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Questions & Answers about Я повторяю урок.
The current lesson is about reflexive verbs ending in -ся. Why doesn't повторяю have that ending here?
Reflexive verbs often show an action happening to the subject itself, or an action with no direct object. Because you are doing the action to a separate object (the lesson), you must use the normal, non-reflexive verb повторять. If you used the reflexive form повторяться, it would mean the lesson is repeating itself!
The English translation says 'I am revising', but doesn't повторять mean 'to repeat'?
It means both! In Russian, repeating material is the standard way to say you are revising or reviewing for a class. Depending on the context, повторять translates to 'repeat', 'revise', or 'review'.
Since урок (lesson) is the thing being revised, shouldn't its ending change to show it is the direct object?
It is actually in the Accusative case right now, which is the case used for direct objects. However, for masculine inanimate nouns like урок (a non-living thing), the Accusative form looks exactly the same as the Nominative (dictionary) form.
Why does the verb end in -ю instead of -у for the 'I' form?
This is a regular 'First Conjugation' verb. Its dictionary form is повторять. To make the 'I' form for this group of verbs, you drop the -ть and add -ю, giving you повторяю.