User:Mkdeterman/sandbox

Russian grammar (Russian: грамматика русского языка, IPA: [ɡrɐˈmatʲɪkə ˈruskəvə jɪzɨˈka]; also русская грамматика; IPA: [ˈruskəjə ɡrɐˈmatʲɪkə]) encompasses:

• a highly inflexional morphology, particularly in nominals (nouns, pronouns, adjectives and numerals; for more details see Russian declension), less so in verbs;
• a syntax that, for the literary language, is the conscious fusion of three elements:
  • a Church Slavonic inheritance;
  • a Western European style;
  • a polished vernacular foundation.

The Russian language has preserved an Indo-European inflexional structure, although considerable adaptation has taken place.

The spoken language has been influenced by the literary one, but it continues to preserve some characteristic forms. Russian dialects show various non-standard grammatical features, some of which are archaisms or descendants of old forms discarded by the literary language.

NOTE: In the discussion below, various terms are used in the meaning they have in standard Russian discussions of historical grammar. In particular, aorist, imperfect, etc. are considered verbal tenses rather than aspects, because ancient examples of them are attested for both perfective and imperfective verbs.

Nouns

Nominal declension is subject to six cases – nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and prepositional – in two numbers (singular and plural), obeying grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and further modification based on the animacy of the noun. Up to ten additional cases are identified in linguistics textbooks, although all of them are either incomplete (do not apply to all nouns) or degenerate (appear identical to one of the six simple cases). The most recognized additional cases are locative (в лесу, в крови, в слезах), partitive (чаю, сахару, коньяку), and several forms of vocative (Господи, Боже, отче). The adjectives, pronouns, and the first two cardinal numbers further vary by gender. Old Russian also had a third number, the dual, but it has been lost except for its use in the nominative and accusative cases with the numbers two, three and four (e.g. два стула [dvɐ ˈstulə], "two chairs", now reanalyzed as genitive singular).

More often than in many other Indo-European languages, Russian noun cases may supplant the use of prepositions entirely. Furthermore, the same preposition can be used with different cases to express different meanings (в + accusative case vs в + prepositional case). The usage of the cases can be summarised as:

• Nominative (Именительный падеж):
  • main subject;
  • default case to use outside sentences (dictionary entries, signs, etc.);
  • prepositions: за '(what) kind of?'; в: 'join the ranks of' (with pl. noun only) e.g. в президенты;
• Accusative (Винительный падеж)
  • direct object;
  • some time expressions;
  • prepositions indicating motion: в 'in(wards)', на 'on (top of)', за 'behind', под 'under';
  • other prepositions: про 'about', через 'over', сквозь 'thru';
• Genitive (Родительный падеж):
  • possession - 'of' (G. noun);
  • numerals and quantifiers;
  • negated verbs (which take direct objects in Accusative) to indicate total absence;
  • some time expressions;
  • prepositions: без 'without', вместо 'instead', возле 'near', вокруг 'around', впереди 'ahead of', для 'for', до 'before', из 'from', из-за 'from behind', кроме 'except for', мимо 'past by', около 'near', после 'after', против 'against', среди 'among', у 'by', близ 'near', вдоль 'along', вне 'outside', внутри 'inside';
  • verbs: бояться 'afraid of', ждать 'wait for', искать 'search for';
  • adjectives: полный 'full of' (G. noun);
• Dative (Дательный падеж):
  • indirect object - 'to' (D. noun);
  • some time expressions;
  • impersonal clauses: мне холодно - 'I am cold', lit. "to_me (is) cold";
  • age statements: мне двадцать лет - 'I am 20 (years old)', lit. 'to_me (is) 20 years';
  • prepositions: по 'on', к 'to(wards)', благодаря 'thanks to';
  • auxiliaries: нужно or надо 'need/must (to)', можно 'allowed', нельзя 'forbidden';
  • verbs: верить 'believe', помочь 'help', советовать 'advice', звонить 'call', удивить(ся) 'amaze (self)';
• Instrumental (Творительный падеж):
  • instrument used in the action or means by which action is carried out - 'by' (I. noun);
  • logical subject of passive clause: письмо написано Иваном - 'the letter was written by Ivan';
  • secondary direct object: его считают студентом - 'he is considered (to be) a student';
  • durational time expressions;
  • verbs: интересовать(ся) 'interest (to be interested in)', пользоваться 'use', занимать(ся) 'occupy (to be preoccupied with)';
  • associates of connective verbs: быть 'be', стать 'became', остаться 'remain', казаться 'appear to be', оказаться 'turn out to be';
  • prepositions of position: за 'behind', перед 'in front of', над 'above', под 'below', между 'between', (вместе) с '(together) with';
  • adjective: довольный 'pleased by';
• Prepositional (Предложный падеж):
  • prepositions of place: в 'inside', на 'on (top of)';
  • other prepositions: о 'about', при 'by/of/with';

There are no definite or indefinite articles (such as the, a, an in English) in the Russian language. The sense of a noun is determined from the context in which it appears. That said, there are some means of expressing whether a noun is definite or indefinite. They are:

• The use of a direct object in the genitive instead of the accusative in negation signifies that the noun is indefinite, compare: "Я не ви́жу кни́ги" ("I don't see a book" or "I don't see any books") and "Я не ви́жу кни́гу" ("I don't see the book").
• The use of the numeral one sometimes signifies that the noun is indefinite, e.g.: "Почему́ ты так до́лго?" - "Да так, встре́тил одного́ дру́га, пришло́сь поговори́ть" ("Why did it take you so long?" - "Well, I met one [=a] friend and had to talk").
• Word order may also be used for this purpose, compare "В ко́мнату вбежа́л ма́льчик" ("Into the room rushed a boy") and "Ма́льчик вбежа́л в ко́мнату" ("The boy rushed into the room").
• The plural form may signify indefiniteness: "Вы мо́жете купи́ть э́то в магази́нах" ("You can buy this in shops") vs. "Вы мо́жете купи́ть э́то в магази́не" ("You can buy this in the shop").

The category of animacy is relevant in Russian nominal and adjectival declension. Specifically, the accusative has two possible forms in many paradigms, depending on the animacy of the referent. For animate referents (persons and animals), the accusative form is generally identical to the genitive form. For inanimate referents, the accusative form is identical to the nominative form. This principle is relevant for masculine singular nouns of the second declension (see below) and adjectives, and for all plural paradigms (with no gender distinction). In the tables below, this behavior is indicated by the abbreviation N or G in the row corresponding to the accusative case.

In Russian there are three declensions:

• The first declension is used for most masculine and neuter nouns.
• The second declension is used for feminine nouns ending with -а/-я and some masculine nouns having the same form as those of feminine gender, such as па́па papa or дя́дя uncle; also there are common-gender nouns like зади́ра tease which are masculine or feminine depending on the person they refer.
• The third declension is used for feminine nouns ending in ь.

There are also a group of several irregular "different-declension nouns" (Russian: разносклоняемые существительные), consisting of a few neuter nouns ending in -мя (e.g. время "time") and one masculine noun путь "way". However, these nouns and their forms have sufficient similarity with feminine third declension nouns that some scholars such as Litnevskaya consider them to be non-feminine forms of this declension, as written in the tables below.

Nouns ending with -ий, -ия, -ие (not to be confused with substantivated adjectives) are written with -ии instead of -ие in Prepositional (as this ending is never stressed, there is no difference in pronunciation): тече́ние - в ни́жнем тече́нии реки́ "streaming - in lower streaming of a river". But if words в течение and в продолжение are representing compound preposition meaning "while, during the time of", they are written with -е: в тече́ние ча́са "in a time of an hour". For nouns ending in -ья, -ье, or -ьё, using -ьи in the Prepositional (where endings of some of them are stressed) is usually erroneous, but in poetic speech it may be acceptable (as we replace -ии with -ьи for metric or rhyming purposes): Весь день она́ лежа́ла в забытьи́ (F. Tyutchev).

First declension - masculine nouns

Masculine nouns

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Ø -ь, -й, -ий	-ы -и, -и, -ии
Accusative	N or G
Genitive	-а -я, -я, -ия	-ов -ей, -ев, -иев
Dative	-у -ю, -ю, -ию	-ам -ям, -ям, -иям
Instrumental	-ом -ем, -ем, -ием	-ами -ями, -ями, -иями
Prepositional	-е -е, -е, -ии	-ах -ях, -ях, -иях

Second declension

Feminine nouns with a small set of masculine nouns

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-а -я, -ия	-ы -и, -ии
Accusative	-у -ю, -ию	N or G
Genitive	-ы -и, -ии	Ø -ь, -ий
Dative	-е -е, -ии	-ам -ям, -иям
Instrumental	-ой -ей, -ией	-ами -ями, -иями
Prepositional	-е -е, -ии	-ах -ях, -иях

Neuter nouns

		Singular		Plural
Nominative		-о -е		-а -я
Accusative				N or G
Genitive		-а -я		Ø -й, -ей
Dative		-у -ю		-ам -ям
Instrumental		-ом -ем		-ами -ями
Prepositional		-е -е		-ах -ях

Third declension

The Third declension is mostly for feminine nouns with some masculine and neuter.

Feminine and some masculine nouns

		Singular		Plural
Nominative		-ь		-и
Accusative				N or G -и
Genitive		-и		-ей
Dative				-ям
Instrumental		-ью -ём		-ями -я́ми
Prepositional		-и		-ах

A small set of neuter nouns

		Singular		Plural
Nominative		-я		-ена́ -ёна
Accusative
Genitive		-ени		-ён -ён
Dative				-ена́м -ёнам
Instrumental		-енем		-енáми -ёнaми
Prepositional		-ени		-ена́х -ёнах

Undeclined nouns

Some nouns (such as borrowings from other languages, abbreviations, etc.) are not modified when they change number and case. This appears mostly when their gender appears to have no ending in any declension which suits the final part of the word.

Rare minor cases

Aside from the six major cases, there are several more rare minor cases. These cases are used for some nouns, and for some they don't. Knowledge of minor cases is not necessary to be understood by Russians, Russian language is quite comprehensible without them. However, the rare cases are necessary for speaking like a native.

Some of the minor cases are:

• Locative (Ме́стный): the most common minor case, it is used when speaking of location. Sometimes it is identical to Prepositional (на пло́щади) and sometimes it either matches Dative or is its own unique form (во рту́, not во рте́ – matches Dative; в лесу́, not в ле́се – unique form which is written like Dative but pronounced differently);
• Caritive (Лиши́тельный), used with negation of verbs: не знать пра́вды (not know the truth) – знать пра́вду (know the truth). This case sometimes is identical to Genitive and sometimes to Accusative;
• Partitive (Отдели́тельный), or Second Genitive: sometimes used instead of Genitive: налить ча́ю (to pour tea) – not налить ча́я;

Adjectives

A Russian adjective ([имя] прилагательное) is usually placed before the noun it qualifies, and it agrees with the noun in case, gender, and number. With the exception of a few invariant forms borrowed from other languages, such as беж 'beige' or хаки 'khaki', most adjectives follow one of a small number of regular declension patterns, except for some which provide difficulty in forming the short form. In modern Russian, the short form appears only in the nominative and is used when the adjective is in a predicative role; formerly (as in the bylinas) short adjectives appeared in all other forms and roles, which are not used in modern language, but are nonetheless understandable to Russian speakers as they are declined exactly like nouns of the corresponding gender.

