Breakdown of Ему интересно изучать русский язык.
изучать
to study
язык
language
ему
to him, to it
русский
Russian
интересно
interesting (adverb)
Questions & Answers about Ему интересно изучать русский язык.
Why is it Ему интересно instead of Он интересный?
To express how someone feels or their state of mind, Russian uses an impersonal structure: the person is put in the Dative case (ему means 'to him') and the state is described with an adverb ending in -о (интересно). If you said Он интересный, it would mean 'He is an interesting person' rather than 'He is interested.'
Why do we use the verb изучать here instead of учить?
While both mean 'to study' or 'to learn', изучать is used when you are deeply studying a specific subject, academic discipline, or an entire language. It also requires a direct object right after it. Учить is more often used for memorizing smaller things (like a list of vocabulary words or a poem).
What case is русский язык in this sentence?
It is in the Accusative case because it is the direct object receiving the action of the verb изучать. Because язык (language) is a masculine inanimate noun (not a living person or animal), its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its Nominative dictionary form.
If this is an impersonal sentence with no real subject, how do I change it to the past tense?
You just insert the past tense of the verb 'to be'. Because impersonal sentences act like a neutral 'it' is doing the action, you always use the neuter past tense form было. So, 'He was interested' becomes Ему было интересно.
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