Results 1 to 14 of 14

Thread: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

  1. #1
    Подающий надежды оратор
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    США
    Posts
    37
    Rep Power
    10

    Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Ok, for starters, I do know what the difference is but only "in theory." I am well aware that perfective implies the consequence (or completion) as well as the time of the verb while imperfective implies it is in the process of occurring, is being repeated, or has not happened yet.

    However, a lot of the time I do not what the heck this means. For examples, I will use http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/aspect.html and their examples.

    "Завтра я буду писать весь день."
    "Tomorrow, I will be writing all day"

    This is imperfective future. This makes sense I suppose. The writing has not happened yet; the letters have not been written. He will be writing all day tomorrow.

    HOWEVER,

    "Вчера Петя пошёл в библиотеку в семь часов"
    "Yesterday, Peter went to the library at seven o'clock"

    According to my textbook, this is imperfective past. This is an event that has been completed, involved time, and is a one-time occurrence. I have no earthly idea how this makes sense to put it under imperfective. It follows the criteria for almost every aspect of perfective. Why isn't this perfective?!!?

    I feel like once I grasp this concept, my life will be much easier

  2. #2
    Почётный участник
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Eastern Siberia
    Posts
    122
    Rep Power
    11

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    "Вчера Петя пошёл в библиотеку в семь часов"
    "Yesterday, Peter went to the library at seven o'clock"
    The action is not completed. It started but didn't come to an end

    Perfective would be:
    Петя сходил в библиотеку... (went and came back)

    Disclaimer: I'm not a grammar guru. Just a native russian speaker.
    If my post contains errors of any kind, I'd appreciate anyone setting me straight.

  3. #3
    Почтенный гражданин bitpicker's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    653
    Rep Power
    15

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Пошёл is from пойти and that's a perfective verb. Verbs of movement prefixed with по- are perfective. To illustrate the completed action in English a translation as 'left for the library' is probably better. So either the textbook is wrong, if you ask me, or you're not interpreting it correctly.
    Спасибо за исправления!

    Вам нравится этот форум, и вы изучаете немецкий язык? Вот похожий форум о немецком языке.

  4. #4
    Старший оракул
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    937
    Rep Power
    17

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Quote Originally Posted by Wyrm

    HOWEVER,

    "Вчера Петя пошёл в библиотеку в семь часов"
    "Yesterday, Peter went to the library at seven o'clock"

    According to my textbook, this is imperfective past. This is an event that has been completed, involved time, and is a one-time occurrence. I have no earthly idea how this makes sense to put it under imperfective. It follows the criteria for almost every aspect of perfective. Why isn't this perfective?!!?
    Пошёл is perfective.
    Налево пойдёшь - коня потеряешь, направо пойдёшь - сам голову сложишь.
    Прямой путь не предлагать!

  5. #5
    Подающий надежды оратор
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    США
    Posts
    37
    Rep Power
    10

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Ah, so this explains my confusion.

    Just to clarify, the verb is correct in the sentence...

    "Ваня, приди Антон Николаевич."

    Correct?

  6. #6
    Завсегдатай
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Russland
    Posts
    9,874
    Rep Power
    22

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Quote Originally Posted by Wyrm
    "Ваня, приди Антон Николаевич."

    Correct?
    No, this makes no sense. English version please?
    In Russian, all nationalities and their corresponding languages start with a lower-case letter.

  7. #7
    Подающий надежды оратор
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    США
    Posts
    37
    Rep Power
    10

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Vanya, go see Anton Nikolayevich. I was going for imperative in the previous sentence... guess not

  8. #8
    Завсегдатай
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Russland
    Posts
    9,874
    Rep Power
    22

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    I'm afraid I don't understand what is "go see" in English. Maybe someone else does.

    However, "приди" is an imperative form of "прийти" (to come). But it doesn't fit here. Even if you would say "Ваня, сходи... (go to...)", which does make sense, you can't just add "Антон Николаевич" there, without any preposition and the proper case. It should be "к Антону Николаевичу".
    In Russian, all nationalities and their corresponding languages start with a lower-case letter.

  9. #9
    Moderator Lampada's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    СССР -> США
    Posts
    18,031
    Rep Power
    36

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Quote Originally Posted by Оля
    I'm afraid I don't understand what is "go see" in English. Maybe someone else does. ...
    иди увидь! "See" here is the bare infinitive (without "to").

    http://cad.ntu-kpi.kiev.ua/~demch/frien ... gform.html
    "...
    7. Make and let

    The verbs make and let are followed by an object and bare infinitive (e.g., go, work,see)

    We use make to talk about something we have to do (but don’t want to do)
    She wanted to go home, but her boss made her stay until the work was finished.

    We use let when we talk about being given permission for something.
    My boss let me have the afternoon off to go to my sister’s wedding.

    The verb help can be followed by an infinitive with or without to
    Could you help me (to) put these boxes in the van.

    7. Verbs of perception
    The verb of perception (see, watch, notice, hear, listen, feel) are followed by bare infinitive or by -ing form (present participle).