Adjectives may be divided into three general groups:

• Qualitative (ка́чественные) — denote quality of the object; only they are usual to have degrees of comparison.
• Relational (относи́тельные) — denote some sort of relationship; unlikely to act as a predicate or have a short form.
• Possessive (притяжа́тельные) — denote belonging to a specific subject; have some declensional peculiarities.

Adjectival declension

The pattern described below suits for full forms of most adjectives, except possessive ones; it is also used for substantivated adjectives as учёный and for adjectival participles. Russian differentiates between hard-stem and soft-stem adjectives, shown before and after a slash sign.

		Singular				Plural
		Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nominative		-ый/-ий	-ое/-ее	-ая/-яя		-ые/-ие
Accusative		N or G		-ую/-юю		N or G
Genitive		-ого/-его		-ой/-ей		-ых/-их
Dative		-ому/-ему				-ым/-им
Instrumental		-ым/-им				-ыми/-ими
Prepositional		-ом/-ем				-ых/-их

1. Case endings -ого/-его are to be read as -ово/ево.
2. After a sibilant or velar consonant, и is written instead of ы.
3. When a masculine adjective ends in -ой (in Nominative), this ending is stressed for all cases: прямо́й ("straight"), cf. упря́мый ("stubborn").
4. After a sibilant consonant, neuter adjectives end in -ее. It is sometimes called the "хоро́шее rule".
5. Accusative in the masculine gender and in plural depends on animacy, as for nouns.
6. Instrumental feminine ending -ой/-ей has alternative form -ою/-ею for all adjectives, which has only stylistical difference.

Comparison of adjectives

Comparison forms are usual only for qualitative adjectives and adverbs. Comparative and superlative synthetic forms are not part of the paradigm of original adjective but are different lexical items, since not all qualitative adjectives have them. A few adjectives have irregular forms which are declined as usual adjectives: большо́й 'big' — бо́льший 'bigger', хоро́ший 'good' — лу́чший 'better'. Most synthetically derived comparative forms are derived by adding -е́е or -е́й to adjective stem: кра́сный 'red' — красне́е 'more red'; these forms are difficult to distinguish from adverbs, and probably they are adverbs. Superlative synthetic forms are derived by adding suffix -е́йш- or -а́йш- and additionally sometimes prefix наи-, or using special comparative form with наи-: до́брый 'kind' — добре́йший 'the kindest', большо́й 'big' — наибо́льший 'the biggest'.

Another way of comparison are analytical forms with adverbs бо́лее 'more' / ме́нее 'less' and са́мый 'most' / наибо́лее 'most' / наиме́нее 'least': до́брый 'kind' — бо́лее до́брый 'kinder' — са́мый до́брый 'the kindest'. This way is rarely used if special comparative forms exists.

Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives are used in Russian to a lesser extent than in most other Slavic languages, but are still in use. They answer on the questions чей? чья? чьё? чьи? (whose?) and denote only animated possessors.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

		Singular						Plural				Reflexive
		1st	2nd	3rd				1st	2nd	3rd
				Neut.	Masc.	Fem.
(English)		I / me	you	it	he / him	she / her		we / us	you	they / them		-self
Nominative		я	ты	оно́	он	она́		мы	вы	они́
Accusative		меня́	тебя́	его́		её		нас	вас	их		себя́
Genitive
Dative		мне	тебе́	"ARMADURA Z29 HELMET ARMOR Z29" by OSCAR CREATIVO ему́		ей		нам	вам	им		себе́
Instrumental		мной (мно́ю)	тобо́й (тобо́ю)	им		ей (ею)		на́ми	ва́ми	и́ми		собо́й (собо́ю)
Prepositional		мне	тебе́	нём		ней		наc	вас	них		себе́

• Russian is subject to T-V distinction. The respectful form of the singular you is the same as the plural form. It begins with a capital letter: Вы, Вас, Вам etc. in following situations: personal letters and official papers (addressee is definite), and questionnaires (addressee is indefinite), otherwise it begins with minuscule. Compare the distinction between du and Sie in German or tu and vous in French.
• When a preposition is used directly before a 3rd-person pronoun, it is prefixed with н-: у него (read: у нево), с неё, etc. Because the prepositional case always occurs after a preposition, the third person prepositional always starts with an н-.
• There are special cases for preposition before 1st person singular pronouns: co мной - "with me" (usually c), ко мне - "to me" (usually к), во мне - "in me" (usually в), обо мне - "about me" (usually о). All of these preposition forms are unstressed.
• Like adjectives and numerals, letter "г" (g) in genitive and accusative form is pronounced as "в" (v): (н)его - (н)ево.
• English "it" can be translated as both оно́ (neuter personal pronoun) and э́то (neuter proximal demonstrative, "this"). Later is used as a stub pronoun for a subject: э́то хорошо́ - "it/this is good", кто́ это? - "who is it/this?".

Demonstrative pronouns

этот ('this') and тот ('that')

		Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Plur.		Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Plur.
Nominative		э́тот	э́то	э́та	э́ти		тот	то	та	те
Accusative		N or G		э́ту	N or G		N or G		ту	N or G
Genitive		э́того		э́той	э́тих		того́		той	тех
Dative		э́тому			э́тим		тому́			тем
Instrumental		э́тим			э́тими		тем			те́ми
Prepositional		э́том			э́тих		том			тех

• If a preposition "about" is used (usually о), for singular demonstrative pronouns (as with any other words starting with a vowel) it is об: об э́том - about this.

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

Unlike English, Russian uses the same form for a possessive adjective and the corresponding possessive pronoun. In Russian grammar they are called possessive pronouns притяжательные местоимения (compare with possessive adjectives like Peter's = петин above). The following rules apply:

• Possessive pronouns agree with the noun of the possessed in case, gender, and number.
• The reflexive pronoun свой is used when the possessor is the subject of the clause, whatever the person, gender, and number of that subject.
• No non-reflexive exists for the 3rd person: the genitive of the personal pronoun is instead, i.e. его for a masc./neut. sing. possessor, её for a fem. sing. possessor and их for a plural possessor. But unlike other genitives used with a possessive meaning, in modern Russian these words are usually placed before the object of possession.
• Example of the difference between reflexive and non-reflexive pronouns:
  • "Он лю́бит свою́ жену́ = He loves his (own) wife"   while   "Он лю́бит его́ жену́ = He loves his (someone else's) wife".
• Unlike Latin where a similar rule applies for the third person only, Russian accepts using reflexives for all persons:
  • "Люблю́ свою́ жену́ = (I) love my wife"
  • "Люблю́ себя́ = (I) love myself"

мой (my, mine)
твой (your, yours) for a singular possessor
свой (my, mine, your, yours, one's, his, her, its, our, ours, your, yours, their) for a subject possessor

		Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Plur.		Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Plur.		Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Plur.
Nominative		мой	моё	моя́	мои́		твой	твоё	твоя́	твои́		свой	своё	своя́	свои́
Accusative		N or G		мою́	N or G		N or G		твою́	N or G		N or G		свою́	N or G
Genitive		моего́		мое́й	мои́х		твоего́		твое́й	твои́х		своего́		свое́й	свои́х
Dative		моему́			мои́м		твоему́			твои́м		своему́			свои́м
Instrumental		мои́м			мои́ми		твои́м			твои́ми		свои́м			свои́ми
Prepositional		моём			мои́х		твоём			твои́х		своём			свои́х

• The ending -его is pronounced as -ево.

наш (our, ours)
ваш (your, yours) for a plural possessor

		Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Plur.		Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Plur.
Nominative		наш	на́ше	на́ша	на́ши		ваш	ва́ше	ва́ша	ва́ши
Accusative		N or G		на́шу	N or G		N or G		ва́шу	N or G
Genitive		на́шего		на́шей	на́ших		ва́шего		ва́шей	ва́ших
Dative		на́шему			на́шим		ва́шему			ва́шим
Instrumental		на́шим			на́шими		ва́шим			ва́шими
Prepositional		на́шем			на́ших		ва́шем			ва́ших

• The ending -его is pronounced as -ево́.

Interrogative pronouns

кто ('who') and что ('what')

		кто	что
Nominative		кто	что (read: што)
Accusative		кого́ (read: каво́)
Genitive			чего́ (read: чиво́)
Dative		кому́	чему́
Instrumental		кем	чем
Prepositional		ком	чём

• These interrogatives are used by scholars to denote "usual" questions for correspondent grammatical cases (Prepositional is used with о): (кто?) Ма́ша лю́бит (кого?) Ва́сю - (who?) Masha [N.] loves (whom?) Vasya [G.].

чей ('whose')

		masculine	neuter	feminine	plural
Nominative		чей	чьё	чья	чьи
Accusative		N or G		чью	N or G
Genitive		чьего́		чьей	чьих
Dative		чьему́			чьим
Instrumental		чьим			чьи́ми
Prepositional		чьём			чьих

• The ending ’’-его’’ is pronounced as ‘’-ево’’.

Numerals

Main article: Russian declension § Numerals

Nouns are used in the nominative case after "one" (один рубль, 'one ruble').

After certain other numbers (following Grammatical number rules in Russian) nouns must be declined to genitive plural (десять рублей, 'ten rubles').

Russian has several classes of numerals ([имена] числительные): cardinal, ordinal, collective, and also fractional constructions; also it has other types of words, relative to numbers: collective adverbial forms (вдвоём), multiplicative (двойной) and counting-system (двоичный) adjectives, some numeric-pronominal and indefinite quantity words (сколько, много, несколько). Here are the numerals from 0 to 10:

	Cardinal Numbers	Ordinal Numbers (Nominative case, masculine)	Collective Numbers
0	ноль or нуль	нулево́й	—
1	оди́н (m.), одна́ (f.), одно́ (n.), одни́ (pl.) (раз is used when counting)	пе́рвый	—
2	два (m., n.), две (f.)	второ́й	дво́е
3	три	тре́тий	тро́е
4	четы́ре	четвёртый	че́тверо
5	пять	пя́тый	пя́теро
6	шесть	шесто́й	ше́стеро
7	семь	седьмо́й	се́меро
8	во́семь	восьмо́й	(во́сьмеро)
9	де́вять	девя́тый	(де́вятеро)
10	де́сять	деся́тый	(де́сятеро)

Verbs

Grammatical conjugation is subject to three persons in two numbers and two simple tenses (present/future and past), with periphrastic forms for the future and subjunctive, as well as imperative forms and present/past participles, distinguished by adjectival and adverbial usage (see adjectival participle and adverbial participle). Verbs and participles can be reflexive, i.e. have reflexive suffix -ся/-сь appended after ending.

