written by Stephen VanZuylen
20. Russian Verbs -
Introduction & Aspect
Russian Verbs have a reputation of being difficult to
learn, and this is true, but only because the concepts governing them are
very different from the norms of Germanic or Romance languages. Fortunately,
there is a logic to the verb system, and highly irregular verbs are rare.
Past-Imperfect | Past-Perfect |
Present | |
Future-
Imperfect |
Future-Perfect |
This refers to actions which are going on, obviously,
in the present. Since the action is ongoing, only imperfective verbs are
used in the present tense. These correspond to all English present tenses;
for instance "I see" and "I am seeing" as well as "I do see" have only one
corresponding form in Russian, я вижу.
Russian verbs are generally broken down into two or three
groups or "conjugations" generally the first and second; for the sake of
clarity, I will use a slight variant: 1a (e-verbs) 1b (ё-verbs) and 2 (и-verbs)
These three are very similar in appearance and the form for each subject
is distinctive; because there little room for confusion, pronouns are rarely
repeated more than once in a sentence.
Conjugation
1a (e-verbs) |
Conjugation
1b (ё-verbs) |
Conjugation
2 (и-verbs) |
||||
Знать |
Читать |
Петь |
Звать |
Говорить |
Готовить |
|
To
Know |
To
Read |
To
Sing |
To
Call |
To
Say/Speak |
To
Prepare |
|
Я Ты Он/Она/Оно Мы Вы Они |
Знаю Знаешь Знает Знаем Знаете Знают |
Читаю Читаешь Читает Читаем Читаете Читают |
Пою Поёшь Поёт Поём Поёте Поют |
Зову Зовёшь Зовёт Зовём Зовёте Зовут |
Говорю Говоришь Говорит Говорим Говорите Говорят |
Готовлю* Готовишь Готовит Готовим Готовите Готовят |
The Past-Imperfective
Refers to an action in the past which was repeated, left unfinished, or
both
The Past-Perfective
Refers to an action, successfully completed once, and now done with.
Both of these tenses are formed in the same way, and
the aspect of the verb does the rest; simply remove the -ть and add -л plus
the appropriate vowel reflecting the biological gender (sex) of the
subject if it is human, or the gender of the noun itself otherwise.
The table below explains this; I'll use говорить (imperfective) -- сказать
(perfective) as examples.
Gender |
Ending |
Impf
Example |
Pf
Example |
Masc. |
-л |
говорил | сказал |
Fem. |
-ла |
говорила | сказала |
Neut. |
-ло |
говорило | сказало |
Pl. |
-ли |
говорили | сказали |
The Future-Imperfective: refers to an action which will, in the future of course,
be repeating, or that may or may not be completed. This is formed using
the appropriate conjugation of the verb быть plus the infinitive of an imperfective
verb.
Conjugation of "Быть"
Я | буду |
Ты | будешь |
Он/Она/Оно | будет |
Мы | будем |
Вы |
будете |
Они |
будут |
Unfortunately, Russian verbs have a few irregularities
to cover, such as added or changed letters that appear during conjugation.
However, the good news is that while you may not always be able to predict
WHEN such changes occur, 9 times out of 10, you can predict HOW they occur.
For the first item, let's try a few verbs: любить ("to
love"-impf,) -- (я) люблю, ("I love,") остановить ("to stop"-pf)
-- (я) остановлю, ("I will stop [something],") and, as we've already
seen, готовить ("to prepare"-impf,) я готовлю, ("I prepare/am preparing.")
The sounds of в and б, along with п and м, are what linguists call labials
-words made using your lips, and in Russian, an л is inserted after these
consonants in the 1st person singular (я,) but only here!
Next, are a number of verbs, usually of foreign origin,
though there are a number of native Slavic ones, which end in -овать. At
first glance, the conjugation seems obvious; ремонтировать (to repair) should,
in theory become я ремонтироваю.
However correct way would be я ремонтирую, ты ремонтируешь
and so forth. This is one little quirk for verbs with the -овать ending,
but is wholly predictable: all verbs with this ending take the letter у
plus the standard 1a ending when conjugated. Similarly, there are
a number of verbs ending in -авать that lose the -ва- in conjugation and
take the 1b endings. Thus давать becomes даю, даёшь, etc.
