Why do we need a verb type?
We all know how abundant verb tenses are in the English language. Or in French. Or in Spanish. This has its own unconditional charm - but there are also certain difficulties. How can you remember all this - the past simple, the past continuous, the past associated with the present, the past perfect and imperfect, the pre-past... And if we are talking about Romance languages, then to what has been said we must also add a number of forms Modo Subjuntivo/Subjonctif, expressing all the same , but with an added touch of subjectivity...
In this regard, the Russian language - a drum roll should sound here - is much, well, simply incomparably simpler! We have only three tenses: past, present, future. However, let’s pause the rejoicing and think: how could we fully express our thoughts if everything was limited to this? But then we wouldn’t be interested in talking at all!
And so that our thoughts are formed precisely, beautifully, interestingly, diversely - the Russian language has an excellent means: it has a type of verb! And in this sense, the type of verb is our best friend, and not at all our blood enemy. Contrary to popular belief, the form of the verb was not created in order to hopelessly complicate our lives, but in order to make it easier and more beautiful.
What is a verb type and how to learn it?
Forget that verb aspect is a complex grammatical topic. In my life, I taught Russian to several hundred students. From a variety of countries, from all, it seems, continents. And therefore I know that the bulk of the problems with the aspect of the verb can be completely eliminated if the meaning and use of the forms are clearly explained and consolidated from the very beginning. It is important to follow two conditions.
Condition one:
First you need to master and thoroughly consolidate the basics of this grammatical topic, and only then turn to more complex particular cases.
Condition two:
Verb pairs (in the sequence “imperfective aspect - perfective aspect” - this is how they will be written in any textbook, grammar manual, etc.) must be learned by heart. Even if you’re lazy, even if you don’t feel like it, there’s nothing you can do about it. The verb, especially in everyday life, is the organizing center of the sentence. Give it enough attention at the initial stage - and you will never regret it. Of course, at first we will be talking about a relatively small number of verbs (and you need to be able to actively use all grammatical forms, that is, both the imperfect form and the perfect form in the present, past and future tense), but gradually the list should expand.
In this article we will talk about the basics of the topic. "type of verb".
All verbs in Russian have the form: either imperfect (NSV) or perfect (SV). That is, every time you use a verb when constructing a phrase, you choose not only the tense, but also the type of the verb. Without aspect, a verb does not exist in Russian!
NSV verbs express an action in the process of its occurrence. SV verbs denote an action limited by a limit (often we define this as “result”).
Compare:
He reads book(NSV): we imagine a person sitting at a table in a library or at home in a cozy chair. There is an open book in front of him, he runs his eyes page by page - that is, it unfolds before our eyes. process, course of action .
He read book(SV): reading is finished, the book is closed and put aside, perhaps it has already returned to the shelf or to the library. Before us - limit, result, end of action .
That is, when constructing your own sentence with this or that verb, you will first have to decide which type of verb to choose: imperfect or perfect. Thus, the English verb read corresponds to the aspectual pair “read (NSV)/read (SV)”. If you want to say something about the process of action, you will form the appropriate form from the infinitive “to read” (NSV); if about a completed action that has a result - from “read” (SV). [An infinitive is the base form of a verb, the form you find in the dictionary].
Let's consider another example with a new species pair: write (NSV)/write (SV).
She writes letter(NSV) - process, course of action: lines appear one after another on a sheet of paper.
She wrote and the letter is two hours(NSV) - before us again is the process of action, but this time it is relegated to the past. From this sentence we learn that for a certain time, a girl unknown to us was sitting with a piece of paper and a pen at the table or in front of the computer. We don't know how this process ended. Was the letter finished? Was it sent to the recipient? The proposal does not provide answers to these questions.
The situation is fundamentally different in the following example:
She wrote letter(SV). This sentence tells us that there is a limit to the action, and a specific result has been achieved: the letter is finished, lies on the table in an envelope, or has already been sent.
In the Russian language there is a small number of two-aspect verbs (that is, verbs that can be used both in the meaning of NSV and in the meaning of SV) and a certain number of one-aspect verbs (that is, verbs that do not have an aspect pair and are used only in one form). We will not dwell on them now; it would be somewhat premature. Now we will talk about verbs that form aspectual pairs- because these are the majority of verbs in the Russian language, and at the initial stage it is very important to understand the difference between the perfect and imperfect forms of the verb and learn to use them in speech.
Formation of perfective and imperfective forms
By method of education verbs forming aspect pairs, can be divided into three groups:
2. suffixal, for example: tell - tell
3. suppletive, for example: talk - say
Let's look at each of the groups in more detail.
