Get Russian verb aspects right every time

Russian verb aspects can feel like the bane of a learner’s life. Just when you’ve learned some common Russian verbs, you discover that you have to learn a second set. For most verbs in English, Russian has a pair: an imperfective and a perfective. For “to say”, we have govorit’ and skazat’, for “to see” videt’ and uvidet’. But what’s the difference between the imperfective and the perfective in Russian and how do you know which aspect to use? Let’s get clear on this once and for all! There’s often really just one simple question you need to ask of a verb. Get clear on that and you’ll get the aspect right. 

First, back to basics: a verb is a word that expresses an action (such as to eat), process (such as to develop) or a state (such as to be). In Russian.

In this post, we’ll assume you’re already familiar with the Russian verb tense system: how verbs change to show the past (я говорил, я сказал) and how they conjugate to show the present (always imperfective aspect: я говорю) or the future (always perfective aspect: я скажу). You’ll also have learned how to form the imperfective future with быть  imperfective infinitive, e.g. я буду говорить).

“Verbal aspect” is different from tense, as we’ll see in this post.

We won’t focus here on how to form the imperfective and perfective aspects of the Russian verb.  If you just know one verb of an aspect pair, there are unfortunately no hard and fast rules to discover the other. There are common patterns of pairs, but that’s a topic for another day.

The focus today is on using Russian verb aspects correctly.

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Ask this question to get the Russian verb aspect right

So, to business: 

To get increase your chances of getting the Russian verb aspect right, first ask this simple question:

Is the focus on the completion (result) of an action?  On its one, single end? 

If the answer is yes – if the message is that an action is completed already or will be done and dusted in the future – the verb will be perfective. 

If the focus isn’t on the result, the verb will be imperfective (the aspect for an ongoing state, regular, or repeat actions or just for naming a state or action in general. Nothing is said about the end. It could have one single ends – repeated or habitual actions – or no end at all – incomplete action or action in progress). 

That’s it!  🙂

Thanks for reading. 

Do visit the site again sometime….

Erm, hold on a moment. Not so fast!  😉

While that rule of thumb will answer the question most of the time, you need some context to get the hang of how to apply it. 

So, let’s look in a bit more detail! 

When to use the perfective aspect in Russia

There’s no present tense form for perfective verbs. Results either have happened or will happen. If they are happening at the moment, they haven’t fully happened yet and Russians use the imperfective as the action is continuing at the current point in time. 

1. To talk about a completed action or result (past or future)

The perfective aspect puts the focus on the result: a change of state or a completed action. 

Она умерла – She died

Я прочитал книгу – I read (and finished) the book yesterday evening. 

Sometimes, a the perfective will “happen” while another action is going on in the imperfective (“in the background” as it were):

Когда она попрощалась с ним, она уронила ключи  – When she said (was saying) goodbye to him, she dropped the keys.   

In the future, perfective verbs indicate an express or implied intention to complete an action at some point in the future.

Я отдохну – I’ll relax (an intention to complete/result). 

В следующий четверг мы отдохнём на пляже – Next Thursday we’ll relax on the beach 

Я пойду на экскурсию – I’ll go on an excursion

90% of the time the perfective is used to express the future. The imperfective is only used if the action will be unfinished, ongoing or if repetition is involved:

Я буду отдыхать – I’ll be relaxing (Emphasis on duration, process).

Во время каникул, каждый день мы будем отдыхать на пляже  – During the holidays, we’ll relax on the beach every day 

Во время каникул, каждый день я буду ходить на экскурсии – During the holidays, every day I’ll go on excursions every  

2. To show a sequence of finished events

The perfective is the aspect for moving a story forward. Each action is finished before the next takes place. LIfe, as is sometimes said, is “one damn thing after another” 🙂  

You could have an imperfective followed by a perfective, with the imperfective showing attempts or a process and the perfective showing that the result is finally achieved:

Она сдавала и сдала экзамен – She sat and passed the exam.

3. To indicate the beginning of an action

Perfectives with the prefix за- (and a handful beginning по-) often indicate the beginning of an action: 

Она заболела – She fell ill

Он запоёт – He will start singing 

Other examples of verbs with the “inceptive” meaning are заплакать – to start crying, закурить – to light up a cigarette, замолчать – to fall silent. 

