Simplifying Russian Tenses: Your Essential Guide
Easily learn Russian tenses with our simplified approach!
Russian tenses can be made simple by understanding that Russian has three main tenses: present, past, and future. Each tense is formed based on the verb’s aspect (imperfective or perfective) and conjugation group, with specific endings for each person and number.
Present Tense
- Used for general facts, habitual actions, current actions, and scheduled future events.
- Formed from the base of the imperfective verb plus present tense endings.
- In Russian, the present tense covers what English expresses with simple present, present continuous, and present perfect continuous.
- Example endings: я (I) – у/ю, ты (you) – ешь/ёшь or ишь, он/она (he/she) – ет/ёт or ит.
Past Tense
- Formed by dropping the infinitive ending -ть and adding -л, with gender and number agreement (-л for masculine, -ла for feminine, -ло for neuter, -ли for plural).
- The past tense exists for both imperfective and perfective verbs.
- Example: играть (to play) → я играл (I played, masculine), она играла (she played).
Future Tense
- Two types: Simple Future and Compound Future.
- Simple Future uses the perfective verb form with present tense endings.
- Compound Future uses an imperfective verb infinitive with the future tense of “to be” (быть).
- Example simple future: она сделает (she will do).
- Example compound future: я буду делать (I will be doing).
This simplified summary covers essential Russian tense formation focusing on verb aspects and endings for practical use in communication.