Thread: Vocabulary: Teach Vs. Learn

I am very confused by the words "To learn" and "To teach".
I have used the dictionary at gramota.ru and it says:
узнать: learn
учить: teach
What about учу? It's a form of учить, right? I've been told that "Я учу русский" means "I teach Russian" and also that it means "I learn Russian". How should I correctly say this phrase?

I am very confused by these words. Can somebody explain? Thanks very much!

I learn russian = I study russian: Я учу (изучаю) русский.
I teach russian: Я учу русскому, я преподаю русский.

Узнать = to learn about something. It doesn't mean "to study".

Quick note: узнать (to find out) is the perfective partner of знать (to know)

As for teach/learn, read Zubr's explanation, it depends on the context of your statement.

We had another thread about that.

In short there are different meanings of the verb "учить", which can be recognized by the case of objects.

Я учу английский (accusative) - I learn/study English.

versus

Я учу английскому (dative) - I teach English.
Я учу тебя (genitive) - I teach you.

Я учу тебя (genitive) - I teach you.

Sorry it-oto, just need to verify if the word тебя can also be in the accusative?

тебя is accusative and genitive.

Originally Posted by tohca

Sorry it-oto, just need to verify if the word тебя can also be in the accusative?

Hmm... I am confused.

I think, I was wrong and it is accusative here, not genitive. So they are both accusative and direct objects (тебя и английский), the difference is in "animate" - "inanimate" sphere.

Спасибо. Сейчас ясно.