The emphasis here isn’t on the duration of the action. The action is the starting up, a one-off change, itself a kind of result: wasn’t crying, burst out crying so now I am. Cigarette wasn’t lit, I lit up, now it is….. 

4. To express an instantaneous action

Many perfective verbs with the suffix вз/вс-  раз/рас- у- -ну- indicate an instantaneous action.  It’s over before you know it (result again!). 

Вдруг я увидел лису – I suddenly saw a fox 

Ночью вспыхнули сразу три автомобиля – In the night three cars suddenly burst into flames

Крупные пожары вспыхнули сразу в трех регионах страны – Large fires suddenly broke out in three regions of the country.  

Мгновенно раздался взрыв – An explosion rang out instantly

Сзади раздался шорох. Я мгновенно обернулся – There was a rustle from behind. I instantly swung round. 

5. To show that an action went on for a short time

Perfectives with the prefix по- often suggest that something is done for a short while (usually with verbs with no imperfect equivalent): 

Он поспал – He had a nap  

Я покурил пять минут – I had a quick smoke for five minutes 

Она хотела поговорить с другом – She wanted to have a word with her friend (Compare with сказать, the normal perfective of говорить).

Again, the emphasis is on the limits of the action. It’s completed, not on-going (even though it may not be instantaneous, unlike the perfective verbs we saw above that express the beginning of an action).  

“По-  perfectives” can be reinforced by a word like “немного” (a little).  

It’s worth mentioning the prefix про- here as well e.g. прожили (they lived for a period) – here the duration may be very long but the emphasis is still on completion (of a chunk of time). 

6. When an action is repeated in rapid succession

Russians usually use the imperfective aspect for repeated actions because the imperfective indicates continuity, duration, habit.  That said, if the emphasis is on completion of a whole action in rapid succession in rapid succession, they use the perfective:

Таксист просигналил дважды – The taxi driver honked the horn twice

Птица вылетел, чирикнула четыре раза и улетела  – The bird flew out, chirped four times and flew off.  

The actions are seen as multiple parts of one complete action. 

It follows that if the repeat actions are spaced out, we’re back to the imperfective:

Она несколько раз перечитывал “Войну и мир”  – She read “War and Peace” several times

7. As a negative to show the failure of an expected action to take place 

If something was expected to happen but didn’t use the perfective. You evoke a complete, finished action, and negate it:

Вера не позвонила – Vera didn’t phone  

The sense is that Vera was expected to telephone but that expected result failed to materialise.  

We can contrast this with:

Вера не звонила – Vera didn’t phone

This is a neutral statement of fact usage of the imperfective (discussed further below). There is no sense of an expected result that didn’t happen.  

This is a subtle contrast and we’ll look again in the section on the imperfective.  

Speaking of which…..  

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When to use the imperfective aspect in Russian

Russian imperfective verbs basically “name the action” (or a state).  It’s for expressing continuity, duration or habit in the past, present or future.  

Verbs in the imperfective aspect do not imply the idea of completion or result that are so central to the perfective aspect.  

So, use the imperfective for everything other than to focus on the result (and the other subsidiary uses of the perfective that we saw above). 

1. To express a state rather than an action

Usually, an enduring state will be in the imperfective aspect.

Они жили в Самаре – They lived in Samara

В Вологде вы будете жить у моего деда (In Vologda you’ll live/you’ll stay with my grandfather). 

Через месяц я буду в Сочи – In a month I’ll be in Sochi  

2. To state a fact, with no emphasis on completion

If completion is irrelevant, use the imperfective. The used this way, the imperfective makes a bald statement of fact, with no more detailed context and no focus on whether there was a result. 

Мы уже встречались – We have already met

Она писала ему – She wrote to him 

There’s a bald fact here, in a contextual vacuum. 

If you fill in more detail, the perfective would be used:

Мы встретились в прошлом году в Москве – We met last year in Moscow

Она написала ему письмо – She wrote him a letter 

Here are some vague factual questions: 

Вы звонили ему? Да, звонил – Have you phoned him? Yes, I’ve phoned.

Вы читали “Войну и мир”? Да, читал –  Have you (ever) read “War and Peace”? Yes, I have.

Вы встречали Анну? Думаю, что встречал   Have you met Anna? I think so. 

