Thread: Just to be sure...Present-future tense Russian Verbs

Hey everyone. I'm realtively new to Russian, but I've been researching everything about it that I can. While I think I 've got the basic idea down on most things or at least know that I will get it eventually, one thing has totally blown my mind and remained unanswered through my searches. That is the present-future (or sometimes called non-past) tense of Russian verbs. Everywhere I go tells me what endings to ad to the stem, but none of them tell me how to form the stem for this from the infinitve of the verb, which is what they give you in the dictionaries. This website has the closest thing to an answer I've found, it has a list of spelling before the -Tb endings and which conjugation patterns they follow, but what about infinitives that end in the other two endings?
I know I'm just overlooking some small detail, because why would they only put the infinitives of verbs in dictionaries when you need to know the present-future stem too???
I would really appreciate it if anyone could explain this to me. Is there a pattern you can follow to get the present stem fromt he infinitive?

There are really two infinitives at play here, Sasha - the infinitive of the imperfective and the infinitive of the perfective(which is that present-future tense you're talking about). Any good dictionary should give you the perfective form too, but there is no real system from going from one form to the other.

I know the difference between the Imperfective and the Perfective infinitives of a verb. This book I'm reading says that along with learning the two different infinitives, you should learn the "third person plural non-past form." What on earth does that mean?

Let me try another approach to this.
On the Master Russian website, there's a section you can go to under verbs that says Present tense (unoles I'm mistaken ths is what I'm looking for). In the beginning it explains what these present tense verbs are used for,then it tells you how to figure out which conjugation (first or Second) using the letters that come before the (presumably the perfective) infinitive. Then it says to determine the verb stem by removing the endings from the first person singular (I) and second person singular (familiar you). If they are the same you are to use this and add ethe ndings listed, if not you use the stem from the familiar you form. My question is, does this apply to all (perfective) infinitives? What about those infinitives that end in -"TEH""I KRATKAYA" and -"SHES""MAKIY ZNAK" (Sorry for the poor spelling, but I don't have a Cyrillic font yet, had to type the name. If you can't read them, its the other two, rare endings for infinitives.)

This book I'm reading says that along with learning the two different infinitives, you should learn the "third person plural non-past form." What on earth does that mean?

I don't know, just more lingo. Every book has it's own way of writing about grammatical terms.

What about those infinitives that end in -"TEH""I KRATKAYA" and -"SHES""MAKIY ZNAK" (Sorry for the poor spelling, but I don't have a Cyrillic font yet, had to type the name. If you can't read them, its the other two, rare endings for infinitives.)

For those irregular forms you will simply have to learn them from a book somewhere. The dictionary should give you the forms. My old Romanov dictionary had a section in the back where they conjugated every type of verb.

Originally Posted by SashaT

I know the difference between the Imperfective and the Perfective infinitives of a verb. This book I'm reading says that along with learning the two different infinitives, you should learn the "third person plural non-past form." What on earth does that mean?

I think they're talking about forming the Imperitive(Command) form of the verb, but if you're just learning give yourself a break...

Thanks guys, I was SOOO confused, but know I get it. I was right, I was just overlooking some stupid little thing. MERCI BEAUCOUP!!!

O.K., just to be 100% sure, you can subtract the last two letters of most perfective infinitives and use the endings mentioned on this page to conjugate it in the "present tense". All other verbs are irregular and have to me memorized like in French. Is that it?

Originally Posted by SashaT

O.K., just to be 100% sure, you can subtract the last two letters of most perfective infinitives and use the endings mentioned on this page to conjugate it in the "present tense". All other verbs are irregular and have to me memorized like in French. Is that it?

No.

If you conjugate perfectives you get the future.
And you can remove the -ть from imperfectives in the same way. Neither imperfectives nor perfectives are more irregular than each other. Both imperfective and perfectives have their irregulars.

Your book seems to be over complicated.

Most verbs in russian are regular

идти ( to go on foot) must be learnt.
Я иду
Ты идёшь
Он идёт
Мы идём
Вы идёте
Они идут

But most other verbs ending -ти are formed from this verb, and conjugate the same:
Дойти - to reach
Я дойду, Ты дойдёшь, Он дойдёт... etc.)

I don't know what you mean by SHES MYAKIY ZNAK...
I can only think of -шь, but this is NOT an infinitve ending. It is the second person singular (you) ending:

Ты играешь - You play / are playing

So, Taty, you're saying that:

You use the imperfective infinitive to get the present tense, and perfecitve for the future tense.

They are both conjugated using the same pattern (except of course the few irregulars which must be memorized, and most, but not all, spelled with -TN follow a pattern).

That, unlike my book says (which I've learned is old, maybe outdated) you do not have to memorize a different stem for the present tense than the rest of the tenses. All tenses use the infinitve minus the infinitive ending to conjuagate all tenses of the verb (like in French, I'm trying to link this in my head with something I'm familiar with).

So all I have to learn to be able to fully conjugate a verb is the perfevtive and imperfevtive infinitives (no additional stems).
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The last infinitive I mentioned wasn't what you said (that's strictly my fault for not explaining myself properly). Since I don't have a Cyrillic font, maybe I can describe it. Its the letter that looks like a four and the b -4b.
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Does anyone out there have a good website that explains verbs thouroughly?

Well have you tried the site your on? Here is the address:- http://masterrussian.com/index-10.shtml

Originally Posted by SashaT

So, Taty, you're saying that:

You use the imperfective infinitive to get the present tense, and perfecitve for the future tense.

They are both conjugated using the same pattern (except of course the few irregulars which must be memorized, and most, but not all, spelled with -TN follow a pattern).

That, unlike my book says (which I've learned is old, maybe outdated) you do not have to memorize a different stem for the present tense than the rest of the tenses. All tenses use the infinitve minus the infinitive ending to conjuagate all tenses of the verb (like in French, I'm trying to link this in my head with something I'm familiar with).

So all I have to learn to be able to fully conjugate a verb is the perfevtive and imperfevtive infinitives (no additional stems).
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The last infinitive I mentioned wasn't what you said (that's strictly my fault for not explaining myself properly). Since I don't have a Cyrillic font, maybe I can describe it. Its the letter that looks like a four and the b -4b.
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Does anyone out there have a good website that explains verbs thouroughly?

чь which you write ch' in English. As in Мочь, which is irregular.

делать / сделать - to do (imp. / perf.)

Я делаю - I do
Ты делаешь - You do
Он делает - He does
Мы делаем - We do
Вы делаете - You do
Они делают - They do

Я сделаю - I will do
Ты сделаешь - You will do
Он сделает - He will do
Мы сделаем - We will do
Вы сделаете - You wil do
Они сделают - They will do

All right, I think I've got it! Thank you so much Taty!!!! :D