In the previous lesson, we have talked about one of two aspects in Russian language: Perfective Aspect (The Perfective Aspect of Russian Verb). Now, we will continue with the another aspect: Imperfective Aspect. It has been decsribed that two aspects have differences.
Imperfective aspect verb is used when the subject wants to tell about something that repeated daily, like a habit or daily activities. Using imperfective aspect verb could tell about some activities that not showing the result. On the other hand, the perfective aspect verb is used when the subject wants to tell something that has been done and just once, having a result or some activities that will be done. Both of them (perfective aspect and imperfective aspect) have the same meaning, but the stressing of situation is different.
Imperfective Aspect
The verbs of imperfective aspect answers the question of Что делать ‘What do you do?’. The stressings of situation in imperfective aspect are what kind of activity that is done, how long the activity is done, and the intensity of doing the activity. There are three periods in imperfective aspect verbs; those are past tense, present tense, and future tense. There is a difference of imperfective aspect and perfective aspect in the future tense.
For examples: Она прочитает эту книгу and Она будет читать эту книгу ‘She will read this book’. In imperfective aspect, to express sentence in future tense, added modality verb (быть) before the imperfective aspect verb. So the conjugated verb is modality verb, not the imperfective aspect verb.
| Imperfective Aspect Verbs | The Meaning in English |
| Читать | Read |
| Писать | Write |
| Видеть | See |
| Говорить | Talk |
| Вести | Spend |
| Смотреть | Watch |
| Забывать | Forget |
| Помнить | Remember |
| Ждать | Wait |
| Жить | Live |
| ***The imperfective aspect verbs are the couple of perfective aspect verbs in the previous lesson | |
Examples:
Past Tense
- Она смотрела фильм ужасов вчера.
Ona smotrela fil’m uzhasov vchera
‘She watched a horror film yesterday.’ - Они жили в Москве.
Ona zhili ve moskve
‘They lived in Moskow.’
Present Tense
- Я говорю по-английски.
Ya govoryu pa-angliiski
‘I speak English.’ - Иногда мы ждём в ресторане.
Inogda my zhdyot ve restorane
‘Sometimes we wait at the restaurant.’
Future Tense
- Ким будет помнить её всегда.
Kim budyet pomni’t eyo vsegda
‘Kim will always remember her.’ - Студенты будут писать эссе.
studjyenty budut pisat’ esse
‘Students will write the essays.’
In imperfective aspect, there are adverbs that existing frequently. Those are :
- часто ‘often’,
- иногда ‘sometimes’,
- редко ‘rarely’,
- всегда ‘always’,
- каждый день ‘everyday’, etc.
That is the continuation of Russian aspect verbs. Could you relate with both of the lessons? I hope you could get a new knowledge about Russian verbs, especially perfective aspect and imperfective aspect.
Take a look also at this page to learn some vocabularies about Russian names, 50 most popular Russian names for girls and 50 most popular Russian names for boys. Then, you will get another knowledge about Russia. Do not be bored and keep learning! 🙂