    If we want to say that we heard or saw the whole action from beginning to end, we usually use bare infinitive
    I saw him sign the cheque.

    If we want to say that only saw or heard part of the action, we use -ing form
    I saw the consultant waiting in reception.
    (I saw consultant. He was waiting in reception.)
    ..."
    "...Важно, чтобы форум оставался местом, объединяющим людей, для которых интересны русский язык и культура. ..." - MasterАdmin (из переписки)



  10. #10
    Подающий надежды оратор
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    США
    Posts
    37
    Rep Power
    10

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Yeah, we went over this in class and I was wrong, it was "Vanya, came Anton", although this translation is terrible. Would it be "Ваня, пришёл Антон"?

    This sentence structure is confusing me...

  11. #11
    Завсегдатай
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Russland
    Posts
    9,874
    Rep Power
    22

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Quote Originally Posted by Wyrm
    Yeah, we went over this in class and I was wrong, it was "Vanya, came Anton", although this translation is terrible. Would it be "Ваня, пришёл Антон"?
    Yes, "Ваня, пришёл Антон" as well as "Ваня, Антон пришёл" means "Vanya, Anton came / has come".
    In Russian, all nationalities and their corresponding languages start with a lower-case letter.

  12. #12
    Завсегдатай Throbert McGee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Fairfax, VA (Фэйрфэкс, ш. Виргиния, США)
    Posts
    1,591
    Rep Power
    39

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Quote Originally Posted by Lampada
    Quote Originally Posted by Оля
    I'm afraid I don't understand what is "go see" in English. Maybe someone else does. ...
    иди увидь! "See" here is the bare infinitive (without "to").
    I'm not sure if "увидеть" is the correct translation for "to see" in this context -- unless "увидеть кого" can be used colloquially as a synonym for "обратиться к кому"? Because the "see" in "go see someone" is typically understood as signifying "to visit, to present oneself to, to speak with," etc., but rarely has the literal meaning "to perceive visually with one's eyes."

    Example:

    -- Ugghh, I've been puking my guts out all day! (Ооой, я бливаю и бливаю весь день!)
    -- Dude, go see a doctor! (Пацан, обращайся к врачу!)
    Говорит Бегемот: "Dear citizens of MR -- please correct my Russian mistakes!"

  13. #13
    Завсегдатай
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Russland
    Posts
    9,874
    Rep Power
    22

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee
    -- Ugghh, I've been puking my guts out all day! (Ооой, [s:2y0d3sgd]я бливаю и бливаю[/s:2y0d3sgd] меня рвёт и рвёт весь день!)
    -- Dude, go see a doctor! (Пацан, [s:2y0d3sgd]обращайся[/s:2y0d3sgd] сходи к врачу!)
    The correct form from the verb "блевать" is "блюю", but this verb is VERY rude, so avoid to use it.
    In Russian, all nationalities and their corresponding languages start with a lower-case letter.

  14. #14
    Завсегдатай Throbert McGee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Fairfax, VA (Фэйрфэкс, ш. Виргиния, США)
    Posts
    1,591
    Rep Power
    39

    Re: Imperfective vs Perfective (again)

    Quote Originally Posted by Lampada
    The verb help can be followed by an infinitive with or without to
    Could you help me (to) put these boxes in the van.
    In that example sentence, you should only use "to" if you want to sound like someone who's not quite ready for the TOEFL!

    But there ARE times when it's a good idea (but not mandatory) to use "to" with an infinitive after the verb "help" -- particularly when there are a large number of words separating "help" from the infinitive verb, instead of just a cute little pronoun like "me." For example:

    "Excuse me, but could you please help a very tired mother whose husband is deployed in Iraq and whose teething baby who won't stop crying to find her six-year-old son who's wandered away in the supermarket?"
    Because the infinitive is so far away from the main verb, many native English speakers would place a to in the sentence to sort of "reconnect" the verbs help and find.

    But when the verbs are only separated by a pronoun, or maybe a noun plus an adjective or two, we'd never say "to" after "help":

    He helped the old Chinese woman lift the heavy box.
    Говорит Бегемот: "Dear citizens of MR -- please correct my Russian mistakes!"

Similar Threads

  1. tip for memorizing perfective/imperfective Verbs
    By ycomp in forum Grammar and Vocabulary
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: April 24th, 2010, 12:16 AM
  2. imperfective?
    By sperk in forum Grammar and Vocabulary
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: January 28th, 2008, 10:42 PM
  3. Perfective/imperfective list/look-up site?
    By BabaYaga in forum Grammar and Vocabulary
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: June 7th, 2007, 06:57 AM
  4. perfective vs. imperfective
    By sperk in forum Grammar and Vocabulary
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: October 7th, 2006, 05:26 AM
  5. Site for finding perfective/imperfective twins?
    By Mordan in forum Grammar and Vocabulary
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: May 4th, 2005, 05:58 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


Russian Lessons                           

Russian Tests and Quizzes            

Russian Vocabulary