Russian verb aspects

Russian ns, prons, adjs & nums decline in gender: m, f, n; number: s, p & case: n, g, d, a, i, p. Adv, conj, interj, prep stay the same. Verbs: 3 ten, 2 asp; asp pairs are formed: via pref, suf & lex. Beware of verbs of position and motion!

► Russian verbs

Most Russian verbs have a pair with the same lexical meaning, differing only in aspect - an aspectual pair. Aspects are used to indicate if an action is ongoing (imperfective verb is used) or it was completed (perfective verb is used). Russians have a choice of two verbs (impf-pf) to describe the same action: читать-прочитать, учить-выучить and решать-решить are aspectual pairs.

Russian aspectual verb pairs are used to form three basic Russian tenses. Since the action which is happening in the present is still in progress and therefore not complete, only the imperfective form of the verb is used in the present. Both the perfective and imperfective forms of the Russian verbs are used in the past and future. Note that both types of Russian verbs have the present tense forms but the present tense form of perfective verbs have the meaning and function of the future tense. English tenses don't correspond to the Russian ones and you would need to learn Russian verb aspects to think and to speak the new Russian way.

General fact, simple naming of an action, mere statement that an action is occurring now, took place in the past or will take place in the future, an action that didn’t happen:	Particular fact, result of an action, accomplished action, single action that has occurred at some specific moment in the past or in the future, an action that someone failed to do:
	уже, в такое-то время, всё, не всё
90px Он читает. По-моему он читает книгу. He reads. I think he is reading a book. Он точно читал вечерние молитвы вчера. He read evening prayers yesterday for sure. А я не читала молитв вчера. I didn’t read prayers yesterday.	Он уже прочитал "Преступление и наказание". He has already read "Crime and Punishment". Он прочитал вечерние молитвы вчера в шесть вечера. He read his evening prayers at six o'clock in the evening. А я не прочитала молитв вчера. I failed to read prayers yesterday. (I thought I would!)
Вчера я был занят: Yesterday I was busy: читал текст, I was reading a text, писал упражнения, writing exercises, учил глаголы. learning new verbs.	Вечером я прочитал новый текст, In the evening I read a new text, написал все упражнения did all the exercises и выучил все новые глаголы. and learned all the new verbs. Я всё сделал! Всё-всё-всё! I've done everything! Everything-everything-everything!

Incomplete, ongoing, habitual, repeated, reversed actions in the past, present and future:	Completed, accomplished singe action, result of an action in the past and future:
обычно, всегда, часто, редко, иногда, каждый день, всегда, никогда, два раза в день, два раза в год, несколько раз, много раз, по средам, по вечерам	быстро, сразу, вдруг, наконец, неожиданно, даже
Он читает каждый вечер. He reads every evening.	Он прочитал книгу. He finished reading the book.
Он читал, читает и будет читать эту книгу. He was reading, he is reading and he will be reading this book.	Я тоже хочу прочитать эту книгу. I want to read that book too.
Он каждый день пишет новую главу своей книги. Every day he writes a new chapter of his book. Он часто пишет статьи в газеты. He often writes an article for a newspaper.	90px А вчера он даже написал две новых главы! Yesterday he even wrote two new chapters! И завтра он быстро напишет новую статью. Tomorrow he will quickly write a new article as well.

Process:	Boundaries of an action:
долго, весь вечер, весь день, всё утро, всю неделю, целый день, целый год, целую неделю, десять минут, ещё два часа, ещё три месяца	закончил│→ начал, сначала│→ потом
Вчера я долго делал домашнее задание. Yesterday I was doing my homework for a long time. │долго│	Вчера я сделал домашнее задание и пошёл гулять. Yesterday I finnished doing my homework and went for a walk. сделал│→ пошёл

Overlapping, parallel actions:

Sequence of actions:

потом, после, после этого, после того как, затем

Он лежал на диване и ел бутерброд.

He was lying on a sofa and eating a sandwich. │лежал │ел Он сидит и читает. He is sitting and reading. │сидит │читает Он сидел в кресле и просматривал газеты. He was sitting in an armchair and looking through newspapers. │сидел │просматривал