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

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Other pairs are differentiated by a suffix:

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rewa´t; / rewi´t; to decide

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pose]a´t; / poseti´t; to visit

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vstava´t; / vstat;

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dava´t; / dat;

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sobira´t; / sobra´t; to collect

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nadeva´t; / nade´t; to put on

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or by the presence of the infix -yv- or -iv- in the imperfective: 7

podpiśyvat; / podpisa´t; ‘to sign’. For more about verbs of this 8

type see Unit 14.

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Govori´t; has two perfectives: skaza´t; ‘to say, tell’ and pogov-40

ori´t; ‘to talk, speak’. Some other unusual perfective pairs include: 1

brat; / vzqt; ‘to take’; pokupa´t; / kupi´t; ‘to buy’; stanovi´t;sq /

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stat; ‘to become’.

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Russia and the Russian language

Difference in usage between the imperfective and

perfective aspects

Imperfective aspect

1 Unfinished or continuous actions:

On ceĺyj den; smotreĺ televiźor.

He was watching / watched television all day.

Za´vtra q bu´du rabo´tat; v sadu´.

Tomorrow I will work in the garden.

2 Habitual or repeated actions:

My haśto igraĺi v teńnis \´tim le´tom.

We often played / used to play tennis that summer.

Oni´ bu´dut pla´vat; v moŕe ka´'dyj den;.

They will be swimming / will swim in the sea every day.

3 Emphasis on the process of the verb:

Q l[bl[

´ kata´t;sq na ly´'ax.

I love skiing.

4 After the verbs nahina´t; / naha´t; and stat; ‘to begin’; konha´t;

/ końhit; ‘to finish’; prodol'a´t; ‘to continue’ and some other verbs with similar meanings, the imperfective infinitive is always used:

Q toĺ;ko hto końhila rabo´tat; nad \´toj kni´goj.

I have only just finished working on this book.

For other verbs meaning ‘to stop’ see Unit 14.

Perfective aspect

1 Emphasis on completion or result. This may be a single action: On końhil rabo´tu.

He finished the work.

Vy dol'ny

´ prohita´t; \´tu kni´gu sego´dnq.

You must read (finish reading) that book today.

or a series of actions, each one completed before the next one starts:

Q vstańu, primu´ duw i odeńus;.

I will get up, take a shower and get dressed.

Rossiq i Russkij Qzyk

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2 Some perfectives with the prefix po- imply that the action is 2

performed for a short time only:

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My posideĺi v saduí powli´ domo´j.

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We sat in the garden for a while and went home.

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For aspects in relation to verbs of motion see Unit 2.

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Subjunctive

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In addition to the five tenses described above Russian also has a 10

subjunctive, formed by using the particle by with the past tense: Q

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sdeĺala by ‘I would have done it’. Fuller information on the subjunc-2

tive is given in Unit 11.

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Imperative

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The third person imperative may be formed from either the imper-7

fective or perfective verb: deĺaj(te), sdeĺaj(te) ‘do!’. For fuller 8

information on this imperative see Unit 2. Dava´j / dava´jte, impera-9

tive of dava´t; , is used with the first person plural (my form) of the 20111

future perfective to form a first person imperative: Dava´jte sdeĺaem 1

‘Let’s do it’.

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Exercise 13

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Choose the appropriate verb form from the alternatives in brackets.

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Raspa´d SSSR

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Peŕvyj konfli´kt v Sove´tskom So[

źe (sluhi´tsq / sluhiĺsq) e]e¨ v

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1986g v Alma Ate´. Zate´m v 1989g (nahinaĺsq / nahalsq´) konfli´kt 1

me´'du Armeńiej i Azerbajd'ańom po po´vodu Nagoŕnogo Karaba´xa.

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A s 1989 konfli´kty staĺi (voznika´t; / vozni´knut;) prakti´heski 3

povs[

´ du: na Ukraińe i Kavkaźe, v Molda´vii i Pribaĺtike.

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Sove´tskoe rukovo´dstvo snahaĺa ne (ponimaĺo / pońqlo) isto´kov 5

\´tix konfli´ktov. Odna´ko primeneńie siĺy v Ri´ge i Viĺ;n[se 6

v qnvare´

1991g uspe´xa ne (prinosiĺo / prineslo´). (Nahinaĺis; /

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nahaliś;) peregovoŕy o no´vom so[

źnom dogovoŕe. Konfederati´vnyj

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xara´kter predlo'eńij (vyzyvaĺ / vyźval) nedovoĺ;stvo so storony´

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konserva´torov i (voznikaĺa / vozni´kla) ide´q perevoro´ta pro´tiv 1

refoŕm voob]e´. Pobe´da nad puthiśtami (privodiĺa / privela´) k 421111

nekontroliŕuemomu raspa´du SSSR. V dekabre´ 1991g prezideńty

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Russia and the Russian language

Rossií, Ukraińy i Beloruśsii (podpiśyvali / podpisaĺi)

soglaweńie o likvidaćii SSSR i sozdańii Sodru´'estva

Nezaviśimyx Gosudaŕstv.

Vocabulary ♦

voznika´t; / vozni´knut;

to arise

dogovoŕ

treaty