Hello, everyone! Hard to learn, easy to fight! But today it will become easier in learning, because we will discuss the difference between the words “study”, “learn” and “teach”: how they differ, what their meanings are, how to use them and what expressions there are using them. At the end, as usual, you will have a consolidation exercise. Let's go!

In learning English, it is not enough to memorize just one translation, since one Russian word can correspond to several in English.

But let's start with Russian. Is there a difference in the words “teach”, “learn”, “study” and “educate”? In our country they are at least somewhat similar to each other, but in English they are 3 different words: “learn”, “study” and “teach”.

Let's consider the difference and nuances of their use.

Study

Transcription and translation: ["stʌdi] - study, study, learn, explore, study.
Meaning: learn something by reading, studying; engage in the study of a branch of science with the goal of becoming a specialist in this field.
Use:

• When we say “study,” we mean studying at an educational institution.

She is studying at Princeton. - She studies in Princeton.
He's studying to be a doctor. - He studies to the doctor.
She studied very hard at school. - At school she is very busy was studying.

• We also use “study” with shades of “study”, “analyze”, “sort out”.

It was interesting for me to study this topic. - It was interesting to me study this topic.

Important! Since the verb "study" ends in "-y", adding the endings "-s" (for he/she/it in the Present Simple) or "-ed" in the Past Simple, we will replace "-y" with "-i" : "studies", "studied".

Learn

Transcription and translation:- teach, learn.
Meaning: study; gain some skill.
Use:

• We use it when we describe the learning process in general:

It"s never too late to learn. -Study it's never too late.
Live and learn! - Live forever, forever study!

• "Learn" also relates to various skills (dancing, acting, cycling).

Ann still can't learn how to drive. - Ann can't learn drive.

• We use it when we teach something specific in order to acquire certain knowledge.

My son learns English at school. - My son teaches English at school.
What are you learning now? - What are you doing now? you study?
I am learning German to speak fluently. - I I teach German to speak it fluently.

• In some contexts, "learn" can be synonymous with "find out."

I have learn the good news this week. - This week I found out good news.

Some phrases and idioms using the word “learn”:

learn from mistakes- learn from mistakes;
learn smth from smb- learn something from someone;
learn by heart- learn by heart;
learn by rote- cram something.

Teach

Transcription and translation: - teach, teach.
Meaning:to train someone; give lessons, learn; accustom; teach a lesson.
Use: if the performer of the action is a teacher, or simply a person who teaches someone something, passes on knowledge, teaches.

What do you do? -I teach. - What are you doing? - I `m teaching.
What do you teach? -I teach English. - What do you teach? - I teach English.
My cousin Lidia teaches History at school. - My cousin Lydia teaches history at school.

To better understand these verbs in context, let's use them all in one dialogue:

Your son is a college student, right? - Your son is in college, right?
Yes. He studies law He wants to be a lawyer. - Yes. He studies right. He wants to become a lawyer.
And what does your daughter do for a living? - What does your daughter do?
She teaches Spanish at the University and learns to play the piano. - She teaches Spanish at university and studies play the piano.

Let's practice! Exercises for consolidation

Just don't run away until you've done the exercise! We will definitely see your answers in the comments;)

1. His father wanted him to __ law.
2. We __ about their arrival only yesterday.
3. It takes time to __ how to swim.
4. What subjects do you __ at school?
5. In the first form children __ to read and to write.
6. You must __ this poem by heart.
7. I am planning to __ Geography next year.
8. She knows English and German, but she wants to __ Spanish.
9. Last week I ____ how to drive.
10. He __ chemistry at school.

Conclusion

So, let's summarize.

When we study at a university/school or study some science seriously, this is “ study».
If we simply learn something, gain a skill, or find out, this is “ learn».
But if we teach someone ourselves or teach a subject - “ teach».

Now you know how to learn differs from to study and from to teach!

Easy! Have fun with your English ;)

Big and friendly EnglishDom family

“I study English” and “I learn English”. We can say both ways. Both options will be correct. But is there a difference between these two expressions? In what cases should we use study, and in what cases should we use learn? Let's try to answer this question.

Study

Pronunciation and translation:

Study [ˈstʌdi] / [stadi] - to study

Meaning of the word:
Learn about the subject through books, attending classes, and doing what your teacher asks you to do.

Use:
The learning process, most often associated with obtaining theoretical knowledge. We study something when we study at school or university or go to some courses.

Example:

I studied history at the university.
I studied history at university.

I've been studying English for six years now.
I have been studying English for six years.

She is studying to be an accountant.
She is studying to be an accountant.

Learn

Pronunciation and translation:

Learn / [leen] - teach

Meaning of the word:
Gaining knowledge or skill through experience, training, or teaching by someone.