Finally, you may notice an odd change in some verbs that
seem fairly arbitrary insertions of hushes (ш щ ж ч) in many verb conjugations.
For instance простить (to forgive) becomes (я) прощу but also
has (он) простит, and рассказать (to tell-pf) becomes
(я) расскажу and (ты) расскажешь. This process is called palatalization,
and occurs when the syllable stress shifts onto or off of the stem during
conjugation. Unfortunately, this means that you cannot always predict wth
certainty when palatalization occurs, when it does happen, it's always following
a set pattern, outlined in the table below:
Г,
З, Д |
become |
Ж |
Х,
С |
become |
Ш |
Т,
К |
become |
Ч |
СХ,
СТ |
become |
Щ |
(1)
Рассказать |
(2)
Помогать |
(3) Простить | |
To
Tell-pf |
To
Help-pf |
To Forgive-pf | |
Я |
Расскажу | Помогу́ | прощу |
Ты |
Расскажешь | Помо́жешь | простишь |
Он/Она |
Расскажет | Помо́жет | простит |
Мы |
Расскажем | Помо́жем | простим |
Вы |
Расскажете | Помо́жете | простите |
Они |
Расскажут | Помо́гут | простят |
Брать-Взять Видеть-Увидеть Включать-Включить Вспоминать-Вспомнить Вставать-Встать Встречать(ся)-Встретить(ся) Выбирать-Выбрать Выключать-Выключить Говорить-Сказать Давать-Дать Досаждать-Досадить Думать-Подумать Забывать-Забыть Завтракать-Позавтракать Заглядываться-Заглядеться Заказывать-Заказать Закрывать-Закрыть Знать Ждать Жить Искать-Поискать Исправлять-Исправить Любить Нравиться-Понравиться Обедать-Пообедать Обладать Обсуждать-Обсудить Объяснять-Объяснить |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
To Take To See To Switch on To Remember To Rise, Get up To Meet (with) To Select, Choose To Switch off To Say, Speak To Give To Annoy To Think To Forget To Eat Breakfast To Stare at To Order To Close To Know To Wait for To Live To Search for To Correct To Love To Be Liked To Eat Lunch To Possess To Discuss To Explain |
Описывать-Описать Открывать-Открыть Падать-упасть Петь-Спеть Писать-Написать Платить-Заплатить Покупать-Купить Помогать-Помочь Предлагать-Предложить Представлять-Представить Приглашать-Пригласить Пробовать-Попробовать Продолжать-Продолжить Просить-Попросить Работать-Поработать Рассказывать-Рассказать Слушать-послушать Слышать-Услышать Смотреть-Посмотреть Собирать-Собрать Спать-поспать Спрашивать-Спросить Стараться-Постараться Становиться-стать Строить-Построить Считать-посчитать Ужинать-Поужинать Читать-Прочитать |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
To Describe To Open To Fall To Sing To Write To Pay To Buy To Help To Offer То Present, Represent To Invite To Try, Taste To Continue To Ask, Make a request To Work To Tell To Listen to To Hear To Watch To Gather To Sleep To Ask To Try, Endeavor To Become To Build, Create To Estmate, Guess To Eat Dinner To Read |
Жить |
Дать |
Давать |
Ждать |
Спать |
Петь |
Открыть |
Брать |
Бзять |
Стать |
|
Я |
живу |
дам |
даю |
жду |
сплю |
пою |
открою |
беру |
возьму |
стану |
Ты |
живёшь |
дашь |
даёшь |
ждёшь |
спишь |
поёшь |
откроешь |
берёшь |
возьмёшь |
станешь |
Он/Она/Оно |
живёт | даст |
даёт |
ждёт | спит |
поёт | откроет |
берёт | возьмёт | станет |
Мы |
живём | дадим |
даём |
ждём | спим |
поём | откроем |
берём | возьмём | станем |
Вы |
живёте | дадите |
даёте |
ждёте | спите |
поёте | откроете |
берёте | возьмёте | станете |
Они |
живут | дадут |
дают |
ждут | спят |
поют | откроют |
берут | возьмут | станут |
The two main Russian interrogatives are Кто (who) Что (what) like nouns,
these decline by case, but only in one gender and only on the singular.
