Verb aspect category. Perfective verbs: concept, formation, aspect pairs
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 form 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.
General information
The verb denotes an action and answers the questions what to do? what to do?
In Russian, verbs are divided into perfective and imperfect:
Perfect form of the verb. They answer the question what to do? What did you do? what will they do? what will I do? and denote an action that is limited in its duration or has an internal limit, completeness.
I went for an interview on Saturday.
Born and raised in Sayanogorsk.
Imperfect form of the verb. They answer the question what to do? what did you do? what are they doing? what am I doing? and denote an action without time limit, long-term or repeated.
I was at home in Bishkek.
I. Bernstein himself considered his concept synthetic.
Difficult cases.
There are verbs that combine the meaning of the perfective and imperfective forms in one form. Their appearance is determined from the context.
For example, the words: marry, execute, wound, command, as well as verbs with the suffixes -ova(tъ), -irova(t): influence, use, automate, telegraph, etc.
The guns from the pier are firing, the ship is ordered to land - they say(what are they doing?) -> imperfect verb
Would you please tell me to bring the rug?- I command(what will I do?) -> perfect verb
In all cases of doubt, select the answer Other and write in the comment: lacking context.
Good afternoon, dear student! Today we will look at types of verbs. Very often my students wonder why there are so many different verbs in the Russian language, how to determine their tense, and why some verbs are used with prefixes and some without. To understand all these issues, let's look at perfect and imperfect verbs.
You will find the form of imperfective verbs in the dictionary; the verb in this case denotes an action, and from this form perfective verbs are formed. It should be noted that there are quite a lot of these methods, here are some of them:
With help consoles, compare:
| Imperfect species | Perfect view |
| Read To read | Read Has red |
| Write To write | Has written |
| Prepare | Has cooked |
| Buy To buy | Buy Has bought |
Please note that we have an exception word that is formed in perfect form without a prefix - this is the verb “Buy”. In its imperfect form, this verb is used with the prefix -po.
With the help of different suffixes:
So, if we want to say that an action happens regularly, we need an imperfective verb. If the action occurred 1 time at some point or day/hour, etc. and we know about its result, then we are dealing with a perfect verb. Such verbs answer the question " what to do?"
If we are talking about repeated actions, then we not only use imperfective verbs that answer the question " what to do?", but we also use various additional information in the form of adverbs, which actually show this repetition. For example,
Anastasia can't cook ( what to do?), she cooks rarely. Anastasiya cannot cook, she cooks rare.
I bought (what did?) beautiful dress, it's for me goes very well! (the result is visible) I bought a new dress, it suits me much.
To correctly determine the aspect of a verb, you can remember some adverbs that will help you correctly decide whether a particular verb belongs to a certain aspect:
Imperfect species
What are they doing? When? How often?
- Nikita watches the film Every morning/evening/day, regularly, often, rarely, sometimes, usually.
- Vitaly buys newspapers
- We are playing volleyball
What did they do? When?
- Nikita watched the movie "Titanic" Yesterday, in the evening, in the morning, today, once, on Friday, 2 days ago, already, not yet.
- Vitaly bought the newspaper "Izvestia"
- We played volleyball very well
I finished my porridge and went for a walk.
The students were delayed at the university, but still mastered the material.
She took a very long time to redo the report.
Tanya cried a lot and did not calm down.
The children laughed a lot and the teacher decided to play with them some more.
Remember, please, that imperfective verbs have 3 forms: past, present and future:
Perfective verbs have only 2 tense forms: past and future
Watched and will watch (What did they do and what will they do?)
The past tense form changes according to numbers:
He ran (singular) and they ran (plural) He ran and they ran.
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 stop the jubilation 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 accurately, 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 life, 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 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 is reading 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 aspect 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”. It 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 - behind pay (or O to 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 tense
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, prepared 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.
Before you learn to determine the perfect and imperfect forms of a verb, you need to become more familiar with this part of speech. First, let's figure out what it is.
In Russian, the term verbs is usually understood as an independent part of speech that denotes the action of an object. In order to determine that a word is a verb, you need to ask a question about it. The verb is characterized by the following questions: what to do, what to do, what does, what will do, what did, what did, what did, what did. It is worth noting the fact that all verbs are characterized by an infinitive. Simply put, this is the infinitive form of the verb. In order to put any word in an indefinite form, you need to ask the question what to do or what to do? Here are examples of such verbs: read, run, jump, cook, store, and so on. This part of speech has its own specific morphological characteristics.
Morphological features of verbs
- Time. The verb has only three tenses. These include present tense, past tense and future tense.
- View. This usually includes verbs of the perfect and imperfect forms.
- Transitivity is also one of the important characteristics. That is, it is necessary to determine whether the verb is transitive or intransitive.
- Returnability. Returnable or non-refundable.
- Conjugation. Everyone knows that in the Russian language there are two conjugations: the first and the second, which are quite easy to determine; to do this, you need to put the verb in the indefinite form and, looking at the ending, determine the conjugation. However, do not forget that there are also verbs of exclusion.
- Number. We determine whether the given verb is singular or plural.
- Face. The person can be first, second or third.
In order to determine whether a certain word is a perfect or imperfect verb, you just need to ask a question. Imperfective verbs answer questions about what to do, what he did, what he is doing, for example: running, playing, drawing. Perfective verbs answer questions about what he will do, what he will do, what he did, for example: he smiled, he washed himself, he wrote, and so on.
