Breakdown of Мой брат хочет учиться на этом факультете.
брат
brother
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
хотеть
to want
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
учиться
to study (be a student)
факультет
faculty
Questions & Answers about Мой брат хочет учиться на этом факультете.
Why do we use учиться here instead of изучать?
The verb учиться is used to talk about where someone studies (like at a university or faculty) or how they study. Since this sentence is about the location (на этом факультете), we use учиться. If the sentence mentioned what specific subject he wanted to study (like history or physics), we would use изучать.
Why do we use the preposition на instead of в with факультете?
Some Russian words traditionally use на instead of в to mean "in" or "at". The word факультет (university department or faculty) is one of these common exceptions. You will always say на факультете (at the faculty).
Why does этот change to этом in this sentence?
It is in the Prepositional case because it's answering the question "where?" after the preposition на. The masculine word этот (this) changes to этом, matching the noun факультете, which adds an -е at the end for the Prepositional case.
Why is учиться in its dictionary form (infinitive) here?
Because it comes right after another verb that is already conjugated: хочет (wants). Just like in English ("wants to study"), the second verb in the pair stays in its infinitive form.
Learn Мой брат хочет учиться на этом факультете and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free