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

ź boĺ;we ne (su]estvova´t;). By´vwie respu´bliki

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tepeŕ; (qvlq´t;sq) nezaviśimymi gosudaŕstvami. Okolo dvadcati´

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respu´blik (vxodi´t;) v sosta´v Rossi´jskoj Federaćii. Parla´ment RF

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(nazyva´t;sq) Du´ma. On (sostoq´t;) iz dvux pala´t. @urnaliśty haśto 1

(pisa´t;), hto rossiqńe ne (interesova´t;sq) poli´tikoj. Oni´ boĺ;we 2

ne (doverq´t;) poli´tikam. Q (shita´t;), hto oni´ pravy´. A Vy? Kak 3

Vy (du´mat;)? Net, my ne (moh;) soglasi´t;sq! My (poddeŕ'ivat;) 4

prezideńta i vo vse¨m (soglawa´t;sq) s nim!

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Aspects

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9

There are, in the overwhelming number of cases, two Russian verb 20111

infinitives for every English one. For example ‘to do’ may be deĺat; 1

or sdeĺat;. The first of these is the imperfective infinitive, or infini-2

tive of the imperfective aspect and the second is the perfective 3

infinitive or infinitive of the imperfective aspect. The present tense is 4

formed from the imperfective infinitive. There are both imperfective 5

and perfective past and future tenses formed from the respective 6

infinitives.

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8

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Formation of the imperfective future

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1

The imperfective future is formed from the future tense of byt; 2

‘to be’ + the imperfective infinitive:

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4

q bu´du deĺat;

my bu´dem deĺat;

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ty bu´dew; deĺat;

vy bu´dete deĺat;

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on / ona´ / ono´ bu´det deĺat;

oni´ bu´dut deĺat;

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8

The formation is exactly the same for the second conjugation and 9

for irregular verbs: q bu´du govori´t; , etc; q bu´du est; , etc.

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Russia and the Russian language

Formation of the perfective future

The perfective future is formed in the same way as the present tense, but using the perfective infinitive. Note the irregular perfective dat; : sdeĺat; ‘to do’

sdeĺa[

sdeĺaem

sdeĺaew;

sdeĺaete

sdeĺaet

sdeĺa[t

dat; ‘to give’

dam

dadi´m

daw;

dadi´te

dast

dadu´t

Formation of the imperfective and perfective past

Both the imperfective and perfective past are formed in the same way, but from their respective infinitives. Where the infinitive of a Russian verb ends in -t; the past tense is generally formed by removing the

-t; and replacing it by: -l (masculine singular), -la (feminine singular), -lo (neuter singular), -li (plural all genders): deĺat;

–

deĺal deĺala deĺalo deĺali

sdeĺat;

–

sdeĺal sdeĺala sdeĺalo sdeĺali

Note, however, the following exceptions:

– Verbs ending in -ere´t; :

umere´t; ‘to die’

u´mer

umerla´

u´merlo

u´merli

– Some verbs ending in -nut; drop the -nut; in the masculine: privy

´ knut; ‘to get used to’

privy

´ k

privy

´ kla

privy

´ klo

privy

´ kli

vozni´knut; ‘to arise’

vozni´k

vozni´kla

vozni´klo

vozni´kli

but note

kri´knut; ‘to shout’

kri´knul

kri´knula

kri´knulo

kri´knuli

pry

´ gnut; ‘to jump’

pry

´ gnul

pry

´ gnula

pry

´ gnulo

pry

´ gnuli

Rossiq i Russkij Qzyk

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– Verbs ending in -st; remove the -st; before adding the past tense 2

endings:

3

past; ‘to fall’

pal

paĺa

paĺo

paĺi

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est;

eĺ

eĺa

eĺo

eĺi

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6

– Verbs ending in -ti:

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idti´

we¨l, wla, wlo, wli

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nesti´ to carry

ne¨s, nesla´, neslo´, nesli´

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vesti´ to lead

ve¨l, vela´, velo´, veli´

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rasti´ to grow

ros, rosla´, roslo´, rosli´

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– Verbs ending in -h;:

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3

teh; to flow

te¨k, tekla´, teklo´, tekli´

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leh; to lie down

le¨g, legla´, leglo´, legli´

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moh; mog,

mogla´, moglo´, mogli´

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dosti´h; to achieve

dosti´g, dosti´gla, dosti´glo,

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dosti´gli

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Imperfective and perfective pairs

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The perfective is often differentiated from the imperfective by the 1

addition of a prefix. Common prefixes include:

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3

vy-, za-, na-, o-, ot-, pere-, po-, pod-, pri-, pro-, s-, u-: 4

pit; / vy

´ pit; to drink

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hita´t; / prohita´t; to read

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pisa´t; / napisa´t;

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deĺat; / sdeĺat;