- What happens to the verbs of the first group is called “perfectification”. This means that the perfect form (“perfect”, hence the name) is formed from the imperfect form by adding a prefix or prefix (pro-, s-, po-, you-, etc.). It is impossible to guess with the help of which prefix the perfect form will be formed! Therefore, all that remains is to memorize the verb pairs. So, remember the minimum program:
read - about read, write - on write, draw - on draw, draw - on draw, do - With do, photograph - With take pictures, sing - With sing, dance - With dance, play - With play, be able to - With be able, be able - With can, is - With eat (something specific; for example, eat an apple), eat - By eat, drink - By drink, drink - You drink (something specific: for example, drink a glass of juice), wash - By wash (or You wash), call - By call, think - By think, knock - By knock, give - By give, kiss - By kiss, have breakfast - By have breakfast, lunch - By have lunch, dinner - By have dinner, get acquainted - By get acquainted, change - By change (or about change), look - By watch, listen - By listen, put - By put, know - at know, see - at see, hear - at hear, cook - at cook, wait - By wait, pay - for pay (or O pay) and finally learn - You learn.
Exception: buy (NSV) - buy (SV)!
- The second group behaves in exactly the opposite way. Here “imperfectification” occurs, and the direction is the opposite: a prefix is added to the perfect form - and thus an imperfect form (“imperfect”) appears. As in the case of the first group, what kind of suffix we will need to form the aspect pair of each specific verb can neither be guessed nor logically deduced. Therefore, we remember the minimum program:
give - give, get tired - get tired, get up - get up, open - open, forget - forget, tell - tell, show - show, consider - consider, ask - ask, decide - decide, study - study, receive - receive, repeat - repeat, throw - quit, finish - finish, answer - answer, send - send, congratulate - congratulate, understand - understand, hug - hug, start - start, remember - remember, choose - choose. Well, if you have already learned this, then you can rest - rest!
- Verbs of the third group behave in a very special way and do not obey any rules. The only thing that can be said about them is that the imperfect form and the perfect form of these verbs are not at all similar to each other. Therefore, you just need to learn these verbs by heart. Don't be discouraged, there aren't many of them:
speak - say, take - take, put - put, look - find, catch - catch.
Verb type in present, past and future tenses
Already at the initial stage of learning the Russian language, it is very important to understand and remember:
● imperfective verbs have three forms of tense: present, past, future, for example:
I'm reading a magazine;
Yesterday I read a magazine.
● perfect verbs have only two tense forms: past and future, for example:
I read your letter;
Tomorrow I will read your letter.
This is due to the meaning of species: the perfect species denotes an action limited by a limit, and the imperfect species denotes a process. In the present tense we always deal with the process, and never with the result (compare: I read, you look, he eats...). The limit, or result, may either have already been reached (in which case we use the past tense, for example: " He ate an apple"), or will be achieved in the future (then the future tense will be used, for example: " He will eat an apple»).
Basic meanings of verb types
To clearly understand and remember the meanings of verb types in Russian, analyze which of them are in your native language and which ones you will just need to remember.
NSV has three main meanings: the first is “process/duration/duration of action”, the second is “regular/repetitive action” and the third is “fact”, and SV has two - “result” and “one-time use” (we will combine them into one meaning, since the boundary between them is often blurred).
Compare:
The first and second meanings of NSV, as well as the only meaning of SV, usually do not pose any difficulties for foreign students: it is enough to understand the logic once and remember one or two simple examples.
He read and read the novel - and finally read(in the first part of the sentence, NSV is used, since we are talking about the process of action; in the second - SV, since the action is completed).
He opened and opened the door - and finally opened(same situation: NSV-SV).
In the morning he looks through the newspapers(NSV was used because it describes a regular action).
He will read this book in two days(used SV, future tense: the sentence tells us that in two days the result will be achieved).
He plays tennis every week(regularity = NSV).
In addition, these species meanings may be accompanied by specific words to make it easier to select the desired form. Let's write them in the form of a table:
Difficulties for foreigners are usually caused by the third meaning of the NSV, designated as “fact”. Therefore, I advise you to immediately pay attention to it, listen more and remember how Russians use it, and also reinforce the use of this meaning with a large number of examples. For example:
Last night I washed, soaped dishes, cooked dinner and then watched TV.
During the day I walked to the Hermitage, and then had lunch with a Russian friend in the same cafe.
Thank you, I don't want coffee, I'm already drank coffee this morning.
From these sentences you get general information about what your interlocutor did. In this case, you are not interested in whether this or that action was completed, whether this or that result was obtained.