An interesting feature is that the past tense is actually made to agree in gender with the subject, for it is the participle in an originally periphrastic perfect formed (like the perfect passive tense in Latin) with the present tense of the verb "to be" быть [bɨtʲ], which is now omitted except for rare archaic effect, usually in set phrases (откуда есть пошла земля русская [ɐtˈkudə jesʲtʲ pɐˈʂla zʲɪˈmlʲa ˈruskəjə], "whence is come the Russian land", the opening of the Primary Chronicle in modern spelling). The participle nature of past tense forms is exposed also in that they often have extra suffix vowel which is absent in present/future; the same vowel appears in infinitive form which is considered by few scholars not to be verbal (and in the past it surely used to be a noun) but in which verbs appear in most dictionaries: ходить "to walk" - ходил "(he) walked" - хожу "I walk".

Verbal inflection today is considerably simpler than in Old Russian. The ancient aorist, imperfect, and (periphrastic) pluperfect have been lost, though the aorist sporadically occurs in secular literature as late as the second half of the eighteenth century, and survives as an odd form in direct narration (а он пойди да скажи [ɐ on pɐjˈdʲi də skɐˈʐɨ], etc., exactly equivalent to the English colloquial "so he goes and says"), recategorized as a usage of the imperative. The loss of three of the former six tenses has been offset by the development, as in other Slavic languages, of verbal aspect (вид). Most verbs come in pairs, one with imperfective (несовершенный вид) or continuous, the other with perfective (совершенный вид) or completed aspect, usually formed with a (prepositional) prefix, but occasionally using a different root. E.g., спать [spatʲ] ('to sleep') is imperfective; поспать [pɐˈspatʲ] ('to take a nap') is perfective.

The present tense of the verb быть is today normally used only in the third-person singular form есть, which is often used for all the persons and numbers. As late as the nineteenth century, the full conjugation, which today is extremely archaic, was somewhat more natural: forms occur in the Synodal Bible, in Dostoevsky and in the bylinas (былины [bɨˈlʲinɨ]) or oral folk-epics, which were transcribed at that time. The paradigm shows as well as anything else the Indo-European affinity of Russian:

English	Russian	Latin	Classical Greek	Sanskrit
"I am"	есмь [jesʲmʲ]	sum [sũː]	εἰμί [eːˈmi]	अस्मि [ˈɐsmi]
"you are" (sing.)	еси́ [jɪˈsʲi]	es [es]	εἶ [eː]	असि [ˈɐsi]
"he, she, it is"	есть [jesʲtʲ]	est [est]	ἐστί(ν) [esˈti(n)]	अस्ति [ˈɐsti]
"we are"	есмы́ [jɪˈsmɨ]	sumus [ˈsumus]	ἐσμέν [esˈmen]	स्मः [smɐh]
"you are" (plur.)	е́сте [ˈjesʲtʲɪ]	estis [ˈestis]	ἐστέ [esˈte]	स्थ [stʰɐ]
"they are"	суть [ˈsutʲ]	sunt [sunt]	εἰσί(ν) [eːˈsi(n)]	सन्ति [ˈsɐnti]

Infinitive

The infinitive in Russian has the suffix -ть or -ти, or ends with -чь (but -чь is not a suffix of a verb) (-ся/сь/ся respectively is added after it). It is the basic form of a verb for most purposes of study.

Present-future tense

First conjugation

Person	Ending
1st singular	-у or -ю
2nd singular	-ешь
3rd singular	-ет
1st plural	-ем
2nd plural	-ете
3rd plural	-ут or -ют

Second conjugation

Person	Ending
1st singular	-у or -ю
2nd singular	-ишь
3rd singular	-ит
1st plural	-им
2nd plural	-ите
3rd plural	-ат or ят

• -у/-ут,-ат is used after a hard consonant or ж, ш, щ or ч; otherwise -ю/-ют,-ят is used.
• A mutating final consonant may entail a change in the ending.
• е becomes ё when stressed.

There are two forms used to conjugate the present tense of imperfective verbs and the future tense of perfective verbs.

The first conjugation (I) is used in verb stems ending in:

• a consonant,
• -у,-ы or -о,-я
• -е (In addition to below)
• Бить, пить, жить, шить, лить, вить, гнить, брить, стелить, зиджить.
• in -а not preceded by a hush (ж, ш, щ or ч):

The second conjugation (II) involves verb stems ending in:

• -и or -е (Тереть, глядеть, смотреть, видеть, ненавидеть, обидеть, зависеть, терпеть, вертеть, пыхтеть, сидеть, лететь, гудеть, гореть, сопеть, дудеть, блестеть, храпеть, смердеть, хрипеть, шелестеть, хрустеть, сипеть, кишеть, бдеть, звенеть, кряхтеть, кипеть, корпеть, зудеть, скорбеть, тарахтеть, шуметь, зреть, висеть, греметь, шипеть)
• in -а preceded by a hush (ж, ш, щ or ч)(Слышать(To hear.), дышать(To breathe), держать(Keep it up), лежать(Lie,lay), бежать, жаждать, дребезжать, жужжать, брюзжать, дрожать, бренчать, стучать, мычать, кричать, молчать, рычать, мчать, урчать, звучать, бурчать, ворчать, торчать, журчать, гнать):
• Стоять, бояться

Example: попро-с-ить – попро-ш-у, попро-с-ят [pəprɐˈsʲitʲ, pəprɐˈʂu, pɐˈprosʲɪt] (to have solicited – [I, they] will have solicited).

Examples

First conjugation

чита́ть ('to read', stem: чита–)
я чита́ю	I read (am reading, do read)
ты чита́ешь	you read (are reading, do read)
он/она́/оно́ чита́ет	he/she/it reads (is reading, does read)
мы чита́ем	we read (are reading, do read)
вы чита́ете	you (plural/formal) read (are reading, do read)
они чита́ют	they read (are reading, do read)

First conjugation: verbs ending in -нуть

верну́ть ('to return [something]', stem: верн–)
я верну́	I will return
ты вернёшь	you will return
он/она́/оно́ вернёт	he/she/it will return
мы вернём	we will return
вы вернёте	you will return
они верну́т	they will return

First conjugation: verbs ending in -овать, -евать

рисова́ть ('to draw', stem: рису-)			плева́ть ('to spit', stem: плю-)			танцева́ть ('to dance', stem: танцу-)
я рису́ю			я плюю́			я танцу́ю
ты рису́ешь			ты плюёшь			ты танцу́ешь
он/она́/оно́ рису́ет			он/она́/оно́ плюёт			он/она́/оно́ танцу́ет
мы рису́ем			мы плюём			мы танцу́ем
вы рису́ете			вы плюёте			вы танцу́ете
они́ рису́ют			они́ плюю́т			они́ танцу́ют

First conjugation: verbs ending in -чь

мочь (‘can’, stem: мог-/мож-)			печь (‘to bake’, stem: пек-/печ-)
я могу́	I can		я пеку́	I bake
ты мо́жешь	you can		ты печёшь	you bake
он/она́/оно́ мо́жет	he/she/it can		он/она́/оно́ печёт	he/she/it bakes
мы мо́жем	we can		мы печём	we bake
вы мо́жете	you (all) can		вы печёте	you (all) bake
они́ мо́гут	they can		они́ пеку́т	they bake

First conjugation (verbs ending in -сти, -сть)

нести́ (, stem: нес-)			вести́ (, stem: вед-)			мести́ (, stem: мет-)			грести́ (, stem: греб-)			красть (, stem: крад-)
я несу́			я веду́			я мету́			я гребу́			я краду́
ты несёшь			ты ведёшь			ты метёшь			ты гребёшь			ты крадёшь
он/она́/оно́ несёт			он/она́/оно́ ведёт			он/она́/оно́ метёт			он/она́/оно́ гребёт			он/она́/оно́ крадёт
мы несём			мы ведём			мы метём			мы гребём			мы крадём
вы несёте			вы ведёте			вы метёте			вы гребёте			вы крадёте
они́ несу́т			они́ веду́т			они́ мету́т			они́ гребу́т			они́ краду́т

First conjugation (verbs ending in -зти, -зть)

везти́ (, stem: вез-)			лезть (, stem: лез-)
я везу́			я ле́зу
ты везёшь			ты ле́зешь
он/она́/оно́ везёт			он/она́/оно́ ле́зет
мы везём			мы ле́зем
вы везёте			вы ле́зете
они́ везу́т			они́ ле́зут

First conjugation: verbs ending in -ыть

мыть (‘to wash, stem: мо-)
я мо́ю	I wash
ты мо́ешь	you wash
он/она́/оно́ мо́ет	he/she/it washes
мы мо́ем	we wash
вы мо́ете	you (all) wash
они́ мо́ют	they wash

First conjugation (verbs бить, вить, лить, пить, шить)

бить (, stem: бь-)			вить (, stem: вь-)			лить (, stem: ль-)			пить ('to drink', stem: пь-)			шить(, stem: шь-)
я бью			я вью			я лью			я пью	I drink		я шью
ты бьёшь			ты вьёшь			ты льёшь			ты пьёшь	you drink		ты шьёшь
он/она́/оно́ бьёт			он/она́/оно́ вьёт			он/она́/оно́ льёт			он/она́/оно́ пьёт	he/she/it drinks		он/она́/оно́ шьёт
мы бьём			мы вьём			мы льём			мы пьём	we drink		мы шьём
вы бьёте			вы вьёте			вы льёте			вы пьёте	you (all) drink		вы шьёте
они́ бьют			они́ вьют			они́ льют			они́ пьют	they drink		они шьют

First conjugation (verbs жить, плыть, слыть)

жить ('to live', stem: жив-)			плыть (, stem: плыв-)			слыть (, stem: слыв-)
я живу́	I live		я плыву́			я слыву́
ты живёшь	you live		ты плывёшь			ты слывёшь
он/она́/оно́ живёт	he/she/it lives		он/она́/оно́ плывёт			он/она́/оно́ слывёт
мы живём	we live		мы плывём			мы слывём
вы живёте	you (all) live		вы плывёте			вы слывёте
они́ живу́т	they live		они́ плыву́т			они́ слыву́т

Second conjugation

говори́ть ('to speak', stem: говор-)
я говорю́	I speak (am speaking, do speak)
ты говори́шь	you speak (are speaking, do speak)
он/она́/оно́ говори́т	he/she/it speaks (is speaking, does speak)
мы говори́м	we speak (are speaking, do speak)
вы говори́те	you (plural/formal) speak (are speaking, do speak)
они говоря́т	they speak (are speaking, do speak)