Use:
We use learn when we talk about learning something practically, acquisition of any skills or abilities. For example, you are learning to ski.

Example:

His daughter is learning how to drive.
His daughter is learning to drive.

My sister is learning to cook.
My sister is learning to cook.

He learned to read when he was four.
He learned to read when he was four.

What is the difference?

We say study when we study something: we attend classes, we gain theoretical knowledge, we make some effort to learn something. For example, we are preparing for an exam, learning mathematics at school, studying philosophy at the university.

We say learn when we learningany skill and we can use our knowledge in practice. This is not only a learning process, but also result. For example, you can learn to ride a bike, swim, or drive a car.

We can study economics at university, but never learn anything, that is, be unable to apply our knowledge in life.

I studied English at school, but I learned nothing.
I studied English at school, but didn't learn anything.

When we talk about going to some courses, we can use both study and learn, since we attend classes and study the material (study), and also remember and can use our knowledge (learn).

Pay attention to the difference in the meaning of using study and learn:

My friend studied English at the university.
My friend studied English at university.

My friend learned English at the university.
My friend learned English at university.

In the first case, we cannot say anything about the results. We don't know whether he learned English or not.

In the second case, we say that he has learned it and, therefore, can use his knowledge in everyday life.

Consolidation exercise

Now let's practice using the verbs study and learn correctly. Indicate which sentence should contain the verb study and which should learn. I'll start and you continue:

0. I learned English at school - learn (learned - past tense).

1. I studied physics at school.

2. My friend is learning to ride a bike.

3. I learned to play the guitar when I was thirteen.

4. He is studying to become a doctor.

5. I will study all evening, I have an exam tomorrow.

6. I learned German at school.

7. He learned to snowboard last year.

8. I studied Italian language on course.

As always, leave your answers in the comments.

“Come on, teach is from teacher, and study is from student!” - the students say, after which they add: “By the way, I studied 2 new words today!” and... they are wrong. Maybe everything is really clear with the verb teach. But what is the difference between study and learn?

Teach

Here are a couple of examples:
He found it very hard teaching a class full of indifferent teenagers.
Rachel teaches art at the local art school.

Examples
Having my car stolen really taught me a lesson - I"ll never leave it unlocked again. (“I learned a lesson from stealing a car - I never leave it unlocked again”).
She decided to teach the boy a lesson. (“She decided to teach the boy a lesson,” but not in the sense of teaching him something, but in the sense of teaching him a lesson, taking revenge).

Wait, wait, is there something missing there? It turns out that a night spent in a cold garage will teach Roger to leave the house without keys, but should it be the other way around?
No, it shouldn't. Our example means that Roger acted unwisely and suffered the consequences. By the way, in Russian there is an equivalent: “He will know how to leave the house without keys!”

Study

It’s not for nothing that words that denote studying and memorizing new information have become synonymous with “to study”:
сram (cram), analyze (analyze), find out (learn, find out), memorize (remember), research (investigate), delve into (study in detail), examine (inspect, examine), contemplate (observe, think through).

For example:

Having carefully studied the document, he could repeat what it said exactly.
Thus, when you say “I study English,” you mean that you study the subject theoretically: study grammar and vocabulary, do exercises, read articles and communicate with the teacher.

Learn

As you can see, “to study” here means a long process and mastery of the theory, and “to learn” means the result. The latter is also visible in the following examples:
I"m trying to learn my lines for the play.
We had to learn the names of the state capitals.

Also verb "to learn" can mean “to find out information.” Often in this regard, students confuse it with the verb “to know”. If you want to say “I found out that...”, then you need to say "I learned that...".

And here are some more examples:
He learned about computers by reading a book.
She is learning a lot about patient care in her nursing classes.
Very often this verb is used with the prepositions from and about:
We learned about the reasons for the war in our history class.
We all have the ability to learn from our mistakes.

Examples:
She is a learned and respected teacher.
I read the report in an extremely learned journal.

And finally, it is worth mentioning that the verb “to learn” in terms of its strange form, either with -t or with -ed, is accompanied by many other verbs. Knowing this feature of them, it will be easier for you to remember them: burn, dream, kneel, spoil, spell, leap, lean, spill.

Let's start with the question: is there any difference between these words? Or should you not even bother yourself with such nuances? I learn English, I study English. The meaning is the same, but still there is a difference, and sometimes it is very significant.

So,study is a learning process. The word has a more formal and narrow meaning than learn.

1.If you want to say that a person is studying in some educational institution(school, institute, university), you need to use this verb.

2. If you are preparing for an exam, you are also studying, not learning.

3.If you are studying to become someone, you also use the verb study.

She studies to become a psychologist. – She is studying to become a psychologist.

He studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. – He studied at the Institute of Technology.

