Russian word of the day: Заниматься

Hello Mara,

Thanks for the comment and for the question.

Literally “заниматься” means “to be engaged (in)” or “to be busy with” and can be used with any sort of engagement, for example:

– заниматься спортом (to go in for sports)
– заниматься ерундой (to do nothing)
– заниматься политикой (to be in politics)
– чем ты сейчас занимаешься? (what are you doing now?)
– чем он занимается по жизни? (what does he do in life?)
– я этим занимаюсь (I’m dealing with it)

“Заниматься” is always used with the Instrumental case.

When we talk about somebody who we know is a student or a pupil, we say “он занимается” meaning that he is studying at this exact moment. It’s more common to use “заниматься” when talking about the process of studying and especially the homework than “учиться”. For example:

– тебе надо заниматься (you need to study/to do your homework)
– дети занимаются с учителем (kids are studying with a teacher)

If you say “я занимаюсь русским”, it would means you are studying (learning Russian or doing your homework for Russian classes) right now, at this exact moment.
If you say “я изучаю русский язык”, it would mean that you learn Russian at this period of time.
You can also say “я учу русский язык” with the same meaning as “изучаю”.

“Изучать” is more general than “учить”. Besides the meaning “to study”, it can also mean “to explore, to investigate”:
– наши специалисты изучают этот вопрос (our specialists are investigating this issue)
– он изучает возможности (he is exploring the possibilities)

“Учить” can mean “to learn (something)” or “to teach (somebody)”. In the meaning “to learn” it has a slight connotation of “cramming”. For example:
– я учу русские спряжения (I’m learning Russian conjugations)
– иди учи уроки (go do your homework)
– ты выучила урок? (have you learnt the lesson?)
“Выучить” is a perfective form of “учить”.

Example with the meaning “to teach”:
– он учит детей русскому языку (he teaches kids the Russian language)
This is where “учитель” (teacher) comes from.

As for the reflexive verb “учиться”, it’s used to describe where a person is studying and what is he/she learning. Examples:
– он учится в университете (he studies in a university / he is a student in a university)
– я учусь водить машину (I’m learning to drive a car)
– умный учится на своих ошибках, а мудрый на чужих (a smart man learns from his mistakes, and a wise one learns from the mistakes of others)

I hope it helps. 🙂