Second conjugation (verbs ending in -бить, -вить, -пить, -мить)

люби́ть ('to love', stem: люб-)			лови́ть ('to catch', stem: лов-)			топи́ть ('to heat, stem: топ-)			корми́ть ('to feed', stem: корм-)
я люблю́	I love		я ловлю́			я топлю́			я кормлю́
ты лю́бишь	you love		ты ло́вишь			ты то́пишь			ты ко́рмишь
он́/она́/оно́ лю́бит	he/she/it loves		он́/она́/оно́ ло́вит			он́/она́/оно́ то́пит			он́/она́/оно́ ко́рмит
мы лю́бим	we love		мы ло́вим			мы то́пим			мы ко́рмим
вы лю́бите	you (all) love		вы ло́вите			вы то́пите			вы ко́рмите
они́ лю́бят	they love		они́ ло́вят			они́ то́пят			они́ ко́рмят

Second conjugation (verbs ending in -сить, -зить, -тить, -дить, -стить)

проси́ть (, stem: прос-)			вози́ть (, stem: воз-)			плати́ть ('to pay', stem: плат-)			ходи́ть ('to go [to walk]', stem: ход-)			прости́ть (, stem: прост-)
я прошу́			я вожу́			я плачу́	I pay		я хожу́			я прощу́
ты про́сишь			ты во́зишь			ты пла́тишь	you pay		ты хо́дишь			ты прости́шь
он/она́/оно́ про́сит			он/она́/оно́ во́зит			он/она́/оно́ пла́тит	he/she/it pays		он/она́/оно́ хо́дит			он/она́/оно́ прости́т
мы про́сим			мы во́зим			мы пла́тим	we pay		мы хо́дим			мы прости́м
вы про́сите			вы во́зите			вы пла́тите	you (all) pay		вы хо́дите			вы прости́те
они́ про́сят			они́ во́зят			они́ пла́тят	they pay		они́ хо́дят			они́ простя́т

There are five irregular verbs:

• бежа́ть (run), бре́зжить (glimmer) - plural third person are of the first conjugation, in other forms, second;
• хоте́ть (want) - in the singular first conjugation, plural the second;
• дать (give) - (дам, дашь, даст, дади́м, дади́те, даду́т).
• есть (eat) - (ем, ешь, ест, еди́м, еди́те, едя́т);

Past tense

The Russian past tense is gender specific: –л for masculine singular subjects, –ла for feminine singular subjects, –ло for neuter singular subjects, and –ли for plural subjects. This gender specificity applies to all persons; thus, to say "I slept", a male speaker would say я спал, while a female speaker would say я спалá.

Examples

the verbs де́лать (‘to do’, ‘to make’)

Masculine Past Form			Feminine Past Form			Neuter Past Form			Plural Past Form
я де́лал	I made (says a man)		я де́лала	I made (says a woman)					мы де́лали	we made
ты де́лал	you made (is said to a man)		ты де́лала	you made (is said to a woman)					вы де́лали	you (all) made
он де́лал	he made		она́ де́лала	she made		оно́ де́лало	it made		они́ де́лали	they made

Exceptions

Verbs ending in -сти, -сть, -зти, -зть

Infinitive	Present Stem	Past Forms
ле́зть	лез-	лез, ле́зла, ле́зло, ле́зли
нести́	нес-	нёс, несла́, несло́, несли́
везти́	вез-	вёз, везла́, везло́, везли́
вести́	вед-	вёл, вела́, вело́, вели́
мести́	мет-	мёл, мела́, мело́, мели́
грести́	греб-	грёб, гребла́, гребло́, гребли́
расти́	раст-	рос, росла́, росло́, росли́

Verbs ending in -чь

Infinitive	Present Stem	Past Forms
мочь	мог-/мож-	мог, могла́, могло́, могли́
печь	пек-/печ-	пёк, пекла́, пекло́, пекли́

Verbs ending in -ереть

Infinitive	Past Forms
умере́ть	у́мер, умерла́, у́мерло, у́мерли

The verb ‘идти́’ (to go, to walk) and verbs ending in -йти

Infinitive	Past Forms
идти́ (to go)	шёл, шла, шло, шли
уйти́ (to go away)	ушёл, ушла́, ушло́, ушли́
найти́ (to find)	нашёл, нашла́, нашло́, нашли́
пройти́ (to pass)	прошёл, прошла́, прошло́, прошли́
прийти́ (to come)	пришёл, пришла́, пришло́ пришли́
вы́йти (to go out)	вы́шел, вы́шла, вы́шло, вы́шли

The verb ‘есть’ (to eat)

Infinitive	Past Forms
есть	ел, е́ла, е́ло, е́ли

Moods

Russian verbs can form three moods (наклонения): indicative (изъявительное), conditional (сослагательное) and imperative (повелительное).

Imperative Mood

The imperative mood second person singular is formed from future-present base of most verbs by adding -и (stressed ending in present-future or if base ends on more than one consonant), -ь (unstressed ending, base on one consonant) or -й (unstressed ending, base on vowel). Plural (including polite на вы) second-person form is made by adding -те to singular one: говорю 'I speak' - говори - говорите, забуду 'I shall forget' - забудь - забудьте, клею 'I glue' - клей - клейте. Some verbs have first-person plural imperative form with -те added to similar simple future or present tense form: пойдёмте 'let us go'. There are other ways of expressing command in Russian; for third person, for example, пусть particle with future can be used: Пусть они замолчат! 'Let them shut up!'.

Infinitive	Present Stem	Imperative (2 pers. sing)	Imperative (2 pers. plur)
де́лать	де́ла-	де́лай	де́лайте
рисова́ть	рису-	рису́й	рису́йте
тро́нуть	трон-	тро́нь	тро́ньте
верну́ть	верн-	верни́	верни́те
ве́рить	вер-	верь	ве́рьте
люби́ть	люб-	люби́	люби́те
услы́шать	услыш-	услы́шь	услы́шьте
смотре́ть	смотр-	смотри́	смотри́те
пла́кать	плач-	плачь	пла́чьте
писа́ть	пиш-	пиши́	пиши́те
лезть	ле́з-	лезь	ле́зьте
везти́	вез-	вези́	вези́те
нести́	нес-	неси́	неси́те
вести́	вед-	веди́	веди́те
мести́	мет-	мети́	мети́те
грести́	греб-	греби́	греби́те
расти́	раст-	расти́	расти́те

Conditional Mood

The conditional mood in Russian is formed by adding the particle бы after the word which marks the supposed subject into a sentence formed like in the past tense. Thus, to say "I would (hypothetically) sleep" or "I would like to sleep", a male speaker would say я спал бы (or я бы поспа́л), while a female speaker would say я спалá бы (or я бы поспала́).

The verb 'сказа́ть' (‘to say’)

Masculine Past Form			Feminine Past Form			Neuter Past Form			Plural Past Form
я бы сказа́л	I would say (says a male speaker)		я бы сказа́ла	I would say (says a female speaker)					мы бы сказа́ли	we would say
ты бы сказа́л	you would say (is said to a male speaker)		ты бы сказа́ла	you would say (is said to a female speaker)					вы бы сказа́ли	you (all) would say
он бы сказа́л	he would say		она́ бы сказа́ла	she would say		оно́ бы сказа́ло	it would say		они́ бы сказа́ли	they would say

Negative Forms

Masculine Past Form			Feminine Past Form			Neuter Past Form			Plural Past Form
я бы не сказа́л	I wouldn't say (says a male speaker)		я бы не сказа́ла	I wouldn't say (says a female speaker)					мы бы не сказа́ли	we wouldn't say
ты бы не сказа́л	you wouldn't say (is said to a male speaker)		ты бы не сказа́ла	you wouldn't say (is said to a female speaker)					вы бы не сказа́ли	you (all) wouldn't say
он бы не сказа́л	he wouldn't say		она́ бы не сказа́ла	she wouldn't say		оно́ бы не сказа́ло	it wouldn't say		они́ бы не сказа́ли	they wouldn't say

Verbs of Motion

Verbs of motion (also referred to as VoM) are a distinct class of verbs found in several Slavic languages. Due to the extensive semantic information they contain, Russian verbs of motion pose difficulties for non-native learners at all levels of study. Unprefixed verbs of motion, which are all imperfective, divide into pairs based on the direction of the movement (uni- or multidirectional—sometimes called determinate/indeterminate or definite/indefinite). As opposed to a verb-framed language, in which path is encoded in the verb, but manner of motion typically is expressed with complements, Russian is a satellite language, meaning that these concepts are encoded in both the root of the verb and the particles associated with it, satellites. Thus, the roots of motion verbs convey the lexical information of manner of movement, e.g. walking, crawling, running, whereas prefixes denote path, e.g. motion in and out of space. The roots also distinguish between means of conveyance, e.g. by transport or by one’s own power, and, in transitive verbs, the object or person being transported. The information below provides an outline of the formation and basic usage of unprefixed and prefixed verbs of motion.

Unprefixed Verbs of Motion

This table contains 14 commonly-accepted pairs of Russian verbs of motion, adapted from Muravyova.

English	Unidirectional	Multidirectional
'to run'	бежа́ть	бе́гать
'to wander'	брести́	броди́ть
'to convey, transport'	везти́	вози́ть
'to lead'	вести́	води́ть
'to drive, chase'	гна́ть	гоня́ть
'to go by vehicle, ride'	е́хать	е́здить
'to go, walk'	идти́	ходи́ть
'to roll'	кати́ть	ката́ть
'to climb'	ле́зть	ла́зить (ла́зать)
'to fly'	лете́ть	лета́ть
'to carry'	нести́	носи́ть
'to swim, float'	плы́ть	пла́вать
'to crawl'	ползти́	по́лзать
'to drag'	тащи́ть	таска́ть

Directionality

1. Unidirectional verbs of motion describe motion in progress in one direction, e.g:
   1. We are headed to the library.
      
      Мы идём в библиотеку.
   2. I was on my way to work.
      
      Я шла на работу.
   3. Birds fly south in autumn.
      
      Птицы летят на юг осенью.
2. Multidirectional verbs of motion describe:
   1. General motion, referring to ability or habitual motion, without reference to direction or destination, e.g.:
      1. The child has been walking for six months.
         
         Ребёнок ходит шесть месяцев.
      2. Birds fly, fish swim, and dogs walk.
         
         Птицы летают, рыбы плавают, а собаки ходят.
   2. Movement in various directions, e.g.:
      1. We walked around the city all day.
         
         Мы ходили по городу весь день.
   3. Repetition of completed trips, e.g.:
      1. She goes the supermarket every week.
         
         Она ходит в супермаркет каждую неделю.
   4. In the past tense, a single completed round trip, e.g.:
      1. I went to Russia (and returned) last year.
         
