Conjugating Verbs in Russian

Do we need to conjugate verbs in Russian? Absolutely. Needless to say, Russian grammar is challenging, but let’s think of it as an exciting adventure.

The present article will be the first piece in a series of comprehensive guides to conjugating verbs in Russian. This blog post will explore what conjugation is, as well as what aspects to consider when conjugating verbs in Russian, and will provide plenty of examples. After all, what good is an article about verbs without conjugation charts?

Are you ready to embark on this journey?

What Is Conjugation?

To conjugate a verb means to change its basic form. In case you’re wondering what the basic form is, it’s the infinitive, the form that you can mainly see in dictionaries.

Conjugating verbs in Russian means keeping the following aspects in mind:

• Person and number;
• Tense;
• Aspect;
• Mood; and
• Gender.

In this article, we’ll focus on the first two; otherwise, things will pile up, and you’ll find yourself overloaded with new information.

Person and Number

Russian verbs conjugate differently with each person.

Tense

No matter how demanding Russian grammar is, there are just three tenses in the Russian language: present, past, and future. Without further ado, we will now explore how verbs conjugate in each of the tenses.

The Present Tense

When speaking about the present tense, there are two conjugation groups, depending on the ending of the infinitive form.

There are many ways to refer to them, but we will call them Present Group 1 and Present Group 2.

There are always exceptions to the rules, and here’s one to remember: there are 11 exceptions in Present Group 2 – verbs that only seemingly belong to Present Group 1.

• Вертеть – to spin
• Видеть – to see
• Гнать – to drive fast
• Держать – to hold
• Дышать – to breathe
• Зависеть – to depend
• Ненавидеть – to hate
• Обидеть – to offend
• Слышать – to hear
• Смотреть – to look
• Терпеть – to tolerate

Here’s a popular Russian poem that will help you remember the eleven exceptions:

Гнать, дышать, дер­жать, обидеть.

Слышать, видеть, ненавидеть,

И зави­сеть, и тер­петь, а еще смот­реть, вер­теть.

So, how do you conjugate the verbs in both groups? In short, all you need to do is remove the last two or three letters, depending on the infinitive, and add new endings.

Present Group 1

-еть, -ать, -ять, -уть, -ти

Смотреть - to watch, to see Я смотрю Ты смотришь Он/она/оно смотрит Мы смотрим Вы смотрите Они смотрят

Стирать - to wash, to delete Я стираю Ты стираешь Он/она/оно стирает Мы стираем Вы стираете Они стирают

Удалять - to remove, to delete Я удаляю Ты удаляешь Он/она/оно удаляет Мы удаляем Вы удаляете Они удаляют

Уснуть - to fall asleep Я усну Ты уснёшь Он/она/оно уснёт Мы уснём Вы уснёте Они уснут

Трясти – to shake Я трясу Ты трясёшь Он/она/оно трясёт Мы трясём Вы трясёте Они трясут

TIP: Use the endings -ю/-ют after vowels or the soft sign, e.g., я читаю, они читают.

TIP: Use -у/-ут after consonants, e.g., я топчу, они топчут.

Present Group 2

-ить

Говорить – to speak, to say Я говорю Ты говоришь Он/она/оно говорит Мы говорим Вы говорите Они говорят

TIP: Use the endings -у and -ат after the letters Ж, Ш, Ч, Щ, and all hard consonants, e.g., я шучу, они шутят.

TIP: Use -ю and -ят after soft consonants and vowels, e.g., я говорю, они говорят.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya

The Past Tense

To conjugate Russian verbs in the past tense, you need to remember to drop the infinitive endings -ть, -ти, -чь, and add the following endings:

• Masculine: -л
• Feminine: -ла
• Neutral: -ло
• Plural: -ли

As can be seen, conjugating Russian verbs in the past tense is based on the gender aspect.

Let’s conjugate думать – to think – as an example.

The Future Tense

As you can see, mastering the past tense is no rocket science. When it comes to using the future tense, there are two ways to conjugate verbs in Russian.

1- Use the verb быть – to be – in its appropriate future form + the infinitive of the main verb.

So, what happens if we add an infinitive?

2- Use the perfective form of the verb + the present tense endings

That’s the end of part one. Stay tuned for more articles about conjugating verbs in Russian!

Meanwhile, you can head over to the Lingvist app for more Russian lessons and useful insights. Not registered just yet? Try Lingvist for free to see why the app is the new black in the world of language learning.