Case |
Кто |
Что |
Nominative Accusative Dative Genitive Prepositional Instrumental |
Кто Кого Кому Кого о Ком Кем |
Что Что Чему Чего о Чём Чем |
один | one | четырнадцать | fourteen | восемьдесят | eighty |
два | two | пятнадцать | fifteen | девяносто | ninety |
три | three | шестнадцать | sixteen | сто | one hundred |
четыре | four | семнадцать | seventeen | двести | two hundred |
пять | five | восемнадцать | eighteen | триста | three hundred |
шесть | six | девятнадцать | nineteen | четыреста | four hundred |
семь | seven | двадцать | twenty | пятьсот | five hundred |
восемь | eight | двадцать один | twenty-one | шестьсот | six hundred |
девять | nine | тридцать | thirty | семьсот | seven hundred |
десять | ten | сорок | forty | восемьсот | eight hundred |
одиннадцать | eleven | пятьдесят | fifty | девятьсот | nine hundred |
двенадцать | twelve | шестьдесят | sixty | тысяча | one thousand |
тринадцать | thirteen | семьдесят | seventy |
один рубль |
one rouble |
одна книга |
one book |
два рубля |
two roubles |
две книги |
two books |
пять рублей |
five roubles |
пять книг |
five books |
тридцать два рубля |
thirty-two roubles |
тридцать две книги |
thirty-two books |
Masc. |
Fem. |
Neut. |
Plural |
|
Nom. |
один |
одна |
одно |
одни |
Acc. |
один/одного |
одну |
одно |
одни/одних |
Dat. |
одному |
одной |
одному |
одним |
Gen. |
одного |
одной |
одного |
одних |
Prep. |
одном |
одной |
одном |
одних |
Inst. |
одним |
одной |
одним |
одними |
Two |
Three |
Four |
|
Nom. |
два/две* |
три |
четыре |
Acc. |
два/две |
три |
четыре |
Dat. |
двум |
трём |
четырём |
Gen. |
двух |
трёх |
четырёх |
Prep. |
двух |
трёх |
четырёх |
Inst. |
двумя |
тремя |
четырьмя |
These decline just like adjectives, and must agree in
gender, number, and case with the noun they describe.
первый | first | шестнадцатый | sixteenth |
второй | second | семнадцатый | seventeenth |
третий | third | восемнадцатый | eighteenth |
четвёртый | fourth | девятнадцатый | nineteenth |
пятый | fifth | двадцатый | twentieth |
шестой | sixth | двадцать первый | twenty-first |
седьмой | seventh | тридцатый | thirtieth |
восьмой | eighth | сороковой | fortieth |
девятый | ninth | пятидесятый | fiftieth |
десятый | tenth | шестидесятый | sixtieth |
одиннадцатый | eleventh | семидесятый | seventieth |
двенадцатый | twelfth | восьмидесятый | eightieth |
тринадцатый | thirteenth | девяностый | ninetieth |
четырнадцатый | fourteenth | сотый | hundredth |
пятнадцатый | fifteenth | тысячный | thousandth |
There are a number of conjunctions in Russian, and while
they do tend to make sense, they also tend to re-use particles seen elsewhere,
so you should pay attention in at least recognizing their forms so you don't
mistranslate. They are listed in no particular order.
И -- And
-У меня в моей комнате есть телевизор и DVD-плеер -- In my room there
is a television and a DVD player
А -- And/But
-Моя мать - секретарша, а отец - менеджер -- My mother is a secretary,
but my father is a manager.
И..., и – Both x and y
-Да, я пригласил и Анну, и
Лену! -- Yes, I invited both Anna and Lena!
Или -- Or
-Я купил бы красный или серый. -- I would buy the red one or
the gray one.
