The Principles of Verbal Aspect

The Russian verbal system differs from that of other European languages in one important way: it is built primarily on the distinction of aspect (whether the action has been or will be completed) rather than tense (whether the action occurred in the past, present, or will occur in the future). Aspect is a verbal category that distinguishes between actions which are successfully completed once and those which are not. Actions successfully completed once are called perfective, from the Latin word perfectus which means 'completed'. Those not successfully completed once may be either (a) in progress (hence not completed) or (b) repeated (hence carried out more than once). These actions are called 'imperfective' (guess what Latin imperfectus means).

Some words cannot express the perfective-imperfective distinction, e.g. ┐k┐}┐┴┐}┐│┐m- in the sense of "talk" (it can be perfective in the sense of "speak" or "say"), ┐│┐`┐c┐}┐└┐`┐n- "work", ┐g┐├┐w┐`┐n- "think", ┐┌┐m┐g┐i- "sit", ┐┌┐└┐}┐─- "stand", and ┐t┐i┐┬┐`- "lie" all refer to extended processes which cannot be thought of easily as being successfully completed once. Hence they have only imperfective forms.

Most other verb stems, however, come in perfective-imperfective pairs. Here are a few examples:

As you can see, sometimes the pairs are distinguished by prefixes and sometimes the prefixes are semantically related to the meaning of the verb. Other times, however, variations in the stem determine the aspect of a verb. You just have to get used to them. (Just remember, over 250,000,000 people do speak this language and they can't ALL be geniuses.)

The following flow-chart will help you with the decision as to whether to use a perfective or imperfective verb form when speaking Russian. Ask yourself these questions about the nature of the actions you wish to express regardless of the tense you wish to express, e. g. do you wish to imply that the action has been or will be successfully completed?

Now you have decided, say, that you wish to express an action which has already been successfully completed--you need the perfective verb in the past tense, e. g. ? ┐z┐`┐~┐m┐┌┐`┐t ┐~┐m┐┌┐┼┐w┐} "I wrote the letter". ? ┐~┐m┐┌┐`┐t ┐~┐m┐┌┐┼┐w┐} means "I was writing the letter" or "I wrote on the letter several times". Notice that for most verbs, the imperfective stem has both imperfective meanings.

But what if you wish to talk about an action which will be successfully completed sometimes in the future? Notice that 'successfully completed' implies an action or activity which cannot be taking place in the present, for if something is currently going on, it cannot be successfully completed. Russian capitalizes on this logical implication and uses the same forms that indicate the present tense on the imperfective verb to indicate the future perfective. For example:

To form the future of the imperfective, in other words, to say "I will be writing" or "I will write (more than once)", the infinitive of the imperfective verb is added to the appropriate form of ┐c┐▀┐└┐┼ (┐c┐├┐g-) "be":

Remember, the imperfective future means either (a) "will be doing something" (progressive) or (b) "will do something more than once" (iterative).

To quality as perfective or 'completed', an action must be successfully carried out. The Russian word for take and pass an examination is the same: ┐┌┐g(┐`┐┴)┐`┐n-/┐┌┐g┐`┐g-, e. g. ?┐`┐z┐─ ┐┌┐g┐`┐┴┐`┐t ┐▐┐q┐▄┐`┐w┐i┐z Vanya took the exam and ?┐`┐z┐─ ┐┌┐g┐`┐t ┐▐┐q┐▄┐`┐w┐i┐z Vanya passed the exam. The meaning of the two stems is, in fact, the same, roughly, "undergo"; however; ┐┌┐g┐`┐┴┐`┐t implies that the undergoing is not successfully completed even though it was completed.

Another example. Varya sees a little boy who has fallen into the Moika Canal in St. Petersburg. She throws herself into the water but by the time she reaches the spot where she saw him, he has disappeared and perishes. In Russian you don't have to say Varya tried to save the boy; all you have to do is use the imperfective aspect. ?┐`┐│┐─ ┐┌┐~┐`┐┌┐`┐t┐` ┐w┐`┐t┐┼?┐m┐q┐` means "Varya saved the boy, finished that action, but not successfully". Implication: she didn't rescue him. ?┐`┐│┐─ ┐┌┐~┐`┐┌┐t┐` ┐w┐`┐t┐┼?┐m┐q┐`, using the perfective variant of the verb, means that she successfully completed the action of rescuing.

The Russian language maintains a very strict concept of 'repeated action': it means 2 or more times in the strictest sense of the word(s). Thus ?┐z┐` ┐├┐l┐}┐g┐m┐t┐` ┐┴ ┐q┐m┐z┐} and ?┐z┐` ┐├┐█┐t┐` ┐┴ ┐q┐m┐z┐} both mean "she went away to the movies"; however, the former implies that she returned, too, since it is the imperfective and therefore means that the action was completed at least twice. This form would be used in case someone went to the movies and returned but you can't find her for some reason.

Notice that by implication the person referred to moved in two directions but the crucial test is that the action, even if reversed one time, was carried out two times. Indeed, if a person goes in more than one direction before completing an action, the imperfective is also used: ?┐`┐█┐` ┐l┐}┐g┐m┐t┐` ┐~┐} ┐k┐}┐│┐}┐g┐├ "Masha walked around the city". Because she presumably went in more than one direction, imperfective iterative ┐l┐}┐g┐m┐└┐┼ is required, even though she successfully completed the action.

Let's say mom asks the kids not to turn on the TV. A few minutes later she hears it playing but by the time she gets in the room again it is off. Someone has turned the TV on and off again. Mom would ask ?┐└┐} ┐┴┐q┐t┐_┐`┐t ┐└┐i┐t┐i┐┴┐m┐▄┐}┐│? using the imperfective and not ?┐└┐} ┐┴┐q┐t┐_┐m┐t ┐└┐i┐t┐i┐┴┐m┐▄┐}┐│? using the perfective. (Either way, of course, the answer will be, «?┐m┐q┐└┐}!» "Nobody!") The crucial test for the question is your desire to indicate that you know the action of switching to have taken place twice. Here are a few more examples.

Now all you have to do is master the verbs of motion and verbs of position and you know the Russian verbal system from top to bottom. You should do excellently on the following achievement recognition opportunity. Click here for aspect pairs for about 750 verbs.

In the following exercises, chose the correct aspectual stem, then type in the correct form of the verb for the context. Use the English translation as a guide for deciding whether the action referred to is a single, successfully completed action (perfective), an action progress (progressive imperfective), or a repeated action (iterative imperfective). The imperfective stem is always to the left of the vertical bar.

These exercises are 'intelligent' in that they are capable of responding in multiple ways. If you are right, you will be told ┐~┐│┐`┐┴┐m┐t┐┼┐z┐} "correct" or ┐}┐└┐t┐m?┐z┐} "excellent". If you make the common mistakes expected of learners, the exercises will provide you with a hint as to what that mistake is. You may then try again. If you can't figure out the form at all, it will ask you if you give up and tell you how. It will then provide you with the correct answer.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• Yellow letters have fixed accent; white letters mark moveable accent.
• Press the «Stand» button for a standard Russian keyboard layout or «Letter» for a letter-for-letter layout. (If it disappears when you scroll, click the new browser icon at the bottom of the screen.)