Svetlana Flemming - Colloquial Russian - The Next Step in Language Learning

on / ona´ / onoíde¨t

oniídu´t

Much more about the stress of present tense of verbs may be found in Unit 10.

Verbs with infinitives ending in -avat; drop the syllable -av- in the present tense; verbs ending in -ovat; replace the -ov- by -u- and those ending in -evat; replace the -ev- by -[-: dava´t; ‘to give’

q da[

´

my dae¨m

ty dae¨w;

vy dae¨te

on / ona´ / ono´ dae¨t

oni´ da[

´ t

sove´tovat; ‘to advise’

q sove´tu[ my

sove´tuem

ty sove´tuew;

vy sove´tuete

on / ona´ / onośove´tuet

oni sove´tu[t

voeva´t; ‘to wage war’

q vo[

´ [

my vo[

ém

ty vo[

éw;

vy vo[

éte

on / ona´ / ono´ vo[

ét

oni vo[

´ [t

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Watch out for the effect of the spelling rules on such verbs: 2

tanceva´t; ‘to dance’:

3

tancu´[, tancuéw;, tancuét,

4

tancuém, tancuéte, tancu´[t.

5

6

Second conjugation

7

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Remove the last three letters from the infinitive and add the endings: 9

-[, -iw; , -it, -im, -ite, -qt. Some second conjugation verbs are 10

also affected by the spelling rules:

1

govori´t; ‘to speak’

2

q govor[

´

my govori´m

3

ty govori´w;

vy govori´te

4

on / ona´ / ono´ govori´t

oni´ govorq´t

5

6

der'a´t; ‘to hold’

7

q der'u´

my deŕ'im

8

ty deŕ'iw;

vy deŕ'ite

9

on / ona´ / ono´ deŕ'it

oni deŕ'at

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If the stem of a second conjugation verb ends in the consonants -d, 1

-t, -s, -z, -st, that consonant will change in the first person singu-2

lar (q form) only . Other forms are regular. If the stem ends in -b, -v, 3

-p, -f, and -m an -l- is inserted between the stem and the ending in 4

the first person singular only :

5

6

vodi´t; to lead

q vo'u´

ty vo´diw;

7

plati´t; to pay

q plahu´

ty pla´tiw;

8

prosi´t; to ask

q prowu´

ty prośiw;

9

vozi´t; to convey

q vo'u´

ty voźiw;

30

sviste´t; to whistle

q svi]u´

ty svisti´w;

1

l[bi´t; to love

q l[bl[

´

ty l[

´ biw;

2

3

Irregular verbs

4

5

There are a small number of irregular verbs in Russian:

6

moh; ‘to be able’

mogu´

mo´'em

7

mo´'ew;

mo´'ete

8

mo´'et

mo´gut

9

40

be'a´t; ‘to run’

begu´

be'i´m

1

be'i´w;

be'i´te

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be'i´t

begu´t

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Russia and the Russian language

xote´t; ‘to want’

xohu´

xoti´m

xo´hew;

xoti´te

xo´het

xotq´t

est; ‘to eat’

em

edi´m

ew;

edi´te

est

edq´t

Reflexive verbs

Add -sq after a consonant or -; and -s; after a vowel: vstreha´t;sq ‘to meet’

vstreha´[s;

vstrehaémsq

vstrehaéw;sq

vstrehaétes;

vstrehaétsq

vstreha´[tsq

There is much more information about reflexive verbs in Unit 4.

The verb ‘to be’

Byt; has no present tense. For alternative ways of translating ‘to be’ see Unit 6.

Use of the present tense

In addition to a straight translation for one of the English present tenses, Russian uses the present tense in some additional circumstances. Actions which started in the past and are continuing in the present are conveyed in Russian by the use of the present tense: Q u' e´ hety

ŕe go´da zanima´[s; ruśskim qzyko´m.

I have been studying Russian for four years already.

In indirect speech or questions Russian uses the tense in which the original statement or question was made. This frequently means that Russian uses the present tense where English uses the past: Q sprosiĺa ego´, zanimaétsq li on ruśskim qzyko´m.

I asked him whether he was studying Russian.

On skazaĺ, hto on zanimaétsq ruśskim qzyko´m.

He said that he was studying Russian.

Verbs of motion have two different present tenses, which have some similarities to the two present tenses in English. This is explained fully in Unit 2.

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2

Exercise 12

3

4

Complete the sentences by putting the verbs in brackets into the 5

present tense.

6

Sove´tskij So[