         В прошлом году я ездил в Россию.

Unidirectional Perfectives with ПО-

The addition of the prefix по- to a unidirectional verb of motion makes the verb perfective, denoting the beginning of a movement, i.e. 'setting out'. These perfectives imply that the agent has not yet returned at the moment of speech, e.g.,

1. He went to a friend's place (and has not returned).
   Он пошёл к другу.
   Compare with:
2. He went to a friend's place (and has returned).
   Он ходил к другу.
3. He was on his way to a friend’s place.
   Он шёл к другу.

Going vs. Taking

Three pairs of motion verbs generally refer to ‘taking’, ‘leading’ with additional lexical information on manner of motion and object of transport encoded in the verb stem. These are нести/носить, вести/водить, and везти/возить. See below for the specific information on manner and object of transport:

1. нести/носить – ‘to take (on foot), carry’
   1. He carries a briefcase.
      
      Он носит портфель.
   2. She is taking her assignment to class.
      
      Она несёт домашнее задание на занятия.
2. вести/водить – ‘to take, lead (people or animals)’; ‘to drive (a vehicle)’
   1. The teacher was taking the children to a field trip.
      
      Учитель вёл школьников на экскурсию
   2. She took her friend to the theatre.
      
      Она водила свою подругу в театр.
   3. She knows how to drive a car.
      
      Она умеет водить машину.
3. везти/возить – ‘to take, drive, convey by vehicle’
   1. She is wheeling her grandmother in a wheelchair.
      
      Она везёт бабушку в инвалидном кресле.
   2. The train took the passengers to England (and back).
      
      Поезд возил пассажиров в Англию.

Prefixed Verbs of Motion

Verbs of motion combine with prefixes to form new aspectual pairs, which lose the distinction of directionality, but gain spatial or temporal meanings. The unidirectional verb serves as the base for the perfective, and the multidirectional as the base for the imperfective. In addition to the meanings conveyed by the prefix and the simplex motion verb, prepositional phrases also contribute to the expression of path in Russian. Thus, it is important to consider the whole verb phrase when examining verbs of motion.

In some verbs of motion, adding a prefix requires a different stem shape:

1. идти → -йти ‘go (on foot)’
   1. For prefixes ending in a consonant, an -o- is added in all forms, e.g.: войти.
   2. Й is lost in the non-past conjugated forms of прийти, e.g.: приду ‘I come’.
2. ездить → -езжать ‘go (by conveyance)’ For prefixes ending in a consonant, a hard sign (ъ) is added before –ехать and –езжать, e.g.: въезжать ‘enter (by conveyance)’.
3. бéгать → -бегáть ‘run’ The formation of the verb remains the same, but stress shifts from the stem to the endings, e.g.: убегáть ‘run away’.
4. плáвать → -плывáть ‘swim’ The vowel in the root changes to -ы- and the stress shifts to the endings.
5. In perfective verbs with the prefix вы-, the prefix is stressed in all forms, e.g. вы́йдешь ‘go out’.

See below for a table the prefixes, their primary meanings, and the prepositions that accompany them, adapted from Muravyova. Several examples are taken directly or modified from Muravyova.

Prefixed Verbs of Motion

Prefix / Primary Meanings	Examples / Additional Meanings	Prepositional Phrases
SPATIAL
В-, ВО- Movement inwards across a threshold, entering Antonym: вы-	The tram stopped and the girl entered. Трамвай остановился, и девушка вошла.	в / на + acc.
ВЫ- Movement out of something across a threshold, exiting Antonym: в-	She exited the office. Она вышла из кабинета. Other: Step out for a short period of time, e.g.: The secretary left for ten minutes. Секретарь вышел на десять минут. Leave at a specific time frame, e.g.: They left early in the morning to catch their train/plain . Они выехали рано утром, чтобы успеть на поезд/самолёт.	из / с / от + gen. в / на + acc. к + dat.
ПРИ- Intended arrival, signals presence of the agent at a location as a result of motion Antonym: у-	He arrived in Moscow a week ago. Он приехал в Москву неделю назад.	в / на + acc. к + dat. из / с / от + gen.
У- Intended departure, signals absence Antonym: при-	They will leave Vladivostok in a month. Они улетят из Владивостока через месяц. Where is Igor? He already left. Где Игорь? Он уже ушёл.	в / на + acc. к + dat. из / с / от + gen.
ПОД-, ПОДО- Approach Antonym: от-	He approached the girl to ask for her number. Он подошёл к девушке, чтобы спросить её номер. Other: Подвезти – give someone a lift, e.g.: He took me (as far as) downtown. Он подвёз меня до центра.	к + dat. до + gen.
ОТ-, ОТО- Withdrawal a short distance away Antonym: под-	The boy stepped back from the stranger who had offered him candy. Мальчик отошёл от незнакомца, который предложил ему конфеты. Other: With transitive verbs, delivering or dropping something off (agent does not remain), e.g.: I'll drop the book off at the library, then come. Я отнесу книги в библиотеку, потом приду.	от + gen.
ДО- Reaching a limit or destination	The passengers reached the last station and exited the bus. Пассажиры доехали до последней остановки и вышли из автобуса. Other: Characterizing the duration of a journey, especially when it is long, e.g.: We finally reached the dacha. Мы наконец доехали до дачи.	до + gen.
ЗА- Movement behind an object; stopping off on the way	The old woman walked behind the corner and disappeared. Старушка зашла за угол и исчезла. Other: Action performed on the way to a destination, e.g.: On the way home I stopped at the store for bread. По дороге домой я зашла в магазин за хлебом A short visit, e.g.: The young man often stops by his mother’s place. Молодой человек часто заходит к маме. Movement deep into something, at a great distance (inside, upwards or downwards), e.g.: The ball flew onto the roof of the house. Мяч залетел на крышу дома.	в / на / за + acc. к + dat. за + inst.
ПРО- Movement across, through, or past something	We drove through the city. Мы проехали через город. We passed the metro station. Мы прошли мимо станции метро. Other: Movement beyond one's destination (possibly unintentional), e.g.: I'm afraid we already passed the store. Я боюсь, что мы уже прошли магазин. Movement forward with the distance covered specified, e.g.: You'll go three stops and get off the tram. Вы проедете три остановки и выйдете из трамвая.	сквозь / через / в + acc. мимо + gen. without preposition
ПЕРЕ- Movement across, from one point to another; through	The ducks swam across the river. Утки переплыли реку. Other: Changing residence, e.g.: I moved to another city. Я переехала в другой город.	через + acc without preposition + acc.
ВЗ-, ВЗО-, ВОЗ-, ВС-, ВОС- Movement upwards Antonym: с-	The mountain climber walked up the mountain. Альпинист взошёл на гору.	в / на + acc.
С-, СО- Movement downwards Antonym: вз-	After the performance, the actor got off the stage. После представления актёр сошёл со сцены.	c + gen. на + acc. к + dat. за + inst.
О-, ОБ-, ОБО- Movement around an object or involving a consecutive number of objects, circling, covering a whole place	The little girl walked around the puddle. Девочка обошла лужу. I'm going around to all the stores in the mall. Я обхожу все магазины в центре.	вокруг + gen. without preposition + acc.
ИЗ-, ИЗО-, ИС- Movement involving the entire area concerned and carried out in all directions *only formed from multidirectional VoM	I traveled over the whole world. Я изъездил весь мир.	without preposition + acc.
НА- Movement onto the surface of an object *only formed from multidirectional VoM	A cloud creeped onto the sun. Туча наползла на солнце. Other: Quantified movement, e.g.: The driver covered 50 kilometers. Водитель наездил 50 километров. I had 2500 flight hours in Boeing 737. Я налетал 2500 часов на Боинге 737.	в/на + acc. without preposition + acc.
С-, СО- (+СЬ, +СЯ) Convergent movement from various directions towards one center Antonym: раз-, разо-, рас- (+сь, +ся)	In order to study, the student brought all her textbooks from other rooms to her desk. Чтобы заниматься, студентка снесла все учебники из других комнат на письменный стол. The children ran (from all directions) to the playground. Дети сбежались на детскую площадь	в / на + acc. к + dat.
РАЗ-, РАЗО-, РАС- (+СЬ, +СЯ) Divergent movement in various directions from one center Antonym: с-, со- (+сь, +ся)	Grandfather Frost brought the gifts to the (various) houses. Дед Мороз разнёс подарки по домам. After dinner, we went to our separate homes. После ужина, мы разошлись по домам.	по + dat. pl. в + асс. pl.
TEMPORAL
ПО- Beginning of unidirectional movement *with unidirectional VoM	I went to the university. Я пошла в университет. Other: Intention to carry out a movement in the future, e.g.: In the winter I plan to go to Florida. Зимой я собираюсь поехать во Флориду. Approximate location of the agent at moment of speech, e.g.: Where’s Dad? He went to (is at) work. Где папа? Он пошёл на работу.	в / на + acc. к + dat. из / с / от + gen. по + dat. without prep. + inst.
ЗА- Beginning of multidirectional movement *With multidirection VoM	She started running around the room. Она забегала по комнате.	по + dat.
ПРО- Prolonged multidirectional movement *with multidirectional VoM	We walked around the woods all day. Мы проходили по лесу весь день.	without prep + acc.
ПО- Slow and measured multidirectional movement *with multidirectional VoM	She walked around the apartment pensively and finally decided to leave. Она задумчиво походила по квартире и наконец решила уйти.
RESULTATIVE
С- Completed semelfactive movement in opposite directions, there and back. *only formed with multidirectional VoM	I went to the pharmacy for medicine and went to bed. Я сходил в аптеку за лекарством и лёг спать.	в / на + acc. к + dat.