It is important to understand that in these sentences it is possible to replace the NSV with the meaning “fact” with the SV with the meaning “result”. In this case, the connotation of the phrase will inevitably change (foreigners often do not take this change in meaning into account). Having said " I did the laundry, washed the dishes, cooked dinner", the Russian means - hurray, I'm done, I'm free! " I went to the Hermitage“- it means I couldn’t get there for a long time, and finally I got there, what a blessing!
Once you have learned the aspect pairs and completed the practice exercises, you will no longer feel unsure when using verb types. And our professional teachers of Russian as a foreign language will be happy to help you make the process of learning Russian fun and effective. On our website you can choose a teacher and order a free trial lesson with him.
In modern Russian it is a paired (binary) opposition of the perfect and.
Perfective verbs denote an action limited by an internal limit.
Perfective verbs can have the following private meanings:
1. Specific actual value.
Indicates a single action in its entirety: entered, wrote, shouted.
- - I entered, the old man was reading a newspaper in a chair...
- (A. N. Tolstoy)
2. Total value.
Indicates the integrity of an action united by a common result or goal; lexical indicators like twice, three times, several times etc.
- Bulat-Tuganovsky knocked three times short and decisive.
- (A.I. Kuprin)
- Mother baked a lot pancakes
3. Present-effective value.
The main thing is the final result of the action: the schoolboy came, the father returned.
- - You probably chill in your dancing shoes.
- (V. A. Soloukhin)
Grammatical features of perfective verbs
1. Perfective verbs will have two forms - and. They have no forms! This is explained by the incompatibility of the grammatical meanings of the perfect form and the present tense.
2. Perfective verbs form synthetic forms of the future tense: look - I'll look, sew - sew.
- write - write Vsh oh, write nn th
- tell - story Vsh th, story nn th
4. Perfective verbs form: say - skaz V, look - look V, plant - plant V, write - write V .
One of the points in learning the Russian language is learning such a part of speech as a verb. The verb has several forms, types, and conjugations. In this article we will dwell in detail on how you can determine the type of a verb. There are only two of them: perfect and imperfect.
Determine the type of verb using a question
This is the simplest and most reliable option that does not require a lot of time and additional knowledge.
Perfective verbs answer the question “What to do (does, did, did)?”, and for imperfective verbs we ask the question “What to do (does, did, did)?”.
Determine the type of verb by the nature of the action
Perfect verbs denote an action that, at the time of using this verb, has already been completed or will be completed by a certain time (or upon achieving some specific goal). They also indicate actions that do not need to be repeated. They can indicate actions in the future; the main limit is the very implementation of this action. That is, the action is always limited by some framework.
Imperfect verbs are not limited by time frames and can occur at the present moment; they denote long-term actions, actions that require repetition.
Example. The verb "to wash" means that something must be completely washed at a certain point. The action will end when the desired result is achieved, which means it is a perfective verb.
The verb "to wash" means that something must be washed in an unspecified period of time. Due to the fact that the duration of action is not limited, we can conclude that the verb is imperfective.
However, you should not determine the type of a verb only by its meaning. It would be safer to ask an additional question, as we did in the first paragraph. This way you can avoid accidental mistakes.
Determine the type of verb by parsing the word
Each type of verb has some specific features in word formation. These signs can also tell you what type of verb you are dealing with.
Perfective verbs have the following characteristics:
- prefixes “with”, “you”, “by”, “on”, “pro”, etc.,
- suffix "well".
The following features are characteristic of imperfective verbs:
- prefixes “with”, “you”, “by”, “on”, “pro”, etc.,
- suffix “iva”, “yva”, “va”, etc.
After reading this article, you may notice that you can determine the form of a verb very quickly and without much difficulty. You just need to know a few important rules and features, for example, what question is answered by this or that type of verb or what suffix is characteristic of it.
The type of verb is one of the topics in the school curriculum that students forget or even “fly by.” Without a doubt, if you do not understand the easy rules of this section, you will not be able to understand the other, more complex ones. Students often confuse an imperfect verb with a perfect verb, but they have no idea how easy and simple everything is, you just need to clearly sort out what is what.
A form is a unit without which not a single verb in the Russian language can exist. It is worth remembering that it can always be determined! In some cases, the answer is on the surface, and in others you have to dig deeper. In our language there are two types of verbs: perfect (SV) and imperfect (NSV).
Perfect look
This is a type that denotes an already completed action; most often we use it in the past tense. If we draw a parallel with the English language, there a completed action can be indicated by such tenses as Past Simple and Present Perfect. We must take into account that SV verbs direct us to the result, the end of the action or its beginning. For example: “He read the book.” How can you tell that it is not an imperfective verb? You just need to ask the question: “What did you do?” Teachers give this hint to children in almost all schools, explaining that if the predicate in a question has the prefix “s”, then it is a perfective verb.
