Breakdown of Чтобы хорошо говорить по-русски, нужно учить слова.
говорить
to speak, to talk
по-русски
in Russian
учить
to learn
хорошо
well
слово
word
нужно
it is necessary
чтобы
in order to
Questions & Answers about Чтобы хорошо говорить по-русски, нужно учить слова.
Why do we use учить here instead of изучать?
This sentence is about memorizing specific vocabulary, which is exactly what учить is for. You use учить for things you memorize, like words (слова), rules, or poems. You would use изучать if you were talking about studying a subject as a whole discipline, like studying the Russian language itself (изучать русский язык).
Why does the sentence start with чтобы?
Чтобы followed by an infinitive verb like говорить means 'in order to'. The phrase чтобы хорошо говорить по-русски translates to 'in order to speak Russian well.'
Why is it говорить по-русски and not говорить русский?
What case is слова in this sentence?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object receiving the action of the verb учить. Because слово (word) is a neuter, inanimate noun, its plural accusative form (слова) looks exactly the same as its plural nominative form.
Why is нужно used instead of a specific person like 'ты должен'?
Нужно (it is necessary / one needs to) creates an impersonal sentence. Using it here makes the statement a general rule for anyone who wants to learn the language, rather than pointing specifically at 'you'.
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