Немно́го о языке́ 9.3 Как То́ни заблуди́лся
Imperatives
You are already familiar with a number of command forms in Russian.
| Commands to people you speak to in ты | Commands to people you speak to in вы |
|---|---|
| Расскажи́ | Расскажи́те |
| Помоги́ | Помоги́те |
| Повтори́ | Повтори́те |
| Чита́й | Чита́йте |
| Слу́шай | Слу́шайте |
| Посове́туй | Посове́туйте |
In this section, you will learn how to form imperatives for other verbs, for which we start with the они́ form of the conjugated form of the verb. This will be the present tense for imperfective verbs, and the future tense for perfective verbs.
Stem ends in –й-
| де́лать | гуля́ть | |
|---|---|---|
| они́ form | де́лают | гуля́ют |
| remove ending | де́лай - ут | гуля́й -ут |
| uncover й Removing –ут uncovers й since ю = й + у |
де́лай! | гуля́й! |
add -те for вы form |
End-stressed stem with ending other than –й-
| купи́ть | говори́ть | |
|---|---|---|
| они́ form | ку́пят | говоря́т |
| remove ending | куп - ят | говор - ят |
| add и́ Add и́ because the stress is on the ending |
купи́! | говори́! |
add -те for вы form |
купи́те! | говори́те! |
Stem-stressed stem with ending other than –й-
| гото́вить | забы́ть | |
|---|---|---|
| они́ form | готов - ят | забуд - ут |
| remove ending | готов - ят | забуд - ут |
| or add -ь Add ь because the stress is on the stem |
готовь! | забудь! |
add -те for вы form |
Упражне́ние 1
Read the English situations and pick out the imperative that you would use in the situation. All the forms in the table are real imperatives in Russian.
There are some additional complications in forming imperatives.
- Since й is a consonant, we spell the reflexive particle –ся after it. For example, занима́йся!
- A verb like по́мнить has stem stress in all forms (я по́мню, они́ по́мнят), but the stem of the third person plural ends in two consonants (по́мн- ят). For such verbs, the imperative will end in unstressed –и (по́мни! по́мните!)
- A verb like пить has the third person plural form пьют. When –ут is removed, the result is пьй- where the ь is replaced with the fill vowel е. Пей! Вы́пей!