Verb tolearn means the acquisition of knowledge and skills; this is not only a learning process, but also a result. If you have learned something, you will also say it English language using the verb learn. Also in the expression: to learn something new this verb is used.

Ifstudy – this is conscious learning, thenlearn - can also occur unconsciously.

A child learns its first language. – The child learns his first language.

Samantha has learned some new Japanese words today. Samantha learned a few new words in Japanese today.

Co the following examples The difference between study and learn will become even more obvious:

He has been studying all day but he thinks he hasn’t learned anything. “He studied all day, but he thinks he hasn’t learned anything.”

One can learn to drive a car without studying it. – You can learn to drive a car without special training.

After learning something you take an exam in life. - After you learn something, you pass an exam in life.

After studying something you take an exam at the university. - After learning something, you take an exam at the university.

Every day you learn new things in life but you study a special subject. – Every day you learn something new in life, but you learn certain subjects.

I understand thatlearn - this is learning something without a specific program, without attending educational institutions, for example. Most often, teaching skills or basic things.

Study associated with a profession, training program, school or other institution.

Eg:

“Our son learns to speak” - Our son learns to speak. That is, he learns a basic skill, without a teacher as such, without assessing knowledge, etc.

“I study programming” - I am learning programming. Here you are already learning something complex, not basic. With a teacher, as a rule.

Well, let's summarize:

Learn based more on life experience.

Study - on theory, textbooks, courses, etc.

When it comes to using words that have similar meanings, many people get confused. For example, many people do not know the difference between learn and study. The fact that in Russian these words can be synonyms, and they are studied through translation from English into Russian, does not help at all. The words learn, teach and study are often translated into Russian as exactly how to teach, which is where confusion arises. Let's look at their real meaning and find out when to use which word.

When to use Learn

The word learn will be used when you learn something in order to acquire new skills and knowledge.

A more accurate translation into Russian would be the word “learn” or “learn.” It can also mean "study" when you learn new facts about something, read about it, etc., that is, make your own efforts to learn the subject. For example, when we're talking about about what you teach foreign language, the word learn ( learn English, learn Russian).

When we say that we are studying a subject, we use either a noun or a gerund. When we talk about a skill, we use the infinitive.

Let's look at the difference in examples:

I learn painting - I am studying painting.

I learn to paint. — I'm learning to paint.

For more information on when to use a gerund and when to use an infinitive, see here: .

learn will be used when you memorize something (learn by heart).

Eg:

to learn a verse - learn a verse;

to learn new words - learn new words.

The phrase learn about is used when you say that you are gaining new knowledge/new information in some area.

For example:

— Nowadays you don’t need to go to the library to learn about modern science. All you need is internet connection.

— Today you don’t need to go to the library to find out more about modern science. All you need is an internet connection.

Since we are already talking about learn, it would be appropriate to mention another meaning of this word - to learn about something (often by accident, unexpectedly) / to find out something.

For example:

— Today I learned that our Division will be reduced by 12 professional post.

— Today I found out that our department will be reduced by 12 positions.

When to use Study

Study is used when talking about studying something in an educational institution. This word also refers to the study of something when it comes to scientific research. By the way, study can also be a noun meaning “research”.

She studied biology at the Academy.

She studied biology at the academy.

This means that she studied biology as a subject.

It is also worth remembering the phrases:

• to study hard / diligently- study/study hard.

Learn and Study: the difference

Let's take a closer look at the difference between these words to really understand everything :).

So, let's say you come across two sentences:

"I study French" and "I learn French"

In the first case, a person will mean that he is studying French as a subject, in depth, delving into various nuances. For example, he can teach not only the language itself, but also the etymology of words, the history of the development of the language, and so on. In the second case, a person will simply learn a language, for example, for communication, work, and so on.

When to use teach

We suggest that you consider this word first, since its meaning is sharply different from the other two. When teach is translated into Russian as “to teach,” “to teach” means to teach other people, that is, to teach, to explain something to someone. It’s very easy to remember - you just need to remember that a teacher in English will be teacher.

— She teaches me to ride a bicycle.

She teaches me to ride a bike.

— He teaches law at the University.

He teaches law at the university.

If a person is self-taught, in English he will be called self-taught - that is, one who taught himself.

The word teach can also be used to mean teaching a lesson. For example, Russian expression, uttered in anger, “I’ll show you...” in English it will be “I’ll teach you.”

For example, the phrase:

I’ll teach you to take my stuff!

It translates to “I'll show you how to take my things,” and you're not going to teach someone how to take your things.

And finally, we suggest considering a proposal that will definitely help you understand everything:

— I studied literature and I learned a lot of new things because the professor who taught me was a real good professional.

— I studied literature and learned a lot of new things because the professor who taught me was a really good professional

We hope we were able to clearly explain the difference between learn and study, as well as teach, and you will never be confused about them again.