Russian Verb Aspect: Imperfective vs Perfective Pairs

Most Russian verbs come in pairs. The imperfective shows an action as a process or a habit; the perfective shows it as one finished whole. Я де́лал э́то is I was doing it; Я сде́лал э́то is I did it, and it's done. The cases settle in months. Aspect takes years, so start noticing it now.

The whole system on one screen

Colour marks the aspect:

One question decides it: do you mean the activity, or the result? A process is a stretch of time; a result is a point.

Two verbs for one meaning

Colour marks the aspect:

A pair is two separate verbs, each with its own full conjugation, sharing one meaning:

• Он до́лго говори́л. - He talked for a long time.
• Он сказа́л э́то. - He said it.

English leaves completion open where Russian will not. I read the book yesterday has two Russian versions:

• Вчера́ я чита́л кни́гу. - I was reading the book yesterday, or read some of it (finished or not, it does not say).
• Вчера́ я прочита́л кни́гу. - I read the book yesterday (to the end).

Neither half is more advanced. English makes this choice only now and then; Russian makes it with every verb.

Five forms, not six: aspect is not tense

Colour marks the aspect; the prefix is marked:

Russian has three tenses and two aspects, and the grid has a gap in it:

A finished whole cannot be happening right now, so a perfective has no present. Its present-looking forms mean the future instead:

The imperfective future needs бу́ду; the perfective needs nothing. The Russian future tense has both in full, and the past tense shows the same split in the past.

How the pairs are built

The part that differs is marked:

Many perfectives add a prefix, but there is no single prefix, and some pairs are built another way entirely:

So learn both halves together, as one item, the way you learn a noun with its gender. Deriving one from the other works often enough to be dangerous: по- makes the perfective of смотре́ть, but no prefix turns говори́ть into a perfective say: its partner is сказа́ть (поговори́ть means to have a talk).

Signal words that point to one aspect

Colour marks the aspect:

Some words all but make the choice for you:

• Я звони́л ей ка́ждый день. - I rang her every day.
• Я позвони́л ей сра́зу. - I rang her at once.

These are tendencies, not rules. Уже́ happily takes an imperfective when the point is that something has happened at some time: Я уже́ смотре́л э́тот фильм., I've already seen this film.

Three patterns that choose for you

Colour marks the aspect:

Begin, carry on, stop: an imperfective after them

Starting, continuing and stopping are about a process, so the infinitive after нача́ть, продолжать and перестать is imperfective:

• Я на́чал де́лать уро́ки. - I started doing my homework.
• Она́ переста́ла звони́ть. - She stopped calling.
• Он продолжа́л говори́ть. - He went on talking.

Нельзя: not allowed, or not possible

The aspect after нельзя́ changes what it means:

Have you seen it? The imperfective names the fact

When the question is whether something ever happened, not what came of it, Russian uses the imperfective, even for one finished event:

• Ты смотре́л э́тот фильм? - Have you seen this film? (ever)
• Ты посмотре́л фильм? - Did you watch the film? (the one you meant to)

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Put every new verb in your notes with its partner: де́лать / сде́лать.
2. When you read, ask of each past verb: the activity, or the result?
3. Do the drill below.