Idiomatic Uses

The uni- and multidirectional distinction rarely figures into the metaphorical and idiomatic use of motion verbs, because such phrases typically call for one or the other verb. See below for examples:

Idiomatic Uses of Motion Verbs

Verb	Example
UNIDIRECTIONAL
ИДТИ	It’s not raining, but it is snowing. Идёт не дождь, а снег. The clock is going. Часы идут. A film is on. Идёт фильм. That dress suits you. Это платье тебе идёт. The government is moving towards democracy. Правительство идёт к демократии. The president is going against the will of the people. Президент идёт против воли народа.
ВЕСТИ	The country is waging a war. Страна ведёт войну. The girl keeps a diary. Девочка ведёт дневник. The friends carried on a correspondence for a long time. Друзья долго ведут переписку. The road leads to the city. Дорога ведёт в город. No good comes from lying. Ложь к добру не ведёт
НЕСТИ	The woman bears the responsibility of her children. Женщина несёт ответственность за детей. The farmer bore the losses from the drought. Фермер нёс потери от засухи. The criminal undergoes severe punishment. Преступник несёт тяжёлое наказание.
ЛЕТЕТЬ	Time flies. Время летит. Shares are plummeting because of the economic crisis. Акции летят от экономического кризиса.
ЛЕЗТЬ	The hooligans got into a brawl. Хулиганы лезли в драку.
ВЕЗТИ	She is lucky/got lucky. Ей везёт / повезло.
БЕЖАТЬ	Blood flows from the wound. Кровь бежит из раны. The days fly past. Дни бегут.
MULTIDIRECTIONAL
НОСИТЬ	Ivan Ivanovich bears the name of his father. Иван Иванович носит имя отца. The clothes bore the imprint of old age. Одежда носила отпечаток ветхости. She wears pretty clothing. Она носит красивую одежду.
ХОДИТЬ	Rumor has it that she left her husband. Ходит слух, что она бросила мужа
ВОДИТЬ	He fooled me for a long time when he said that everything was fine in our firm. Он долго водил меня за нос, когда говорил, что в нашей фирме всё хорошо.
КАТАТЬСЯ	I like to ski, skate, cycle, and row. Мне нравится кататься на лыжах, на коньках, на велосипеде и на лодке.

Adjectival participle

Russian adjectival participles can be active or passive; have perfective or imperfective mood; imperfective participles can have present or past tense, while perfective ones in classical language can be only past. As adjectives, they are declined by case, number and gender. If adjectival participles are derived from reciprocal verbs, they have suffix -ся appended after the adjectival ending; this suffix in participles never takes the short form. Participles are often difficult to distinguish from deverbal adjectives (this is important for some cases of orthography).

Active Present Participle

Лю́ди, живу́щие в э́том го́роде, о́чень до́брые и отве́тственные – The people living in this city are very kind and responsible.

In order to form the Active Present Participle you should replace the "т" of the 3-rd pers. plur. of the Present Tense by "щ" and add a necessary adjective ending:

де́лать (to do, to make) – де́лают (they do/make) – де́лающий (doing, making)

Masculine form	де́лающий
Feminine form	де́лающая
Neuter form	де́лающее
Plural form	де́лающие

Note: Only imperfective verbs can have an Active Present Participle.

Examples

Infinitive	3-rd person plur. (Present Tense)	Active Pres. Part.
First conjugation
име́ть (to have)	име́ют	име́ющий
писа́ть (to write)	пи́шут	пи́шущий
пря́тать (to conceal)	пря́чут	пря́чущий
рисова́ть (to draw)	рису́ют	рису́ющий
вести́ (to lead)	веду́т	веду́щий
печь (to bake)	пеку́т	пеку́щий
жить (to live)	живу́т	живу́щий
люби́ть (to love)	лю́бят	лю́бящий
коло́ть (to break)	ко́лют	ко́лющий
идти́ (to go)	иду́т	иду́щий
пить (to drink)	пьют	пью́щий
мыть (to wash)	мо́ют	мо́ющий
брить (to shave)	бре́ют	бре́ющий
петь (to sing)	пою́т	пою́щий
дава́ть (to give)	даю́т	даю́щий
жать (to press)	жмут	жмущий
тону́ть (to sink)	то́нут	то́нущий
Second conjugation
слы́шать (to hear)	слы́шат	слы́шащий
сто́ить (to cost)	сто́ят	сто́ящий
стоя́ть (to stand)	стоя́т	стоя́щий
хоте́ть (to want)	хотя́т	хотя́щий
Other verbs
бежа́ть (to run)	бегу́т	бегу́щий
есть (to eat)	едя́т	едя́щий
быть (to be)	*суть	*су́щий

(*) Note: These forms are obsolete in modern Russian and they aren't used in the spoken language as forms of the verb 'to be'.

Active Present Participle Declension

де́лающий - doing/making

		Singular				Plural
		Masc.	Fem.	Neut.
Nominative		де́лающий	де́лающая	де́лающее		де́лающие
Accusative		N or G	де́лающую			N or G
Genitive		де́лающего	де́лающей	де́лающего		де́лающих
Dative		де́лающему		де́лающему		де́лающим
Instrumental		де́лающим		де́лающим		де́лающими
Prepositional		де́лающем		де́лающем		де́лающих

Reflexive Verbs Paradigm

де́лающийся - being done/being made

		Singular				Plural
		Masc.	Fem.	Neut.
Nominative		де́лающийся	де́лающаяся	де́лающееся		де́лающиеся
Accusative		N or G	де́лающуюся			N or G
Genitive		де́лающегося	де́лающейся	де́лающегося		де́лающихся
Dative		де́лающемуся		де́лающемуся		де́лающимся
Instrumental		де́лающимся		де́лающимся		де́лающимися
Prepositional		де́лающемся		де́лающемся		де́лающихся

The participle agrees in gender, case and number with the word it refers to:

Я посвяща́ю э́ту пе́сню лю́дям, живу́щим в на́шем го́роде – I dedicate this song to the people living in our city.

Я горжу́сь людьми́, живу́щими в на́шем го́роде – I’m proud of the people living in our city.

Active Past Participle

Active Past Participle is used in order to indicate actions that happened in the past: Де́вушка, чита́вшая тут кни́гу, забы́ла свой телефо́н – The girl, that read this book here, forgot her phone (the girl read the book in the past).

Compare: Де́вушка, чита́ющая тут кни́гу, – моя́ сестра́ – The girl reading this book here is my sister (she is reading the book now, in the present).

In order to form the Active Past Participle you should replace the infinitive ending '-ть' by the suffix '-вш-' and add an adjective ending:

де́лать (to do, to make) – де́лавший

Masculine form	де́лавший
Feminine form	де́лавшая
Neuter form	де́лавшее
Plural form	де́лавшие

Examples

Infinitive	Active Past Part.
име́ть '(to have)'	име́вший
рисова́ть '(to draw)'	рисова́вший
тону́ть '(to drown)'	тону́вший
люби́ть '(to love)'	люби́вший
писа́ть '(to write)'	писа́вший
коло́ть '(to poke through with a needle)'	коло́вший
бить '(to hit)'	би́вший
мыть '(to wash)'	мы́вший
дава́ть '(to give)'	дава́вший
жать '(to squeeze/compress)'	жа́вший
стать '(to become)'	ста́вший
жить '(to live)'	жи́вший

Exceptions

Infinitive	Past Tense (masc. form)	Active Past Part.
Some verbs ending in ‘consonant + нуть’
со́хнуть (to dry)	сох	сохший
проту́хнуть (to become rancid)	проту́х	проту́хший
сдо́хнуть (to die ("croak"))	сдох	сдо́хший
Verbs ending in ‘-зть’
лезть (to climb)	лез	ле́зший
Verbs ending in ‘-ти’
везти́ (to carry)	вёз	вёзший
вести́ (to lead)	вёл	ве́дший
нести́ (to carry)	нёс	нёсший
мести́ (to sweep)	мёл	мётший
грести́ (to row)	грёб	грёбший
расти́ (to grow)	рос	ро́сший
Verbs ending in ‘-чь’
помо́чь (to help)	помог	помо́гший
печь (to bake)	пёк	пёкший
Verbs ending in ‘-ереть’
умере́ть (to die)	у́мер	у́мерший
запере́ть (to lock)	за́пер	за́перший
стере́ть (to erase)	стёр	стёрший
The verb ‘красть’
красть (to steal)	крал	кра́вший
The verb ‘идти́’
идти́ (to go)	шёл	шедший

Active Past Participle Declension

де́лавший

		Singular				Plural
		Masc.	Fem.	Neut.
Nominative		де́лавший	де́лавшая	де́лавшее		де́лавшие
Accusative		N or G	де́лавшую			N or G
Genitive		де́лавшего	де́лавшей	де́лавшего		де́лавших
Dative		де́лавшему		де́лавшему		де́лавшим
Instrumental		де́лавшим		де́лавшим		де́лавшими
Prepositional		де́лавшем		де́лавшем		де́лавших

Reflexive Verbs Paradigm

де́лавшийся - being done/being made

		Singular				Plural
		Masc.	Fem.	Neut.
Nominative		де́лавшийся	де́лавшаяся	де́лавшееся		де́лавшиеся
Accusative		N or G	де́лавшуюся			N or G
Genitive		де́лавшегося	де́лавшейся	де́лавшегося		де́лавшихся
Dative		де́лавшемуся		де́лавшемуся		де́лавшимся
Instrumental		де́лавшимся		де́лавшимся		де́лавшимися
Prepositional		де́лавшемся		де́лавшемся		де́лавшихся

Passive Present Participle

обсуждать – to discuss обсужда́емый – being discussed

In order to form the Passive Present Participle it’s necessary to add an adjective ending to the 1-st plural of the Present Tense:

оставля́ть (to leave) – оставля́ем (we leave) – оставля́емый

Masculine form	оставля́емый
Feminine form	оставля́емая
Neuter form	оставля́емое
Plural form	оставля́емые

Examples

Infinitive	1-st person plur. (Present Tense)	Passive Pres. Part.
поздравля́ть (to congratulate)	поздравля́ем	поздравля́емый
рисова́ть (to draw [a picture])	рису́ем	рису́емый
люби́ть (to love)	лю́бим	лю́бимый
гнать (to race)	го́ним	го́нимый
мыть (to wash)	мо́ем	мо́емый

Exceptions

Infinitive	Present stem	Passive Past Part.
Verbs ending in -авать
узнава́ть (to discover)		узнава́емый
Verbs ending in -зть, -зти, -сть, -сти
везти́ (to carry [by cart or vehicle])	вез-	везо́мый
вести́ (to lead)	вед-	ведо́мый
нести́ (to carry [by hand])	нес-	несо́мый
мести́ (to sweep)	мет-	мето́мый
грести́ (to row)	греб-	гребо́мый
красть (to steal)	крад-	крадо́мый

These participles are hardly ever used in modern Russian. Normally, they are replaced by reflexive active present participles:

‘рису́ющийся’ instead of ‘рису́емый’ – being drawn, drawable

‘мо́ющийся’ instead of ‘мо́емый’ – being washed

The forms ending in ‘-омый’ are mostly obsolete. Only the forms ‘ведо́мый’ (from ‘вести́’ – to lead) and ‘иско́мый’ (from ‘иска́ть’ – to search, to look for) are used in spoken language as adjectives:

ведо́мый челове́к – a slave man

иско́мая величина́ – the unknown quantity

Passive Past Participle

сде́лать – to do/to make (perfective verb) сдела́нный – done/made

Passive Past Participles are formed by means of the suffixes ‘-нн-’ or ‘-т-’ from the infinitive stem of perfective verbs. Besides that, this kind of participle can have short forms formed by means of the suffixes ‘-н-’ or ‘-т-’:

написа́ть (to write) – напи́санный (written) / напи́сан (short form)

