Немно́го о языке́ 3.1 Сего́дня суббо́та
Action Sentences and Verb Conjugation
Through Unit 2 most of the sentences you have seen are “nominal” sentences where one noun is linked to another by an invisible “is” or “are.” For example:То́ни — студе́нт, а Ама́нда — аспира́нтка. You have also learned the forms for one action verb: “to live.”
In this unit you will learn how to make sentences with action verbs in the present tense and their complements. This requires you to learn Russian verb conjugation–i.e., how verbs change their forms, and also to learn about the case system of Russian nouns. In this section we will work on verbs first.
When we match a subject or subject pronoun to its correct verb form, we conjugate the verb. Unlike Spanish, and as you have already seen with the verb “to live,” subject pronouns are regularly used in Russian.
When we conjugate Russian verbs in the present tense, we attach endings to the verb’s stem. Endings indicate which person (я, ты, он, она́, мы, вы, они́) is performing the action. In the table below you will see which endings are associated with which persons (i.e., subjects/subject pronouns). Notice the difference in spelling and pronunciation when the –е- in endings is stressed and becomes –ё-.
| Subjects | Unstressed Endings | Stressed Endings |
|---|---|---|
| я | -у | -у́ |
| ты | -ешь | -ёшь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | -ет | -ёт |
| мы | -ем | -ём |
| вы | -ете | -ёте |
| они́ | -ут | -у́т |
Verb Stems
All Russian verb stems end in a consonant, and the stems will be listed for you in the glossary. Stems are not words by themselves, so we will always write a hyphen at the end of them.
In this part you will work on the third person forms (он / она́ / оно́ versus они́); after the next text you will work in more detail on other forms of the verbs.
Look at the table below to see how first conjugation endings combine with verb stems. Click the audio button to listen to the conjugated forms read aloud for you. Repeat after the speaker as you read through the chart.
The verb stem пиш- (write) works similarly, although it has a different stress pattern. Stress is on the ending in the “я” form, but moves backwards onto the stem in all the remaining forms. You will find out more about stress shifting in verb conjugation in the next section.
Click the audio button to listen to the conjugated forms read aloud for you. Repeat after the speaker as you read through the chart.
Alternate Spellings
Now notice the two ways that the “я” and “они” forms can be spelled:
| Я пишу́. | Я чита́ю. |
| Они́ пи́шут. | Они́ чита́ют. |
The vast majority of first conjugation verbs have stems like the one for “to read,” whose forms you see on the right. These stems end in the consonant й, which follows a vowel. When we add endings to these stems, the й disappears, combining with the vowel of the endings. This creates some familiar spelling changes: й + у → ю, and й + е → е.
Click the audio button to listen to the conjugated forms read aloud for you. Repeat after the speaker as you read through the chart.
Most of the other verbs that you have encountered so far in this unit follow the same conjugation pattern as читай-. Their stems and basic meanings are listed below.
| слу́шай = listen to | игра́й = play | де́лай = do, make |
| зна́й = know | отдыха́й = rest, relax | убира́й = tidy up, clean up |
| ду́май = think | гуля́й = stroll, fool around | рабо́тай = work |