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Does "It is worth studying english" mean "Studying english is worth" ?

Which one is real subject in the sentence? "It" or " studying english" ?

If "It" in the sentence is the real subject, does "It is worth studying english" mean "It is worth. therefore, you should study english"?

If "studying english" in the sentence is the real subject, does "Studying english is worth" mean "To study english is worth" ? Does "To study english is worth" mean "It is worth to study english" ? So, does "It is worth studying english" mean "It is worth to study english" ?

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"It is worth studying English", if paraphrased, would literally mean "English is worth your time/effort/money to study it." When you say "it is worth" or "something is worth", where the word worth is used as an adjective, you absolutely need something after it. You can't just say "it is worth" without some kind of descriptive statement following it because anyone hearing that would immediately ask it is worth what? The idea with the word worth is that anything at all is always worth something. It can't just be worth. It just doesn't work like that.

Examples:

The museums in Paris are well worth a visit.

The paining is worth 10 million dollars.

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  • For example, "I am happy" , the word happy is used as an adjective, Do I generally need something after I.==> I am happy man (yes) , I am happy (no) ?
    – user22046
    Feb 14, 2018 at 4:53
  • Not with most adjectives, but with the word worth, you do!
    – Michael Rybkin
    Feb 14, 2018 at 4:55
  • In south korea, at some sentence with "it" , we have learn about it as imaginary subject" , and "to + verb" is the real subject for over 100 years" and We omit the imaginary subject "it" and express the sentence by using the real subject.===> hakmalyoung.tistory.com/257
    – user22046
    Feb 14, 2018 at 5:04
  • Maybe, but anything is always worth something. A paining can't just be worth. That semantically makes no sense.
    – Michael Rybkin
    Feb 14, 2018 at 5:09
  • If so, can i understnad that "It is worth studying english" mean "It is worthwhile. therefore, you should study english"?
    – user22046
    Feb 14, 2018 at 5:37
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You can't say "Studying English is worth" as worth would be taken as an adjective and the listener would be expecting a noun to follow explaining how much it is valued at. The original worth is an ellipsis on worthwhile (= worth your time and energy).

Re: the question on the subject, they both are, as "it" refers to "studying English"

Addressing the latter question, you can't use the infinitive (to verb) with the short form.

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