уби́ть (to kill) – уби́тый (killed) / уби́т (short form)

	Full form	Short form
Masculine	напи́санный	напи́сан
Feminine	напи́санная	напи́сана
Neuter	напи́санное	напи́сано
Plural	напи́санные	напи́саны

	Full form	Short form
Masculine	уби́тый	уби́т
Feminine	уби́тая	уби́та
Neuter	уби́тое	уби́то
Plural	уби́тые	уби́ты

Participle Forming Models

Infinitive	Participle	Short forms
Verbs in -ать, -ять, -еть with a Present stem ending in a vowel
сде́лать (to do, do make)	сде́ланный	сде́лан
поменя́ть (to change)	поме́нянный	поме́нян
нарисова́ть (to draw)	нарисо́ванный	нарисо́ван
услы́шать (to hear)	услы́шанный	услы́шан
написа́ть (to write)	напи́санный	напи́сан
Verbs ending in ‘-ить’ and ‘-еть’ referred to the second conjugation
пожа́рить ()	пожа́ренный	пожа́рен
уви́деть (to see)	уви́денный	уви́ден
оби́деть ()	оби́женный	оби́жен
оплати́ть (to pay)	опла́ченный	опла́чен
порази́ть ()	поражённый	поражён, поражена́, поражено́, поражены́
спроси́ть (to ask)	спро́шенный	спро́шен
прости́ть (to forgive)	прощённый	прощён, прощена́, прощено́, прощены́
проломи́ть ()	проло́мленный	проло́млен
установи́ть (to install, to set up)	устано́вленный	устано́влен
истреби́ть ()	истреблённый	истреблён, истреблена́, истреблено́, истреблены́
купи́ть (to buy)	ку́пленный	ку́плен
Verbs ending in ‘-зть’, ‘-сть’, ‘-зти’ or ‘-сти’
сгрызть ()	сгры́зенный	сгры́зен
укра́сть ()	укра́денный	укра́ден
проче́сть (to read)	прочтённый	прочтён, прочтена́, прочтено́, прочтены́
увезти́ ()	увезённый	увезён, увезена́, увезено́, увезены́
увести́ ()	уведённый	уведён, уведена́, уведено́, уведены́
подмести́ ()	подметённый	подметён, подметена́, подметено́, подметены́
унести́ ()	унесённый	унесён, унесена́, унесено́, унесены́
погрести́ ()	погребённый	погребён, погребена́, погребено́, погребены́
Verbs ending in ‘-чь’
испе́чь (to bake)	испечённый	испечён, испечена́, испечено́, испечены́
сбере́чь ()	сбережённый	сбережён, сбережена́, сбережено́, сбережены́
Verbs ending in ‘-йти’
найти́ (ro find)	на́йденный	на́йден
Verbs ending in ‘-нуть’
согну́ть ()	со́гнутый	со́гнут
Verbs ending in ‘-оть’
уколо́ть ()	уко́лотый	уко́лот
Verbs ending in ‘-ыть’
намы́ть (to wash)	намы́тый	намы́т
забы́ть (to forget)	забы́тый	забы́т
Verbs ending in ‘бить’, ‘вить’, ‘лить’, ‘пить’, ‘шить’
уби́ть (to kill)	уби́тый	уби́т

Adverbial participle

Adverbial participles (деепричастия) are not declined, quite like usual adverbs. They inherit the aspect of their verb; imperfective ones are usually present, while perfective ones can be only past (since they denote action performed by the subject, the tense corresponds to time of action denoted by verb). Almost all Russian adverbial participles are active; to form passive constructions, adverbial participle forms of verb быть (past бывши, present будучи) may be used with either adjectival participle in instrumental case (Будучи раненным, боец оставался в строю — Combatant, being wounded, remained in the row), or short adjective in nominative (Бывши один раз наказан, он больше так не делал — Having been punished once, he didn't do it any more).

Present adverbial participles are formed by adding suffix -а/-я (sometimes -учи/-ючи which is usually deprecated) to present tense stem. Few of past participles (mainly of intransitive verbs of motion) are formed in similar manner. Most past adverbial participles are formed with suffix -в (alternative form -вши, always used before -сь), some with stem ending on consonant – with -ши. Reciprocal ones have suffix -сь at their very end (in poetry can appear as -ся).

Adverbial participles in standard Russian are believed to be feature of bookish speech; in colloquial language they are usually replaced with single adjectival participles or constructions with verbs: Пообедав, я пошёл гулять → Я пообедал и пошёл гулять (I had dinner and went for a walk). But in some dialects adverbial and adjectival participles are common to produce perfect forms which are not distinguished in literary Russian; e.g. "I haven't eaten today" will be "Я сегодня не евши" instead of "Я сегодня не ела".

Adverbial participles

Infinitive	Present tense verb	Present adverbial participle	Past adverbial participle
думать (to think, impf.)	думаю	думая	(думав)
сказать (to say, pf.)	—	—	сказав (сказавши)
учиться (to be learning, impf.)	учусь	учась	(учившись)
научиться (to learn, pf.)	—	—	научившись
войти (to enter, pf.)	—	—	войдя (вошед, вошедши)
сплести (to weave, pf.)	—	—	сплётши (сплетя)
ехать (to ride/to drive, impf.)	еду	(ехав, ехавши)	(едучи)

Irregular verbs

Russian verb paradigm

		брать1	ви́деть2	дава́ть1	дать3	есть3	жить1	звать1	идти́1	писа́ть2
English		take	see	give	give (pf.)	eat	live	call	go	write
1st sg		беру́	ви́жу	даю́	дам	ем	живу́	зову́	иду́	пишу́
2nd sg		берёшь	ви́дишь	даёшь	дашь	ешь	живёшь	зовёшь	идёшь	пи́шешь
3rd sg		берёт	ви́дит	даёт	даст	ест	живёт	зовёт	идёт	пи́шет
1st pl		берём	ви́дим	даём	дади́м	еди́м	живём	зовём	идём	пи́шем
2nd pl		берёте	ви́дите	даёте	дади́те	еди́те	живёте	зовёте	идёте	пи́шете
3rd pl		беру́т	ви́дят	даю́т	даду́т	едя́т	живу́т	зову́т	иду́т	пи́шут
Past	брал брала́ бра́ло бра́ли	ви́дел ви́дела ви́дело ви́дели	дава́л дава́ла дава́ло дава́ли	дал дала́ да́ло́ да́ли	ел е́ла е́ло е́ли	жил жила́ жи́ло жи́ли	звал звала́ зва́ло зва́ли	шёл шла шло шли	писа́л писа́ла писа́ло писа́ли
Imperative		бери́	видь	дава́й	дай	ешь	живи́	зови́	иди́	пиши́
Present Active Participle		беру́щий	ви́дящий	даю́щий	-	едя́щий	живу́щий	зову́щий	иду́щий	пи́шущий
Past Active Participle		бра́вший	ви́девший	дава́вший	да́вший	е́вший	жи́вший	зва́вший	ше́дший	писа́вший
Past Passive Participle		за́бранный	уви́денный	-	да́нный	съе́денный	-	по́званный	-	напи́санный
Past Passive Participle (Short Forms)		за́бран за́брана за́брано за́браны	уви́ден уви́дена уви́дено уви́дены	-	дан дана́ дано́ даны́	съе́ден съе́дена съе́дено съе́дены	-	по́зван по́звана по́звано по́званы	-	напи́сан напи́сана напи́сано напи́саны
Present Adverbial Participle		беря́	ви́дя	дава́я	-	едя́	живя́	зовя́	идя́	-
Past Adverbial Participle		брав	ви́дев	дава́в	дав	ев	жив	звав	ше́дши	писа́в

¹These verbs all have a stem change.

²These verbs are palatalised in certain cases, namely с → ш for all the present forms of "писа́ть", and д → ж in the first person singular of the other verbs.

³These verbs do not conform to either the first or second conjugations.

Word formation

Main article: Russian orthography § Spelling

Russian has on hand a set of prefixes, prepositional and adverbial in nature, as well as diminutive, augmentative, and frequentative suffixes and infixes. All of these can be stacked one upon the other, to produce multiple derivatives of a given word. Participles and other inflectional forms may also have a special connotation. For example:

мысль	[mɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲ]	"thought"
мысли́шка	[mɨˈs⁽ʲ⁾lʲiʂkə]	"a petty, cute or a silly thought"
мысли́ща	[mɨˈs⁽ʲ⁾lʲiɕːə]	"a thought of fundamental import"
мышле́ние	[mɨˈʂlʲenʲɪjə]	"thought, abstract thinking, reasoning"
мы́слить	[ˈmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪtʲ]	"to think (as to cogitate)"
мы́слящий	[ˈmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪɕːɪj]	"thinking, intellectual" (adjective)
мы́слимый	[ˈmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪmɨj]	"conceivable, thinkable"
мы́сленно	[ˈmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪn(ː)ə]	"mentally, in a mental manner"
смысл	[smɨsl]	"meaning" (noun)
осмы́слить	[ɐˈsmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪtʲ]	"to comprehend, to conceive; to grasp" (perfect)
осмы́сливать	[ɐˈsmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪvətʲ]	"to be in the process of comprehending" (continuous)
переосмы́слить	[pʲɪrʲɪɐˈsmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪtʲ]	"to reassess, to reconsider"
переосмы́сливать	[pʲɪrʲɪɐˈsmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪvətʲ]	"to be in the process of reassessing (something)"
переосмы́сливаемые	[pʲɪrʲɪɐˈsmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪvəjɪmɨje]	"(something or someone plural) in the process of reconsidering"
бессмы́слица	[bʲɪˈsmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪtsə]	"nonsense"
обессмы́слить	[ɐbʲɪˈsmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪtʲ]	"to render meaningless"
бессмы́сленный	[bʲɪˈsmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪnːɨj]	"meaningless"
обессмы́сленный	[ɐbʲɪˈsmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪnːɨj]	"rendered meaningless"
необессмы́сленный	[nʲɪəbʲɪˈsmɨs⁽ʲ⁾lʲɪnːɨj]	"not rendered meaningless"

Russian has also proven friendly to agglutinative compounds. As an extreme case:

металло̀ломообеспече́ние	[mʲɪtəlɐˌlomɐɐbʲɪsʲpʲeˈtɕɪnʲjɪ]	"provision of scrap metal"
металло̀ломообеспе́ченный	[mʲɪtəlɐˌlomɐɐbʲɪˈsʲpʲetɕɪnːɨj]	"well supplied with scrap metal"

Purists (as Dmitry Ushakov in the preface to his dictionary) frown on such words. But here is the name of a street in St. Petersburg:

Каменноостровский проспект

[ˌkamʲɪnːɐɐˈstrovskʲɪj prɐˈsʲpʲekt]

"Stone Island Avenue"

Some linguists have suggested that Russian agglutination stems from Church Slavonic. In the twentieth century, abbreviated components appeared in the compound:

управдом

[ʊprɐˈvdom] = управляющий домом

[ʊprɐˈvlʲӕjʉɕːɪj ˈdoməm]

"residence manager"

Syntax

The basic word order, both in conversation and the written language, is subject–verb–object in transitive clauses, and free word order in intransitive clauses. However, because the relations are marked by inflection, considerable latitude in word order is allowed even in transitive clauses, and all the permutations can be used. For example, the words in the phrase "я пошёл в магазин" ('I went to the shop') can be arranged

• Я пошёл в магазин. (I went to the shop; I went to the shop.)
• Я в магазин пошёл. (I to the shop went; approx. I am going out, my destination is the shop.)
• Пошёл я в магазин. (Went I to the shop; two meanings: can be treated as a beginning of a narrated story: "Went I to the shop, and something happened." or a decision made by someone after a long contemplation: "OK, I think I will go the shop.")
• Пошёл в магазин я. (Went to the shop I; rarely used, can be treated as a beginning of a line of a poem written in amphibrach due to uncommon word order.)
• В магазин я пошёл. (To the shop I went; two meanings: can be used as a response: "I went to the shop." — "Sorry, where did you go?" — "To the shop—that’s where I went." or an emphasis on the way of transportation: I went to the shop on foot.)
• В магазин пошёл я. (To the shop went I; It was me who went to the shop.)

while maintaining grammatical correctness. Note, however, that the order of the phrase "в магазин" ("to the shop") is kept constant.