Или..., или -- Either...or
-Я буду встречаться с ними или в Декабре, или в Январе --
I will be meeting with them either in December or in January.
Не...не...а – Nether x nor y, but z
-Моя машина не красная, не
чёрная, а зелёная. -- My car is neither
red nor black, but
green.
Не...ни...ни – Neither...nor
-Я не хочу ни твоего присутствия,
ни твоего совета
-- I want neither your prescence nor your advice.
Чтобы- (in order) to, for...to, so that
-Надо работать, чтобы получать деньги... -- You have to work
(in order) to get money... (Verb infinitive used)
-Мама хочет, чтобы ты убрала комнату -- Mom wants (for)
you to clean your room. (Verb in past tense used)
-Мы тебе сказали, чтобы ты зналa правду. -- We told you so
that you would know the truth. (Verb in past tense used)
Cловно-as though
-Он говорит о компьютерах, словно изобрёл их -- He talks about computers
as though he invented them!
А то-or else
-Мы должны идти, а то опоздаем в театр. --
We have to go or
else we will be late for the theatre.
Если-if
-Если будет дождь, я останусь дома сегодня.
-- If it's raining, I will stay inside today.
Ли-whether (or not)я
-Я не знаю, идёт ли дождь -- I don't know whether it's raining
or not, or I don't know if it's raining.
(Despite the use of "if" in the latter translation, ли and если cannot be
used interchangeably; if you can use "whether" in English, then you must
use ли.)
Negation in Russian is very simple. There are a few words
which indicate negation, but the two most common, and therefore most useful,
are не and нет.
The word не means "not" or "am not," and can be used
with or without verbs, as below:
Я не юрист -- I'm not a lawyer
Я вас не знаю -- I don't know you.
Although it is written as a separate word, не is pronounced
as though it were a part of the following word, and thus assumes the pronunciation
based of the stress patterns of the word it negates. In "proper" Russian,
the direct object of the negated verb is supposed to be put into the genitive
case regardless of gender. This doesn't always happen in speech, but it
is nonetheless recommended, particularly in writing.
Нет on the other hand means "no" or "there is/are no"
and is more complicated, since the word it negates takes the genitive case.
In some cases, word order can be shifted somewhat, but it usually pays to
be somewhat unambiguous.
Some examples:
Его здесь нет. -- He's not here.
На улице
нет машин. -- There are no cars on the street.
B этой
пицце
нет сыра! -- There's no cheese on this pizza!
Also, you should note that in Russian, the use of double
negatives, even large numbers of them, is not only allowed, but also necessary
in circumstances involving negative pronouns, (никогда, никуда, and so on;
see section 46 for a longer list.) Indeed, you are only limited by what
it is you want to say:
Она никогда не даëт ничего никому -- "She never
doesn't give nothing to nobody," or more accurately
"She never gives anything to anybody."
In my experience, learning
how to tell the time and date is one of the harder aspects of learning any
language, and Russian, sadly, is no exception, so it helps to try and learn
fairly early on. I've tried to include plenty of examples to help. Let me
begin by saying that while in my list of common phrases I said that "сколько
времени?" is how one asks for the time, this is true mainly for street language;
if you're looking to appear more "educated" or are in the presence of a
person of authority, I would recommend saying "который час?" instead.
Secondly, when used in writing and/or print, the 24-hour
clock (often called "military time" in North America ) is
used, but not when spoken; it may read as 16:10, but you would say it as
though it read 4:10. (This of course is barring
military usage, where spoken use of the 24-hour system over the 12-hour
is apparently universal.) And finally, time is often written with hours,
minutes and seconds are separated by periods/full-stops instead of colons.
I will use this format from now on.
Time can be told in one of two ways; the first is to
simply say the numbers displayed, so 16.10 (that is, 4:10pm) would be четыре
часа, десять. The second, while much more complicated to an English-speaker's
eyes and ears, is much more common.
To give an on-the-dot o'clock time, you say the hour
plus a declension of the word час, "hour." In telling time, on its own is
1 o'clock, but becomes часа after 2, 3, or 4, and часов after
5 and up. To say "at" such-and-such time, use the preposition в (accusative.)
