Now that you have learnt some basic Russian phrases, it is time to start forming your own Russian sentences.
To do this you need to learn about Russian verbs and pronouns. This lesson will enable you to start forming short Russian sentences.
When you are learning to speak Russian it is easiest to start by just using short sentences.
Often you can break a long sentence into several short ones.
This is a long lesson, and introduces some of the most difficult concepts in Russian.
So don't worry if you need to go slow, or it takes some time to understand at first. You can always come back and review this lesson.
When you have completed this lesson you will have taken a major step forward in understanding Russian grammar.
Definitions
Verbs are action words, they are things you can do. For example: run, walk, love, eat, want.
Pronouns are words that can replace names. For example: I, you, he, she, him, her, it.
In the sentence "I love him". "love" is the verb. The subject is "I", and the object is "him".
Russian Pronouns
Here are the Russian pronouns that can be used as the subject of a sentence. (Known as the nominative case.)
Я - I
Ты - You (informal)
Он - He, It (m)
Она - She, It (f)
Оно - It (n)
Мы - We
Вы - You (formal, or plural)
Они - They
Вы is used as the formal singular "you", and the plural "you" (slang: "yous" or "you all") when talking to more than one person.
Here are the Russian pronouns that can be used as the object of a sentence. (Known as the accusative case)
Меня - Me
Тебя - You (informal)
Его - ("yevo") - Him, It (m,n)
Её - Her, It (f)
Нас - Us
Вас - You (formal, or plural)
Их - Them
You should be familiar with using different pronouns for the subject and object of a sentence ("me" instead of "I"). Just remember that unlike English,Russian uses an extra version of the word "you". You should memorise these pronouns.
Russian Verbs
You will be pleased to know that Russian has only one present tense. In Russian there is only one way of saying "I work", "I am working" and "I do work".
Russian verbs change their endings depending on the subject. This happens a little in English, but not as much. (Example: I work, he works).
This happens according to two different patterns known as the first conjugation, and the second conjugation. (There are also some irregular verbs). Both these patterns are quite similar, and once you get the hang of it, it is not too difficult.
The first conjugation
The first conjugation is used for verbs ending in "ть" but not "ить". It is the most common.
To form the verb for each person you need to drop the last two letters of the infinitive (normally "ть"), and add the appropriate ending ("ю", "ешь", "ет", "ем", "ете" or "ют").Let’s take a look at a verb that uses the first conjugation: работать (to work).
работать - To work. (infinitive, dictionary form)
Я работаю - I work
Ты работаешь - You work
Он, Она, Оно работает - He, She, It works.
Мы работаем - We work
Вы работаете - You work.
Они работают - They work.
Let's try some other Russian words from the first conjugation:
понимать - To understand. (infinitive, dictionary form)
Я понимаю - I understand.
Ты понимаешь - You understand.
Он, Она, Оно понимает - He, She, It understands
Мы понимаем - We understand.
Вы понимаете - You understand.
Они понимают - They understand.
Знать - To know. (infinitive, dictionary form)
Я знаю - I know.
Ты знаешь - You know.
Он, Она, Оно знает - He, She, It knows.
Мы знаем - We know.
Вы знаете - You know.
Они знают - They know.
Remember you can make a statement negative by using the word "не" (not). For example:
Я не знаю - I don't know.
Я не понимаю - I don't understand.
Он не понимает - He doesn't understand.
You can also form questions:
Ты знаешь? - Do you know?
Ты понимаешь? - Do you understand?
The second conjugation
Verbs where the infinitive ends in "ить" use the second conjugation.
Now we will introduce some verbs from the second conjugation. There are also some other verbs that use this conjugation.
The second conjugation uses the endings "ю" (or "у") "ишь" "ит" "им" "ите" "ят" (or "ат"), which replace "ить".
Note 1: The second conjugation is affected by the spelling rules.
Note 2: The first person singuar is affected by the rule of consonant mutation. Remember, this only applies to the first-person singular (Я).
говорить - To speak. (infinitive, dictionary form)
Я говорю - I speak.
Ты говоришь - You speak.
Он, Она, Оно говорит - He, She, It Speaks.
Мы говорим - We speak.
Вы говорите - You speak.
Они говорят - They speak.
слышать - To hear.
слышу - I hear.
слышишь - You hear.
слышит - He, She, It hears.
слышим - We hear.
слышите - You hear.
слышат - They hear.
For Example:
Я говорю по-английски - I speak English
Он говорит по-русски - He speaks Russian
Вы говорите по-русски? - Do you speak Russian?
Мы не говорим по-русски - We don't speak Russian.
Собака не говорит по-английски - The dog doesn't speak English.
Irregular Verbs
There are a number of irregular verbs in Russian. (Verbs that don't exactly follow the above rules).
However, often once you know the stem of the verb, you can often predict the endings. Even irregular
verbs normally follow a similar pattern to those above.
Some examples:
Ехать - To go (by transport).
Я еду - I go (by transport).
Ты едешь - You go (by transport).
Он, Она, Оно едет - He, She, It goes (by transport).
Мы едем - We go (by transport).
Вы едете - You go (by transport).
Они едут - They go (by transport).
Notice that once you know the stem "Ед" it almost follows the first conjuction, except that "у" replaces "ю".
Жить - To live.
Я живу - I live.
Ты живёшь - You live.
Он, Она, Оно живёт - He, She, It lives.
Мы живём - We live.
Вы живёте - You live.
Они живут - They live.
Notice that "ё" is used instead of "е" when the stress falls on the ending.
Examples:
Я живу в Лондоне - I live in London.
Он едет домой - He is going home
Conclusion
You now know the main concepts involved in forming Russian verbs.
This lesson contained a lot of grammar, which is some of the hardest in the Russian language,
so don't worry if you found this lesson a little difficult at first.
In lesson 7 you will get some more practice. In the next lesson we will introduce some grammar associated with nouns (things),
so by lesson 7 we will have covered enough grammar to have some practice forming sentences.
To help you remember some of the concepts learnt in this lesson, you may wish to work through the exercises.
More Conjugations of Russian Verbs
Vocabulary
Exercises
Home
Recommended Books
Big Silver Book of Russian Verbs (Amazon)
- If you require conjugations for more Russian verbs, we recommend you purchase this book. It contains 555 fully conjugated Russian verbs with many examples. (We think it's the best of the 'verb books').
