Мама меня учит чистить картофель.
• Меня мама учит чистить картофель.

These versions are still understandable, but the emphasis changes slightly.

For example:

• Меня мама учит... may emphasize me
• Мама меня учит... may sound a little more conversational or emphatic

Still, for learners, the original order is the safest and most neutral.

Russians would very often say картошку in everyday speech:

• Мама учит меня чистить картошку.

That sounds more colloquial and natural in conversation.

The difference is roughly:

• картофель = more neutral, formal, dictionary-like
• картошка = everyday spoken word

Both are correct, but картошку is probably what you would hear more often at home.

The main stresses are:

• Ма́ма
• учи́т
• меня́
• чисти́ть
• карто́фель

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Ма́ма учи́т меня́ чисти́ть карто́фель

A few useful notes:

• я in меня́ is stressed
• чистить has stress on the second syllable: чи-СТИТЬ
• картофель has stress on то́

Listening to native audio is especially helpful here, because unstressed vowels are reduced in natural speech.