Thus:
-13.00 -- Час
-16.00 -- Четыре часа
-18.00 -- Шесть часов
For times in the top half of the hour (that is, .01 to
.29) you would say however many minutes, (минута, feminine-singular,) then
the ordinal of the following hour in the genitive-singular.
That's quite a mouthful, so here are some examples to help you catch your
bearings:
- 15.10 -- десять минут четвёртого. (Literally "five minutes of the fourth")
- 11.17 -- семнадцать
минут двенадцатого.
- 9.03 -- три минуты десятого
- 7.22 -- двадцать двe минуты восьмого.
For "half-past" times, you use the word половина
plus an ordinal in the manner we saw just now. Thus:
- 6.30 -- половина седьмого.
- 14.30 -- половина третьего.
- 21.30 -- половина десятого.
Note that when used with the preposition в, половина
must decline accordingly, becoming в половину, "at half-past..." In colloquial
Russian, however, it can often be heard as в половине. When in doubt, I
would suggest saying в половину. [Native speaker note:
the way this is normally said and even written is half (половина) gets abbreviated to пол-. It is spelled as one word with the number if it starts with consonant and with a hyphen in between if it starts with vowel (which is just one - 11 - пол-одиннадцатого, i.e. 10:30).You wouldn't hear it otherwise normally. This way it doesn't incline, i.e. with "в" the form of пол-(number) remains the same in all cases.]
For times in the bottom half of the hour, you take the
minutes remaining until the next hour with the preposition без, followed
by the next hour in the nominative-cardinal form. Thus:
- 10.47 -- без тринадцати минут одиннадцать.
- 8.58 -- без двух минут девять
- 23.35 -- без двадцати пяти минут двенадцать
And finally for times of "quarter to" and "quarter
past, you use the word четверть in the same manner as the minutes are above:
- 7.15 -- Четверть восьмого
-7.45 -- Без четверти восемь
In all cases, you can use the adverbs утром (in the
morning,) днём (in the afternoon,) or вечером (in the evening,) if you feel
that there may be ambiguity over which one, or wish to add emphasis to the
fact. Also, instead of 12.00 and 24.00, you can say полдень
or полночь, respectively.
Dates are a somewhat different animal, and are, for better
or worse, equally as complex.
To say them, you must first learn the months of the
year and the days of the week:
Days |
Months |
||||
Monday |
Понедельник |
September |
Сентябрь* |
March |
Март |
Tuesday |
Вторник |
October |
Октябрь* |
April |
Апрель |
Wednesday |
Среда |
November |
Ноябрь* |
May |
Май |
Thursday |
Четверг |
December |
Декабрь* |
June |
Июнь |
Friday |
Пятница |
January |
Январь* |
July |
Июль |
Saturday |
Суббота |
February |
Февраль* |
August |
Август |
Sunday |
Воскресенье |
Now that we've examined regular Russian verbs, it is
necessary to get to know a special group of verbs in Russian: verbs of motion.
These forms are similain concept to the German verbs gehen and fahren in
that they tell you how the action was carried out (on foot or
by vehicle,) but in Russian, they also give information about the direction
and nature
of the motion itself, which can be further narrowed by the addition of prefixes,
not discussed here. These verbs have what amounts to three aspects: the
progressive, the imperfective, and the perfective; the progressive however,
is only used in the present tense.
The imperfective-progressive typically refers to an action
in progress, that is, like "I am going," but like English, these can also
be used like future tense verbs. In the tables below, these verbs are in
black text.
For example: Сегодня вечером, Саша идёт на концерт -- "This evening,
Sasha is going to a concert."
Imperfective verbs refer to motions which follow more
than one direction (i.e. a round trip/there and back), happens habitually
or more than once (i.e. the daily commute) or has no real destination but
the starting point (i.e. a stroll through the park). In the tables below,
these verbs are in blue text.
