Thread: first attempts

Hey all,

I'm trying to say "I started studying the Russian language two weeks ago" in Russian. Here is my attempt -

Я начали научю Руский язык два недели тому назад.

Would someone mind correcting this for me?

Thanks guys

I think:

я начал учить русский язык две недели тому назад.

Saibot,

Thanks for the reply. If you get a chance, could you explain the differences in your translation? (Sorry if I seem kind of lazy for not researching this myself - I haven't received the Russian language materials I ordered yet, and you guys are the best resource for this kind of stuff!!)

You said : Я начали. начали is the plural past tense form. You need singular masculine ( or feminine if you are a girl.)

учить means "to study", so Я начал учить means "I started to study". научю isnt a word as far as i know.

две недели - две is the femine plural form of the word двa. You need it here because неделя is a feminine noun.

Ok its slowly becoming clear...

Thanks for the help!

Originally Posted by saibot

I think:

я начал учить русский язык две недели тому назад.

Good. I'd leave out тому, it sounds sort of bookish.

I must have the wrong books because mine haven't mentioned putting тому in anywhere yet!!!

Originally Posted by saibot

I think:

я начал учить русский язык две недели тому назад.

"изучать" will be less ambiguous. "учить" can mean "to teach to someone"

http://www.gramota.ru/dic/search.php?wo ... &pe=x&az=x

изучать also implies that your studying it in depth.

Originally Posted by MasterAdmin

Originally Posted by saibot

I think:

я начал учить русский язык две недели тому назад.

"изучать" will be less ambiguous. "учить" can mean "to teach to someone"

I don't think "учить что-то" is ambiguous because it can't mean "teach someone".

Да, верно, "teach" было бы "учить русскому языку"

Всё нафик позабудешь с этим английским...