Duo Russian Grammar

34) Perfective Verbs

Aspect in Russian

Verbs in Russian come in two 'flavors' : perfective (eg. “пригото́вить”) and imperfective (eg. “гото́вить”).

Let's get this straight right away: most perfectives are made by attaching a prefix—and the endings of the resulting verb change in the same way they changed for the source verb.

Perfective verbs express an action, an "event" linked to a point in time. Sometimes they assert the presence of a result. You use them for sequences of actions, too.

Imperfective verbs are used for everything else: processes, states, repeated actions and for generic reference to an action (when the time of occurence is irrelevant).

In this introductory lesson we deal with the most basic pattern of use:

  • perfective verbs are used to tell stories about successive actions
  • imperfectives are used for simultaneous processes
  • perfective verbs are often used to describe single actions that have a specific result, e.g., “Give me that”, “I bought some food”, “I have painted many pictures”. However, not all of them can be reliably described like that.
  • we use imperfective to tell that someone has or has never done something, especially in "out of the blue" situations. When the action was supposed to be done (which is known by listener), we use the perfective.

Morphology

Being too lazy to make up many different verbs, we usually make new ones based on the old ones. The vast majority of unprefixed verbs are imperfective.

  • Prefixation is the main method to create a perfective verb: писа́ть→написа́ть, идти́→пойти́.
  • a different suffix is sometimes used: опа́здывать←опозда́ть
  • occasionally, the stress changes: нареза́ть→наре́зать
  • different stems are used for a few verbs: говори́ть→сказа́ть

The last phenomenon is know as suppletion and only happens for a limited number of verbs and their derivatives. The English verb "to go" is another example of such behavior (its past for is "went").

Note that suffixation is very popular for secondary imperfectives. Usually only one prefixed verb is considered an "ideal match" for an imperfective verb. Others are somewhat different in meaning (or a lot different). But you need imperfective partners for these, too, so Russian uses suffixes for that:

  • чита́ть = to read (imperf.)
  • перечита́ть = to reread (perf.) → cannot be considered a "natural" perfective for this verb
  • перечи́тывать = to reread (imperf.)

can

The verb «мочь» is used to talk about the general possibility of something, and also, very often—about your ability to perform something and reach some result. Perfectives are used in the second meaning:

  • Я могу́ написа́ть кни́гу за ме́сяц = I can write a book in a month.
  • Она́ мо́жет посмотре́ть? = Can she take a look?

We do not use мочь for skills. Russian has уметь for this.

опять / снова

Both mean "again" and are largely interchangeable when they mean that an action from the past occurs again.

«Опять» is more popular but it's focused on staying "the same as before". «Снова» (cf. «новый») can also mean action performed "anew, from the beginning".

Only «опять» is used in «опять же» (~"besides").

When asking someone to repeat, use «ещё раз».

What else is there to it?

imperfective verbs

  • name the action as a whole (“I can swim”)
  • describe prolonged states and processes, regular actions

Perfective verbs describe events: singular, definite actions that are viewed as localized in time. They “happened” at some moment (“I made a video”, “I slept for some time and then went outside”). Or they describe a certain change of state at some "turning point" (not yet eaten→eaten, not slept enough→slept enough and ready to get up).

It is argued in a few works that "a natural" perfective is just a prefixed verb where a prefix's metaphorical meaning so conveniently overlaps the verb's own meaning, that you cannot feel any change. So don't be surprised if some vague actions have several perfective matches for a single imperfective verb.

That also means that sometimes you'd better memorize a pair even if it is technically a "poor" match. After all, in some contexts it will come in handy:

  • есть → съе́сть (to consume something, completely)
  • есть → пое́сть (to have a meal, to spend some time eating—regardless of whether you finish your meal or decide you've had enough half-way)