The General Nature of the verb

The Russian verb is always composed of two parts: (1) a stem and (2) a conjugational ending. Two basic types of stems and two types of endings determine the present-future form. Neither stems nor endings occur alone, but always in conjunction with one another.

The two major types of verb stems are Consonant Stems and Vowel Stems.

* Consonant Stems are those verb stems which end on a consonant. There are two significant types: 'wimpy' consonant stems and 'tough' consonant stems. (You'll see in the next section why they are wimpy or tough; for the time being, just remember them.)

Wimpy consonant stems end on в н м or й.	жив- "live" стан- "become, begin" плыв- "swim, float, sail" делай- "do, make"
Tough consonant stems may end on any other consonant.	ид- "go" мог - "can, may" нёс- "carry (on foot)" грёб- "row"

Russian Verbal Endings

The Present-Future Endings.

There are two sets of endings used on Russian verbs to mark the present tense of imperfective verbs and the future tense of perfective verbs: those of the First or E-conjugation and those of the Second or И-Conjugation. The endings of the two conjugations are almost identical except for the initial vowel of all the endings. In the First Conjugation that vowel is e except in the 3rd person plural, where it is у (or ю). In the Second Conjugation the vowel is и everywhere except 3rd person plural where it is a (or я).

The First (E) Conjugation

The Present-Future Endings

First conjugation endings are added to

(1) consonant stems like:
стан- : стану "I will become"
жив- : живу "I live"
ид- : идёшь "you're going"
нёс- : несёт "(s)he's carrying"
мог- : могут "they can"

(2) to back-vowel stems, unless the vowel is -а preceded by ш ж ч or щ
жда- : ждёшь "you're waiting" 
but слыша- : слышишь "you're hearing"
писа- : пишет "(s)he's writing"
but стуча- : стучит "(s)he's knocking"
верну- : вернём "we will return"
but держа- : держим "we keep, hold"

The Second (И) Conjugation

The Present-Future Endings

Second conjugation endings are added to

 (1) front-vowel stems
купи- "buy"
смотре- "look"
ходи- "go"

(2) stems on -a preceded by ш ж ч or щ
держа- "hold, keep"
слыша- "hear"
стуча- "knock"

The Past Tense Endings

The Past Tense of a verb indicates that the action indicated by the verb occurred in the past. The Past Tense ending for both conjugations is -л + gender marker, -o for neuter, -a for feminine, nothing for masculine, in the singular and -и in the plural. The past tense of сказа- "say, tell" is сказа-л-, as shown below.

(он) сказал "he/it said"
(она) сказала "she/it said"
(оно) сказало "it said"
(они) сказали "they said"

The stem does not change if the past tense ending is added to a vowel stem; however, this ending doesn't like consonants and usually makes some adjustments to consonant stems which we will examine further along.

The Infinitive Endings

 

The Infinitive corresponds to verb phrases beginning with to in English, e. g. I want to read (Russian: я хочу читать). Whenever an auxiliary is used in Russian, the main verb must be an infinitive whether it is in English or not, e. g. I must read versus Russian я доджна читать. Here are the rules for forming the Russian infinitive.

  -чь is used after fixed consonant stems on к or г. The consonant of the stem is then dropped.

мог-чь becomes мочь "can, may"
пек-чь becomes печь "to bake"

  -ти is used after fixed-consonant stems which are end-accented. As you can see, т, д, з, п, б are regularly replaced by c before the -ть or -ти of the infinitive.

вёд-ти becomes вести "to lead, accompany"
вёз-ти becomes везти "to haul, carry (by vehicle)"
греб-ти becomes грести "to row"

  -еть is then added to the consonant stems on р and the e of the stem is realized, as in

ум(е)р- : умереть "to die"

  - Elsewhere the infinitive ending is -ть: сказ-а- : сказать. Like the past tense ending -л, this ending, too, does not like consonants (too much like itself) and so changes them to suit its liking. We will review all those changes in the section on 'Rules of Combination'.

The Imperative Ending

The Imperative Mood is used in issuing a command or order, e. g. Give me that book! or Open the door!. Here are the rules for forming the Imperative Mood in Russian.

Nothing is added to (a) stems ending on й or (b) those whose accent always falls on the stem (fixed stem accent on the stem). In fact, if a stem with fixed stem accent ends on a vowel, the vowel is removed. (Keep in mind, however, if the preceding consonant is a soft one, you have to insert a soft sign (ь) to mark it when no vowel follows.)

пьй- : Пей молоко! "Drink your milk!"
делай- : Делай это! "Do that!"
открой- : Открой дверь! "Open the door!"
постави- : Поставь его сюда! "Put it here!"

There is one exception to the rule above. If a verb stem has fixed stem accent but its final consonant is part of a consonant cluster (2 or 3 consonants together), -и is added despite the rule above.

помн-и- : Помни это ! "Remember that!"
кончи- : Кончи работу! "Finish your work!"

-и is added to stems with movable accent and those with accent fixed on the endings. A good way to check for both of these types is 1st person singular; i.e. if the stem has end accent or movable accent the 1st person singular ending will always be accented.

сказа- (скажу) : Скажи! "Tell!" (movable accent)
говори- (говорю) : Говори! "Speak (up)" (fixed ending accent)

Finally, don't forget that the final consonant in stems ending on -a- always undergo palatalization regardless of whether they use the ending и or not--but only stems ending on -a-, no others.

сказа- : Скажи! "Tell (me)!"
реза- : Режь(те) "Cut (it)!"
спрята- : Спрячь его! "Put it away!" or "Hide it!"




You should now know all the forms of the Russian verb except those of the participles. They will come later. Next we have to look at certain changes which take place in the stems when endings are added to them. Russian sounds are unsociable: they don't like sounds like themselves. Consonants get along with vowels and vowels with consonants, but consonants don't like other consonants and vowels don't like other vowels. In the next section we will see what happens when they end up next to each other in a verb form. Just click the right arrow below. Oh, yes, one other thing—there are a few exceptions.