This type can also be used in the future tense, questions to check: “what will (will) do?” etc.
You should take into account the fact that SV completely lacks the present tense, so if you see a verb of this tense, know that it is NSV.
Imperfect view
An imperfect verb denotes the duration of an action without emphasizing the result. The process can be regular, that is, someone does something every day. Or simply repetitive, in other words, someone does something infrequently. English also has tenses that denote process, for example, Present Continuous. Adverbs in a sentence can also “give away” the imperfect form of the verb. Examples: constantly, often, always, regularly, usually, long - they all indicate the absence of an end to the action.
To easily identify an imperfective verb, you just have to ask it the question: “What to do?” (the question lacks the letter “c” indicating SV, therefore it is NSV). For example: Marina loves to sing (what should she do?).
Verbs of this group can be either present tense (what is (am I doing) doing?, etc.), or future tense (what will be doing (will I be doing)?, etc.) and past tense (what did (do)?, etc.). d.).
One-aspect verbs and verbs with two forms
Many verbs in the Russian language have a pair of the opposite form (davit (SV) - davit (NSV)). They are formed by alternating vowels and consonants of letters and syllables:
- o/a - late/late (SV/NSV);
- o/s - sigh/sigh (SV/NSV);
- I / them - raised / will raise (SV / NSV);
- u/im - took out/took out (SV/NSV);
- d/f - accompanied/sees off (SV/NSV);
- t/h - answered/will answer (SV/NSV);
- p/pl - strengthened/strengthened (SV/NSV);
- st/sh - treated / will treat (SV/NSV).
In addition to such verbs, there are also single-type verbs, which in no case can have a pair; they have only one of two forms: imperfect or perfect. Among them: to be, to be present, to be absent, to be inactive (NSV only), and also: to scream, to be needed, to gush, to find yourself (SV only).
Examples of imperfect and perfect verbs
As it turned out, NSV and SV are quite easy to find on the question, but most often students begin to understand the topic only after the teacher explains it with examples.
Imperfect view: boils, takes, cares, will play, cut, looked for, sawed, interfered, will sleep, etc.
Perfect form: water, kill, put away, bought, disappeared, moved, opened, sat down, etc.
These are just some examples of perfective and imperfective verbs.
In Russian - its form.
Imperfect verb
Most of these units have opposing forms. For example, create - create, sign - sign, etc. If you compare the members of these pairs, you will notice that although the lexical meaning is similar, they have something different. This difference is the type of verb. The first member of these pairs represents the imperfect; the second has the form of a perfect variant.
A verb in its perfect form can answer the following questions: what to do? what did you do? what will he do?
Perfective forms often have the meaning of completeness of an action, call limited processes, and indicate the result of an action that has already happened. For example: the boy recovered.
The imperfective verb names an action that is developing, ongoing, unlimited, and also indicates the repetition and duration of the process. For example: the boy is recovering.
The category of type is in close relationship with the category of time. Thus, the imperfect form of the verb has forms of all three tenses, and the perfect form has only forms in the future and past. Because the present tense characterizes a process that lasts at the moment of speech, developing and ongoing, and the perfect tense represents an action limited in development.
Most often, Russian verbs are paired according to aspect. That is, the two forms have the same semantic meaning, but differ in grammatical form: teach - teach, curl - curl.
There are also single species. Unpaired ones carry the meaning of an action limited in its development: to wake up, to run away. The unpaired imperfections denote an action that is unlimited in its development: to sentence, to sympathize, to inhabit. There are also two-type verbs that combine the meanings of the perfect and imperfect categories: execute, examine, wound.
Imperfect participles
A verb form that has the meaning of an additional action, which combines the characteristics of a verb and an adverb, is a gerund. This part of speech comes in two types: perfect and imperfect. The second type almost always refers to a process that occurs at the same time as the action of the predicate verb. Rarely does such a gerund denote a preceding or subsequent action. For example: twice a year she visited the capital and, returning from there, spoke loudly about the miracle. And this part of speech in the perfect form usually means a previous action.
The unit of this part of speech of the imperfect form is formed using the suffix -a (-я) from the stem in the present tense. For example, they are watching - watching.
Not all verb groups have this form. Among them:
Verbs with a stem in the present tense, which consists of consonants (mint);
Verbs ending in -i (live) with a one-syllable stem;
Verbs with the suffix -nu (wither);
Verbs ending in -a (to call) with a one-syllable stem in the infinitive.
If the verb has the suffix -va-, then the gerund is formed from the infinitive stem: create - create - creating.