These questions are general in the sense of “Have you ever….?”. If you’d instructed somebody to read “War and Peace” or they’d told you that they were going to meet Anna last night, you’d check up on the result with a question using the perfective. 

3. To talk about an action in progress

If the action is in progress, with no focus on completion or result, you’ll use the imperfective: 

Мы читаем книгу – We are reading/read a book

Он спит – He is sleeping/sleeps

The action in progress could be in the imperfective in the past, present or the future tense.. 

Strictly speaking, all actions in the present are ongoing, so they are all in the imperfective and the conjugated “present” perfective forms of Russian verbs talk about the future.  

90% of the time, we use the perfective to talk about the future. That’s because we’re usually contemplating concrete, complete future actions or results (things that “will happen”). 

It’s only if there is no focus on completion or result in the future that you’ll use the compound быть + imperfective instead of the perfective:

Завтра он будет работать – He’ll be working tomorrow

4. To talk about an action that is repeated an unspecified number of times  

Here the emphasis isn’t on the result, it’s on the repetition of the action (including habitual actions):  

Она несколько раз перечитывал “Войну и мир”  – She read “War and Peace” several times.

 Я буду звонить часто – I’ll phone often  

As in the example above, adverbs of time can be used to reinforce the sense of a habit: часто (often), обычно (usually), всегда (always), иногда (sometimes), раз в месяц (once a month) and so on.

As we saw in the section on when to use the perfective aspect, if the repetition is in rapid succession such that the actions can be seen as multiple parts of one complete action, rather than spaced-out, separate actions, we use the perfective: 

Таксист просигналил дважды – The taxi driver honked the horn twice

Птица вылетел, чирикнула четыре раза и улетела  – The bird flew out, chirped four times and flew off

5. For an action in the past that was completed but is then undone  

The imperfective indicates an action done but then reversed.  

Он надевал костюм – He put on a suit (implied: was later taken off)

Кто-то включал свет – Somebody switched on the light (implied: was later switched off)

Почему в комнате холодно? Я открывал окно – Why is the room cold? I opened the window)(implied: window closed again)

Compare this last example with:

Почему ты открыл окно? – Why did you open the window? 

In the second case, the window is still open. 

Сосед брал у меня эту книга – A neighbour borrowed this book from me (and has returned it)

Сосед взял у меня эту книга – A neighbour borrowed that book from me (and still has it)

These are quite subtle differences you probably won’t want to worry about until your Russian is moving into upper intermediate.  

However, don’t wait to get used to this common use of the imperative to convey the idea of a “round trip” in the past:

Позавчера приходил мой сотрудник – The day before yesterday my colleague came (implied: and has now left/round trip)

Они уезжали на прошлой неделе – They went away last week (implied: and have now returned)

Verb + infinitive: imperfective or perfective aspect?

The infinitive of the verb is the basic, unconjugated form (that you’ll find as the main entry in a dictionary, for example.  In English, it’s the form we can put “to” in front of: to eat, to think and so on.  

If a Russian verb is followed by another verb in its infinitive, what about the aspect of that second verb?

Sometimes, a verb in the infinitive could be in either aspect, depending on meaning: 

Решать/решить (to decide): 

Он решил читать книгу – He decided to read the book (spend some time reading it – not implied that he’ll finish it)  

Он решил прочитать книгу – He decided to read the book (whole book, to the end)  

With (За-)хотеть (to want), ask yourself whether the  “want” is general (imperfective) or a specific result/for a little while (perfect):

Мы хотим работать – We want to work (i.e. we want a job) 

Мы хотим поработать – We want to do a bit of work/work a while  

Я хочу говорить по-русски – I want to speak Russian (general desire) 

Infinitives following verbs of starting, continuing, finishing will ALWAYS be in the imperfective infinitive:

Начинать/начать (to begin):  

Он начал искать работу 3 месяца назад  – He started looking for work (continuing) three months ago 

Продолжать/продолжить (to continue): 

Она продолжала петь песню – She continued to sing the song 

Заканчивать/закончить  (to finish):  

Когда вы закончите думать об этом? – When will you stop thinking about that.

The action that is starting, continuing or finishing is seen as ongoing.  