For example Каждый день я хожу на работу -- "Every day I go to work." or
Мария ходила в библиотеку -- "Maria went to the library (and has since returned)"
Perfective verbs refer to an motion in the past that
occurred once and in one direction, such as a direct flight, or such an
action that will occur in the future. Also important with the perfective
here is the method of completion; if a person goes somewhere, and at the
time you describe the action has yet to return, the perfective, barring
any contextual nuance, is used. Likewise these verbs are marked with red text.
For example: Катя пошла в магазин -- "Katya went to the store (and
has yet to return)"
Movement
on Foot |
Movement by Vehicle | ||||||
Идти |
Ходить |
Пойти |
Ехать | Ездить | Поехать | ||
Я |
иду |
хожу |
пойду |
Я | еду | езжу | поеду |
Ты |
идёшь | ходишь |
пойдёшь | Ты | едешь | ездишь | поедешь |
Он/Она |
идёт | ходит |
пойдёт | Он/Она | едет | ездит | поедет |
Мы |
идём | ходим |
пойдём | Мы | едем | ездим | поедем |
Вы | идёте | ходите |
пойдёте | Вы | едете | ездите | поедете |
Они
|
идут | ходят |
пойдут | Они | едут | ездят | поедут |
Past
Tense |
шёл,
шла,
шли |
ходил(а)/(и) |
пошёл, пошла, пошли | Past Tense | ехал(а)/(и) | ездил(а)/(и) | поехал(а)/(и) |
Meaning |
Verb 1 |
Я |
Ты |
Past |
To Go (on foot) |
Идти |
иду |
идёшь |
шёл, шла, шли |
To Go (by vehicle) |
Ехать |
еду |
едешь |
ехал, ехала, ехали |
To Run |
Бежать |
бегу |
бежишь |
бежал, бежала, бежали |
To Wander, Stroll |
Брести |
бреду |
бредёшь |
брёл, брела, брели |
To Carry (by vehicle), Deliver |
Везти |
везу |
везёшь |
вёз, везла, везли |
To Lead, Conduct |
Вести |
веду |
ведёшь |
вёл, вела, вели |
To Chase, Drive |
Гнать | гоню |
гонишь |
гнал, гнала, гнали |
To Climb |
Лезть |
лезу |
лезeшь |
лeз, лезла, лезли |
To Fly |
Лететь |
лечу |
летишь |
летeл, летeла, летeли |
To Carry |
Нести |
несу |
несёшь |
нёс, несла, несли |
To Swim, Sail |
Плыть |
плыву |
плывёшь |
плыл, плыла, плыли |
To Crawl |
Ползти |
ползу |
ползёшь |
полз, ползла, ползли |
To Drag |
Тащить |
тащу |
тащишь |
тащил, тащила, тащили |
Adding
the prefix по- to the verbs in the "Verb 1" column gives the equivalents
for поехать and пойти.
Meaning |
Verb 2 |
Я |
Ты |
Past |
To Go (on foot) |
ходить |
хожу |
ходишь |
ходил, ходила, ходили |
To Go (by vehicle) |
ездить |
езжу |
ездишь |
ездил, ездила, ездили |
To Run |
бегать |
бегаю |
бегаeшь |
бегал, бегала, бегали |
To Wander, Stroll |
бродить |
брожу |
бродишь |
бродил, бродила, бродили |
To Carry (by vehicle), Deliver |
возить |
вожу |
возишь |
возил, возила, возили |
To Lead, Conduct |
водить |
вожу |
водишь |
водил, водила, водили |
To Chase, Drive |
гонять |
гоняю |
гоняeшь |
гонял, гоняла, гоняли |
To Climb |
лазать |
лазаю |
лазаeшь |
лазал, лазала, лазали |
To Fly |
летать |
летаю |
летаeшь |
летал, летала, летали |
To Carry |
носить |
ношу |
носишь |
носил, носила, носили |
To Swim, Sail |
плавать |
плаваю |
плаваeшь |
плавал, плавала, плавали |
To Crawl |
ползать |
ползаю |
ползаeшь |
ползал, ползала, ползали |
To Drag |
таскать |
таскаю |
таскаeшь |
таскал, таскала, таскали |
There are a number of verbs associated with food in Russian,
many of which have slight to major irregularities in conjugation, so it
makes sense to show them here. (The word-list for foods from the previous
edition will be added to a second edition in the future.)
