Thread: всегда

Which (group of) perfective verbs can be used with всегда and
which (group of) perfective verbs can not be used with всегда?

Я всегда помогу (I know it is correct )

I feel
Я всегда позвоню тебе.
Я всегда поставлю свечку.
are not good.....

Originally Posted by Yuki

Which (group of) perfective verbs can be used with всегда and
which (group of) perfective verbs can not be used with всегда?

Я всегда помогу (I know it is correct )

I feel
Я всегда позвоню тебе.
Я всегда поставлю свечку.
are not good.....

It depends on context. There is a difference anyway between "я всегда помогу тебе" and "я всегда помогаю тебе". For example:
1. If you (sometime in your life) ask me for help, I will always help you (я всегда помогу тебе).
2. I always help you, why don't you appreciate that? (я всегда помогаю тебе)

So there could be a context in which "Я всегда позвоню тебе" could sound okay, even if my examples sound strange or funny:
Если ты напишешь мне смс-ку с просьбой тебе позвонить, я всегда позвоню тебе.
Я всегда поставлю свечку за здоровье какого-нибудь незнакомого мне человека, мне не трудно (˜I would never find hard to....).

Originally Posted by Yuki

Which (group of) perfective verbs can be used with всегда and
which (group of) perfective verbs can not be used with всегда?

Я всегда помогу (I know it is correct )

I feel
Я всегда позвоню тебе.
Я всегда поставлю свечку.
are not good.....

1. "Я всегда + perfective verb in the future tense" means "я обязательно сделаю", "я могу это сделать, если понадобится" - "I will help you any time", for example. "Не волнуйся, я всегда тебе позвоню, если что-то случиться".
2. It can be used when we say about habitual activity. "Если я иду в церковь, я всегда поставлю свечку за ... что-то", "если меня просят, я всегда помогу".

I think you can use any verb in such sentences in appropriate context.

How about the following sentences?

Я всегда поговорю с тобой.
Он всегда помог мне.

( I feed they are grammtically incorrect.... )

Originally Posted by Yuki

Я всегда поговорю с тобой. ok in some contexts (like above)
Он всегда помог мне. wrong; should be помогал

It's not that any sentences are really grammatically correct or incorrect - it's just the meaning that seems a bit funny. Because perfective verbs refer to doing something once, and "always" refers to something that is done multiple times, there are not many cases where it would make sense to combine the two. But it is possible to think of examples, as the other posters have done.

Think of an analogy with English - most textbooks for foreigners will say that the present continuous (I am going, etc.) refers to an action with limited duration, and so it cannot be used with words like "always," "often," etc. or with verbs that refer to long-term states like "be," "own," "like," "love" and so on. But English speakers do say things like "He's always calling me" or "I'm loving this movie" - it is not incorrect to do so, but the meaning is just slightly different. And sentences like "I'm owning two cars" are not grammatically incorrect, but they just don't make any logical sense, like the Russian sentence "On vsegda pomog mne".

Он бы всегда помог мне, нужно было бы только попросить.