{"id":1955,"date":"2011-03-29T08:58:21","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T08:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=1955"},"modified":"2014-07-17T14:42:06","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T14:42:06","slug":"russian-verbs-perfective-and-imperfective-aspects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/russian-verbs-perfective-and-imperfective-aspects\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Verbs – Perfective and Imperfective Aspects"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I firmly believe that the Russian blog has the most awesome readers ever! One of the many reasons you are the best is because of all the fantastic comments – thoughtful, well-researched, in-depth, and immensely helpful you leave on this blog.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

33 (!) comments on my previous post about short forms of Russian adjectives<\/a> are a perfect example. If you haven\u2019t followed them, make sure to check them out, especially if you\u2019re trying to make sense of Russian grammar. Thank you, Joerg and Maria!<\/p>\n

But as the Russian saying goes \u00ab<\/strong>\u044d<\/span><\/strong>\u0442\u043e <\/strong>\u0442\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043a\u043e <\/strong>\u043f\u0440\u0438<\/span>c<\/strong>\u043a\u0430\u0437\u043a\u0430, <\/strong>\u0430 <\/strong>\u0441\u043a\u0430<\/span>\u0437\u043a\u0430 <\/strong>\u0432\u043f\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [this is just a story-teller\u2019s introduction, the real tale is yet to be told].<\/p>\n

For a native Russian speaker using correct verbal aspects is simple. But trying to explain the complicated rules of choosing between perfective and imperfective verbs is a whole different matter. And that\u2019s why I was thrilled when, reading through the comments, I found Maria. She is a native speaker of Russian and a trained linguist. She also has the rare talent of \u00ab<\/strong>\u0440\u0430\u0437\u043b\u043e\u0436\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c <\/strong>\u043f\u043e <\/strong>\u043f\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u043e\u0447\u043a\u0430\u043c\u00bb<\/strong> [to unscramble] complicated grammatical topics. Most importantly, she is eager to share her knowledge with the rest of us!<\/p>\n

What follows is Maria\u2019s post on \u00ab<\/strong>\u0433\u043b\u0430\u0433\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0435 <\/strong>\u0432\u0438<\/span>\u0434\u044b\u00bb<\/strong> [verbal aspects]. If you like Maria\u2019s post, please-please leave a comment here or on our fanpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Past, present, future – Russian language has just three tenses. Is such simplicity possible? Not so fast! In Russian, the absence of more verbal tenses, as in English or say, Italian, is partially compensated by aspectual forms. Verbal aspect is one of the most difficult topics in Russian grammar, especially for non-native speakers. And that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re going to be talking about in today\u2019s post.<\/p>\n

In dictionaries, verbs are usually in the imperfective form. Perfective verbs are formed in several ways:<\/p>\n