The verb "to eat" in Russian is есть in the infinitive-imperfective,
and съесть in the perfective. Be careful not to confuse this verb with its
homophone which means "is."
Present-Future |
Past |
|||||
Я |
ем |
съем |
Masc. | ел | съел | |
Ты |
ешь |
съешь |
Fem. | ела | съела | |
Он/Она |
ест |
съест |
Neut. | ело | съело | |
Мы |
едим |
съедим |
Pl. | ели | съели | |
Вы |
едите |
съедите |
||||
Они |
едят |
съедят |
Готовить-Приготовить (To Cook/Prepare) |
Пить-Выпить (Drink) |
Жарить-Пожарить (Grill/Fry) |
|
Я | Готовлю-Приготовлю |
Пью-Выпью |
Жарю-Пожарю |
Ты | Готовишь-Приготовишь | Пьёшь-Выпьешь | Жаришь-Пожаришь |
Он | Готовит-Приготовит | Пьёт-Выпьет | Жарит-Пожарит |
Мы | Готовим-Приготовим | Пьём-Выпьем | Жарим-Пожарим |
Вы | Готовите-Приготовите | Пьёте-Выпьете | Жарите-Пожарите |
Они | Готовят-Приготовят | Пьют-Выпьют | Жарят-Пожарят |
Печь-Испечь (Bake) |
Жечь-Сжечь (Burn) |
Замораживать-Заморозить (Freeze) |
|
Я | Пеку-Испеку |
Жгу-Сожгу |
Замораживаю-Заморожу |
Ты | Печёшь-Испечёшь |
Жжёшь-Сожжёшь |
Замораживаешь-Заморозишь |
Он | Печёт-Испечёт | Жжёт-Сожжёт | Замораживает-Заморозит |
Мы | Печём-Испечём | Жжём-Сожжём | Замораживаем-Заморозим |
Вы | Печёте-Испечёте | Жжёте-Сожжёте | Замораживаете-Заморозите |
Они | Пекут-Испекут | Жгут-Сожгут | Замораживают-Заморозят |
The past tense of Печь
is irregular: Пёк (masc.,) Пекла (fem.,) Пекло (neut.,) Пекли (pl.) As is that of Жечь:
Жёг (masc.,) Жгла (fem.,) Жгло (neut.,) Жгли (pl.)
35.
Relative Pronouns and Conjunctions
Relative clauses in Russian are difficult for two main
reasons, the first being that full relative clauses are rarely used in either
spoken or written English; the second that there are three different relative
constructions in use in Russian, which cannot be used interchangeagbly.
Each is examined individually below.
But first, what is a relative clause? Relative clauses
are a part of speech, which describes the subject or an object in the sentence,
usually wth the am of specifying one among many, with the use of a relative
pronoun to replace the subject and a verb and predicates to describe it.
They are, in effect, mini-sentences within a sentence.
For instance, look at the sentence "The woman, who was
standing on the corner, is my friend's wife." "...who was standing..." is
the relative clause in this example. Notice both how it s used to specifiy
which woman is the one you are talking about, and how the word "who" takes
the place of the noun in question, while the remainder of the words in the
sentence follow as though "who" was simply a repetition of the word described.
Russian relative pronouns work on this same principle, but must be used
in Russian, both written and spoken, unlike in English.
Который
Который is equivalent to the English pronouns which,
who, and whom, and is used in much the same way, and is the most straightforward
of the relative pronouns use. As the final two letters imply, который declines
according to the gender and number of the word described, as well as with
any preposition you use, following the same paradigm as most adjectives.
However, который must be used when the subject of the relative clause is
a noun, rather than a pronoun. Now, let's see the above sentence in Russian:
"Девушка, которая стояла на углу, жена моего друга."
Notice how both the relative pronoun and verb both agree
with the word being described (женщина) in gender and number. The same applies
if you use a preposition with который:
"Девушка, с которой я учился, сейчас работает
врачoм." (The woman I went to school with is now a doctor, or more accurately,
the woman, with whom I went to school, now works as a doctor.)