The word order can express the logical stress, and the degree of definiteness. Primary emphasis tends to be initial, with a slightly weaker emphasis at the end. Note that some of these arrangements can describe present actions, not only past (despite the fact that the verb пошёл is in the past).

Impersonal sentences

Russian is a null-subject language — it allows constructing sentences without subject (Russian: безличные предложения). Some of them are disputed not to be really impersonal but to have oblique subject. One possible classification of such sentences distinguishes:

Subjectless impersonals

Such ones where no element could pretend to be a subject:

Смеркалось. 'It got dusky.'

В Москве полночь. 'It's midnight in Moscow.'

They contain an impersonal verb (which is in form of single third-person or single neutral).

Dative impersonals

Usually express personal feelings, where experiencer in dative case can possibly be considered as subject:

Мне^dat. скучно. 'I'm bored.'

Other impersonals

They have nominal element which is neither nominative nor dative, but also is a nominal verb argument:

Меня^acc. тошнит. 'I feel sick.'

Васю^acc. дёрнуло током^instr.. 'Vasya had an electrical shock.'

Negation

Multiple negatives

Unlike in standard English, multiple negatives are compulsory in Russian, as in "никто никогда никому ничего не прощает" [nʲɪkˈto nʲɪkɐɡˈda nʲɪkɐˈmu nʲɪtɕɪˈvo nʲɪ prɐɕˈɕæjɪt] ('No-one ever forgives anyone for anything' literally, "no one never to no-one nothing does not forgive"). Usually, only one word in a sentence has negative particle or prefix "не" or belongs to negative word "нет", while another words have negation-affirmative particle or prefix "ни"; but this word can often be easily omitted, and thus ни becomes the signal of negation: вокруг никого нет and вокруг никого both mean "there is nobody around".

Adverbial answers

As a one-word answer to an affirmative sentence, yes translates да and no does нет, as shown by the table below.

Answer to an affirmative sentence

		English	Russian
First speaker		It’s raining	Идёт дождь
Agreeing with speaker (rain is falling)		Yes = it’s raining	Да = идёт дождь
Disagreeing with speaker (rain is not falling)		No = it’s not raining	Нет = дождь не идёт

There is no simple rule for giving an adverbial answer to a negative sentence. B. Comrie says that in Russian answer да or нет is determined not so much by the negative form of the question as by the questioner's intent of using negation, or whether the response is in agreement with his presupposition. In many cases that means that adverbial answer should be extended for avoiding ambiguity; in spoken language, intonation of saying нет can also be significant on if it is affirmation of negation or negation of negation.

Answer to a negative question

Question	Interpretation	Positive answer what was negated is declared	Negative answer what was negated is refused
Не желаете ли печенья? Would you like to have some cookies?	Negation is used only for more politeness	Да, пожалуйста. Yes, please.	Нет, спасибо. No, thank you.
Не задумывались ли вы над этим? Haven't you ever concerned this?	Presence of a negative particle is conditioned by expectation of a positive answer	Да, задумывался. Yes, I have.	Нет, не задумывался. No, I haven't.
Так что, не берёте? So, you definitely won't buy it?	Negation is forced by presumption of negative answer	Нет, берём. No, but we buy it.	Да, не берём (less common). / Нет, не берём. No, we won't buy it.
Ты ведь не сердишься на меня? But you are not angry with me, are you?	Negation is only hoped for, rather than expected	Нет, я на тебя сержусь. / Да, сержусь. Yes, I am angry with you.	Нет, не сержусь. / Да, не сержусь (less common). No, I am not angry.

Note that while expressing an affirmation of negation by extending "да" with a negated verb is grammatically acceptable, in practice it is more common to answer "нет" and subsequently extend with a negated verb paralleling the usage in English. Also, when answering a negative sentence with a non-extended "нет" it is usually interpreted as an affirmation of negation again in a way similar to English.

Alternatively, both positive and negative simple questions easily can be answered by simply repeating the predicate with or without не, especially if да/нет is ambiguous: in the latest example, "Сержусь." or "Не сержусь."

Coordination

The most common types of coordination expressed by compound sentences in Russian are conjoining, oppositional, and separative. Additionally, the Russian grammar considers comparative, complemental, and clarifying. Other flavors of the meanings may also be distinguished.

Conjoining coordinations are formed with the help of the conjunctions и, да, ни...ни (simultaneous negation), также, тоже (the latter two have complementary flavors). Most commonly the conjoining coordination expresses enumeration, simultaneity or immediate sequence. They may also have a cause-effect flavor.

Oppositional coordinations are formed with the help of the oppositional conjunctions а, но, да, однако, зато, же, etc. They express the semantic relations of opposition, comparison, incompatibility, restriction, or compensation.

Separative coordinations are formed with the help of the separative conjunctions или, либо, ли...ли, то...то, etc., and are used to express alternation or incompatibility of things expressed in the coordinated sentences.

Complemental and clarifying coordination expresses additional, but not subordinated, information related to the first sentence.

Comparative coordination is a semantic flavor of the oppositional one.

Common coordinating conjunctions include:

• и [i] "and", enumerative, complemental;
• а [a] "and", comparative, tending to "but";
• но [no] "but", oppositional;
• ибо [ˈibə] (bookish, archaic) "for", clarifying.

The distinction between и and а is important. И implies a following complemental state that does not oppose the antecedent. А implies a following state that acts in opposition to the antecedent, but more weakly than но "but".

The Catherine manuscript of the Song of Igor, 1790s

они уехали, и мы уезжаем	[ɐˈnʲi ʊˈjexəlʲɪ] [ɪ ˈmɨ ʊjɪˈʑʑӕjɪm]	they have departed and we are departing
они уехали, а мы уезжаем	[ɐˈnʲi ʊˈjexəlʲɪ] [ɐ ˈmɨ ʊjɪˈʑʑӕjɪm]	they have departed, while (but) we are (still) departing
они уехали, но мы приезжаем	[ɐˈnʲi ʊˈjexəlʲɪ] [no ˈmɨ prʲɪjɪˈʑʑӕjɪm]	they have departed, but we are arriving

The distinction between и and а developed after medieval times. Originally, и and а were closer in meaning. The unpunctuated ending of the Song of Igor illustrates the potential confusion. The final five words in modern spelling, "князьям слава а дружине аминь" [knʲɪˈzʲjam ˈslavə ɐ druˈʐɨnʲɪ ɐˈmʲinʲ] can be understood either as "Glory to the princes and to their retinue! Amen." or "Glory to the princes, and amen (R.I.P.) to their retinue". Although the majority opinion is definitely with the first interpretation, there is no full consensus. The psychological difference between the two is quite obvious.

Subordination

Complementizers (subordinating conjunctions, adverbs, or adverbial phrases) include:

• если [ˈjesʲlʲɪ] 'if' (meaning 'in case where' not meaning 'whether');
• потому что [pətɐˈmu ʂtə], так как [tak kak] 'because'
• чтобы [ˈʂtobɨ], дабы [ˈdabɨ] (bookish, archaic) 'so that'
• после того, как [ˈposʲlʲɪ tɐˈvo kək] 'after'
• хотя [xɐˈtʲa] 'although'

In general, there are fewer subordinate clauses than in English, because the participles and adverbial participles often take the place of a relative pronoun/verb combination. For example:

Вот человек, потерявший надежду.	[vot tɕɪlɐˈvʲek] [pətʲɪˈrʲavʂɨj nɐˈdʲeʐdʊ]	Here (is) a man who has lost (all) hope. [lit. having lost hope]
Гуляя по городу, всегда останавливаюсь у Ростральных колонн.	[ɡʊˈlʲӕjɪ pɐ ˈɡorədʊ vsʲɪɡˈda] [ɐstɐˈnavlʲɪvəjʉsʲ ʊ rɐˈstralʲnɨx kɐˈlon]	When I go for a walk in the city, I always pause by the Rostral Columns. [lit. Walking in the city, I...]

Absolute construction

Despite the inflectional nature of Russian, there is no equivalent in the modern language to the English nominative absolute or the Latin ablative absolute construction. The old language had an absolute construction, with the noun put into the dative. Like so many other archaisms, it is retained in Church Slavonic. Among the last known examples in literary Russian occurs in Radishchev's Journey from Petersburg to Moscow (Путешествие из Петербурга в Москву [pʊtʲɪˈʂɛstvʲɪjɪ ɪs pʲɪtʲɪrˈburɡə v mɐˈskvu]), 1790:

• Едущу мне из Едрова, Анюта из мысли моей не выходила. [ˈjedʊɕːʉ mnʲe ɪzʲ jɪˈdrovə, ɐˈnʲutə ɪz ˈmɨsʲlʲɪ mɐˈjej nʲɪ vɨxɐˈdʲilə] "As I was leaving Yedrovo village, I could not stop thinking about Aniuta."

See also

• List of Russian language topics
• Reduplication in the Russian language

External links

• Interactive On-line Reference Grammar of Russian
• Wikibooks Russian
• Gramota.ru - dictionaries
• Wiktionary has word entries in Cyrillic with meanings and grammatical analysis in English
• Russian Wiktionary gives word meanings and grammatical analysis in Russian
• Russian grammar overview with practice tests
• Over 400 links to Russian Grammar articles around the Net
• Free online Russian grammar book (with videos)

[[Category:Russian grammar| ]]