(no subject)

[adraekh.livejournal.com]

Hey, guys.

I'm wondering what's the exact difference between these verbs:

учиться
учить/выучить
заниматься
изучать/изучить

Likewise, I'm having difficulties distinguishing between situations in which I'm supposed to use преподавать or учить/научить.

Thanks in advance for your time!

Comments

[iloska.livejournal.com]

учиться is to learn by yourself.
Я учусь в школе.

учить can mean to teach, and научить is the same in perfect
or can mean to learn, than выучить is the same in perfect.
the difference is in usage: учить кого или что. and in perfect научить кого и выучить что.

заниматься means to be engaged in. Is used for to be engaged by studies.

изучать is for research or explore. Also can be used for studies. изучить is the same in perfect.

преподавать is for more formal teach, profess. In school the teacher can преподавать, but mother can't преподавать here son how to sit near the table.
Also преподавать requires a noun (a name of lesson)

[archaicos.livejournal.com]

Он преподает в университете. Perfectly legal, no subject mentioned (it's optional). The meaning of преподавать here is essentially to work as a teacher, not to teach something.

[iloska.livejournal.com]

You are right :)
But there is also "Я преподам ему урок!" - which is not about working as a teacher...

My point was, that you can't use преподавать with a verb after it.

[vovanium.livejournal.com]

"Преподать урок" is an idiom, isn't it?

[hyyudu.livejournal.com]

Учить can both mean to teach somebody (учить школьника математике) or to learn something (учить иностранный язык). Заниматься also can mean to be engaged in something (заниматься общественной работой, заниматься танцами), or also learn (заниматься математикой).

[iloska.livejournal.com]

yep

[mindwalker-gs.livejournal.com]

It's as already been said, I only have to add that while "изучать/изучить" and perfect verb "выучить" need a noun with them, others may be used independently. For example:
"Я учу (что-либо)" would mean 'I'm studying (something)'. 'To learn a language' = "учить язык" (while 'teach a language' would be "учить языку", note the difference. In the latter we use дательный падеж, I don't know the English for it).

BTW, "я учусь" doesn't nessessarily mean 'learning by yourself', it also may is used (like in example from the user earlier) to say 'I study at school/university'.

(Offtop: I see your studies are progressing :) Have you managed to get into the college you wanted?)

[adraekh.livejournal.com]

Hey! I haven't seen you in a while! :D

Я на втором курсе в университете. Сейчас я изучаю информатику, русский язык, аккадский язык, и литературу Месопотамии.

... I think that's right. *g*

[mindwalker-gs.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've been, uh, out of sorts for a really long time. XP
Yep, both sentences are correct :)

[spiritrc.livejournal.com]

учиться = to study (a general term)

Учиться в институте.
Учиться у мастера (у профессора, и т.п.)
Учиться плавать (нырять, ходить, летать, говорить, any other complex concept)

учить = to teach (учить кого-то, чему-то), to learn (учить что-то)

Учить ребенка.
Учить плавать.
Учить ребенка плавать.

Учить географию/математику/физику (any other school subject, meaning to learn the part to be answered during the next class)
Учить стихотворение/рассказ/текст доклада/роль (any other text to be learnt by heart)

I'd say that "учить что-то" often (if not usually or always) implies short-term
memorizing of the subject. "Answer and forget" type.

выучить = to have taught (выучить кого-то), to have learnt by heart (выучить что-то)

заниматься = literally, to be occupied with (not necessarily) studying something.

Заниматься физикой/литературой/историей.
Заниматься ерундой.
Заниматься очковтирательством.

изучать = to study (что-то, а more specific term, as in 'to perceive')

Изучать математику/физику/историю (any other _science_)
Изучать конструкцию автомобиля.
Изучать психотип.
Изучать поведение.

изучить = perfective from "изучать"


> Likewise, I'm having difficulties distinguishing between
> situations in which I'm supposed to use преподавать or учить/научить.

Преподавать = to teach (the teaching activity as a job, like "to lecture")
Учить = to teach (as in to instruct to repeat some [relatively] basic task)
Научить = perfective from "учить".

Я преподаю в университете.
Мне преподавали физику в университете.

Я учу детей рисовать (but "Я преподаю детям основы рисунка", note the name of the subject here)

Научи меня плавать, пожалуйста!

[o-rus.livejournal.com]

I'd like to add some details to the above excellent comments.

1. изучать/изучить and учить/выучить
These are transitive verbs. That means they can't be used without an object. You can't say: Я учу. Я изучаю. You need to put an object after them.

изучать/изучить is used very often for subjects (изучать математику, русский язык).
учить/выучить often mean to memorize, to learn by heart (учить стихи, выучить правило)

2. заниматься и учиться both are reflexive intransitive verbs and therefore can't be followed by a direct object. However, they are very often followed by a noun indicating a place:
заниматься в классе, аудитории, библиотеке, дома
учиться в школе, в университете, на курсах

заниматься is also very often used with nouns in instrumental case:
заниматься спортом, математикой, русским языком, наукой

I hope this'll help ;)