With verbs like учиться/научиться (to learn to), привыкать/привыкнуть (to get used to) любить/полюбть (to love) отвыкнуть (to get out of the habit of) the main verb will also be in the imperfective as we’re talking about an activity not a one off event:

Они научатся петь – They are learning to sing

Ты привыкнешь танцевать You’ll get used to dancing

Она любила работать – She loved to work/working

It’s the same with уставать/устать   надоедать/надоесть  запрещаться

Игорь устал говорить  – Igor got tired of speaking

Я надоедаю говорить – I am getting board of speaking

Запрещаться курить – Smoking forbidden/No smoking   

The perfective infinitive is common after verbs of intention, advice:

Я советую тебе прочитать эту статью – I advise you to read this article 

Я собираюсь написать ему письмо – I intend to write him a letter 

The logic is clear: the focus is on the result. Remember, we’ve been talking about the second verb (the aspect of the first verb will be decided on the usual principles – are we talking about a one off action or a process?).  Notice too that the English translation doesn’t always use the “to” infinitive.  We can say “I like to eat” or “I like eating”, we have to use the -ing form after “to get bored of”. 

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The aspect of the verb after Russian modals (necessity, obligation, possibility)

Modals express the attitude or standpoint of the speaker towards a state or action, often connected to desire, possibility, likelihood, ability, permission or obligation.

They are used in relation to verbs which express the state or action itself. 

The perfective infinitive is found particularly often with the modals надо, нужно должен/должна/должно/должны, хочеть, мочь when talking about a single action which is not viewed as repetitive:  

Мне надо сказать… – I have to say…. 

Он должен сделать это – He should do that 

Она должна встретить его – She ought to meet him 

Я хочу понять – I want to understand 

Ты можешь взять ключи – You may take the keys  

Можно войти? – May I come in 

But use the imperfective with modals надо, можно if “it’s time to” (пора) is implied:

Восемь часов! Надо (implied пора) вставать – It’s 8 o’clock, you must/should get up  

Сейчас можно (implied пора) начинать – You may start now

The imperfective is also used with не нужно (there’s no need to); не надо (you mustn’t/shouldn’t):

Не нужно вызывать врача – There is no need to call out the doctor 

With нельзя use the imperfective if something is forbidden (think: that’s just the way it is – continuing state of affairs): 

Нельзя входить – You can’t go in (not allowed) 

Отсюда нельзя звонить – You’re not allowed to phone from here. 

По этой дороге нельзя проезжать – It is not permitted to drive along this road

Use the perfective with нельзя if something is impossible (you can’t get a result):

Нельзя войти – You can’t get in (think: we’ve lost the key/this result is not therefore possible). 

Отсюда нельзя позвонить – It’s not possible to phone from here 

По этой дороге нельзя проехать – It’s not possible to drive along this road, e.g. because a fallen tree has blocked it/the result isn’t possible, это сделать не получится).

With мочь in the negative the imperfective expresses “need not” (doesn’t have to) and the perfective expresses “might not” (it might not happen).   

Он может не уехать – He might not leave

Он может не уходить – He doesn’t need to leave/He doesn’t have to leave.  

The negative не должен/должна/должно/должны followed by the imperfective suggests “is not obliged to”.   

Она не должна делать покупки – She doesn’t have to do the shopping

If the perfective follows, the sense is “is unlikely to”:

Она не должна забыть – She shouldn’t forget (I only told her this morning). 

Imperative and verb aspect – positive commands

1. Command to perform a single action – perfective

Use the perfective for commands to perform single action (we’re ordering a result): 

Сделай это! – Do it!

Закройте дверь! – Shut the door!

2. Polite invitation to perform a single action – imperfective

Unless it’s an invitation, then use the imperfective: 

Заходите, раздевайтесь, садитесь! Кушайте! – Come in, take your coat off, have a seat! Have some food!

Here the imperfective politely softens the impact. It’s as if we’re emphasising the process by which the person we’re speaking to gets comfortable, not ordering a result.

3. Commands to perform a repeated action – imperfective

Commands to do repeated action are imperfective too: 

Пейте молоко каждый день! – Drink milk every day! 

Три раза в день принимайте лекарство! – Take the medicine three times a day! 

4. Commands to repeat an action in rapid succession- perfective

But repetition of an action in rapid succession would be perfective (because the focus isn’t on repetition or continuity but on a rapid succession of results): 

Повтори эту фразу несколько раз! – Repeat this phrase several times! 