Again, notice how the ending on который follows the gender
and number of the word described (femnine, singular) and the case dictated
by the preposition c (instrumental.) In this sentence, however, the verb
ending corresponds with that of я rather than девушка, since the description
within the relative clause is based not around the action of the person
in question, but the speaker.
The real difficulty comes when you do just that, and
describe in a relative clause based on your own experience; который must
be declined in accordance not only with the word being described, but how
который fits into the relative clause, as though it were a standalone sentence;
the gender and number come from the word beng described, but everything
else is determined by the relation to the verb of the relative pronoun.
For instance:
-"Девушка, которую я знаю..." (The woman, whom I know...) In this
instance, the relative pronoun is the direct object of the verb with the
speaker as the subject, and thus it takes the accusative case. And:
-"Девушка, которой он дал подарок..." (The woman, to whom he gave
the gift...) Here, it takes the place of the indirect object, and so takes
the dative case, since in the relative clause the woman is the recipient
of the gift, regardless of the case of the word in the rest of the sentence.
The pronoun который, however, is only used when the thing
described is written as a noun in the sentence. There are of course instances
where the use of a noun is impractical or simply repetitive. In such cases,
you would use a то, что or то, кто construction, depending on whether you
are referring to a thing or person, respectively. The best way to learn
them is to see examples of how they are used:
То, что/То,
как
The construction то, что (that which) along with тот, кто (he who) / та, кто (she who) / те, кто (plural, which doesn't depend on gender and can be followed by singular verb or plural verb) are somewhat more difficult to learn to use properly. These pronouns can be declined according
to context, with or without prepositions. In addition, they are used in
instances where in
English you can attach prepositions to an action or verb instead of a noun
or pronoun as a result of weak case governance and the expansion of roles
of participles. Russian, along with most languages, however, does not allow
this, as a preposition must be tied to a noun or pronoun, no exceptions.
То, как is really more of a conjunction than a relative pronoun, but I include
it here due to the similarities with то, что and то, кто.
You would not use these construction in spoken language, but would simply say "кто" or "что", which are abbreviated versions of these longer pronouns.
-Я не знаю то, о чём ты говоришь. -- "I don't know what you are talking about."
-Преподаватель спросил нам о том, что мы делали. -- "The teacher
asked us about what we were doing."
-Я ещё
не нашёл то, что я ищу. -- "I still haven't found what I'm
looking for."
-Кошки любят тех, кто их кормит. -- "Cats love those who feed
them."
-Бог помогает тем, кто себе помогает. -- "God helps those who help themselves."
-Бери только то, что нужно, чтобы выжить. -- "Take only that which is necessary to survive."
-Мы
хотели бы пoблагодарить
ваc за то, что вы пришли сюда сегодня. -- "We would like
to thank you for coming here today."
-Перед
тем, как я ухожy на работу, я каждый день готовлю для семьи кофе. - "Before I leave for work, every morning I make coffee for the rest
of the family."
-В своей книге Социальный Контракт, философ Руссо говорит о том,
как строить идеальную демокрацию. - "In his book The
Social Contract, the philosopher Rousseau writes about how to build the perfect democracy."
Also, if you use a pronoun other than то to one
of its declensions such as их, тебя or нас and so forth, the same applies.
There are a half-dozen verbs related to education
that are very similar in root and/or possible translations, but
each has a specific meaning not always interchangeable with the
others.
|
To Have:
Possession is usually shown by using the genitive preposition у plus the
possessor, then есть and the object possessed in the nominative case. For
example "I have a book" is "У меня есть книга." (Literally, "At me there
is a book") If needs be, the word order can be changed a little, but keep
the preposition y in front of the possessor.
To Want:
-The verb хотеть "to want" is one of only a few truly irregular verbs in
Russian, and is used in much the same way as in English. Be sure to remember
the conjugation:
Я |
хочу |
Ты |
хочешь |
Он/Она |
хочет |
Мы |
хотим |
Вы |
хотите |
Они |
хотят |
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