5. A request to continue an action – imperfective

 A request to continue an action will, logically enough, be imperfective: 

Продолжайте! Я вас слушаю – Carry on! I’m listening

Imperative and verb aspect – negative commands

1. A simple negative command – imperfective

Use the imperfective aspect if a negative command is a prohibition: “Don’t!” 

Не закрывайте дверь! – Don’t shut the door!

Не разговаривайте! – Don’t talk/chat! (E.g. teacher addressing class).

2. A negative command as a warning – perfective

But if the negative command is a warning of the consequences (Mind you don’t!) use the perfective. You’ll typically hear this with verbs like забыть (to forget), опоздать (be late)  упасть (to fall):

Не забудь это сделать! – Don’t forget to do that! 

Смотри, не упади! – Mind you don’t fall! 

The focus is on an undesirable result,  “Or else!”.

Russian verbal aspects and English continuous/non-continuous tenses compared

English like Russian has verbal aspect. In English, we distinguish between actions in progress (continuous verb form -”ing”) on the one hand and an enduring state or a habitual or one-off action on the other (non-continuous verb form): I am living, I live.   

As a result, you can be confident as a good rule of thumb is that If you would use a continuous tense in English (verb + ing), then you’ll use the imperfective in Russian (past, present or future tense), because both put the focus on an action in progress : 

We were watching television > Mы смотрели телевизор 

They are going home > Они идут домой 

He’ll be working tomorrow > Завтра он будет работать

However, as we’ve seen, the Russian imperfective it encompasses not only actions in progress (like the English continuous) but also states and habit, both of which are expressed with non-continuous verb forms in English: 

Они жили в Самаре – They lived in Samara (state) 

Она всегда надевает юбку – She always puts on a skirt (habit) 

Mы долго смотрели телевизор – We watched the television for a long time (duration) 

Они разговаривали всю ночь – They talked all night (duration)  

Russian thinks “there’s no completion/result here”, and defaults to the imperfective.  

In contrast, English defaults to the non-continuous aspect and would only be shaken out of the default to stress that a state or act was in progress, for example for a particular period or as it was interrupted: 

They were living in Samara, when he died – Они жили в Самаре, когда он умер

She is putting on a skirt now – Сейчас она надевает юбку 

We were watching television when he telephoned – Мы смотрели телевизор когда он звонил 

They were talking when I called by –  Они разговаривали когда я зашёл 

Compare both sets of sentences and notice how the underlined imperfective verbs in Russian have stayed in the imperfective in the Russian in the second set of examples, despite the change of aspect in English.

Russian perfective or imperfective? Summary and tips to go

• The imperfective has past, present and future tense forms. The perfective just has past and future forms and the perfective future is  much more common when talking about the future than the imperfective future. 
• Remember the fundamental idea behind Russian verb aspect is that the perfective aspect expresses a single, completed action, often with the focus on the result. It moves the action forward. This happened, then that happened, then the other happened. 
• The imperfective denotes an on-going state, an action that is continuing or in progress or is repeated (often as a habit).  

Nine times out of ten, this basic analysis will get you to the right aspect. 

That’s the case not just with simple examples but also, you’ll have seen above, when a verb is used as an infinitive after another verb, is used with a “modal” or used in its “imperative” (command, request) form.   

That said, don’t forget the secondary functions of the perfective aspect: some verbs in the perfective express the beginning of an action or that it is instantaneous (though this is really just a type of result). Others (mainly with the prefix по-) show that an action only happens for a short period of time.  

As you listen to Russian and read in Russian, pay attention to the verb aspect chosen. If you can’t understand the choice of aspect by asking “is the focus on a completed action or result or not”, look again at the discussion in this post to find the explanation. 

As you speak Russian, don’t stress it! 

You’ll get better at applying the rules with practice and the more fluent you get, the more your natural “feel” for what’s right will develop. 

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If you’re an upper beginner/lower intermediate Russian learner take a look at Dr P’s Focus in Five Russian grammar revision course.

It’s a series of engaging five video tutorials, delivered weekly with full notes and self-correct exercises.

Just the thing to help you get on top of Russian verb aspects and a whole lot more of the grammar you need as an upper beginner or lower intermediate learner!

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