Thread: Все

Originally Posted by kburr

SAY THAT. Now that I think about it, how do you conjugate for всё ??

kburr, всё translates as "everything" -- in Russian grammar, it is always treated as singular. In the present and future tenses, всё can only take the 3rd-person singular, and in the past, it can only take the neuter singular form. For example:

PAST: Раньше, у нас всё было лучше! -- Literally, "Earlier, around us everything was better." (i.e., "We were better off in the good old days.")
PRESENT: Как быстро всё меняется! -- "How quickly everything changes!"
FUTURE: Всё пройдёт и это тоже пройдёт! -- "Everything shall pass, and this too shall pass!" (supposedly an inscription on King Solomon's ring)

Note that we can say in English "all things change" (plural) instead of "everything changes" (singular) -- but when translating to Russian, "all things" becomes singular -- всё -- because the plural все, when it stands by itself, is always understood to mean "all persons" or "everybody". (When it's followed by an explicit noun, все can refer to inanimate things, as in все стулья, "all chairs" -- but by itself все can ONLY refer to animate, thinking humans, and cannot be interpreted as "all things".)

Finally, here's the declension for всё, with the corresponding forms of что in parentheses, as a reminder that they rhyme:

Nom - всё (что)
Gen - всего (чего)
Dat - всему (чему)
Acc - всё (что)
Inst - всем (чем)
Prep - всём (чём)

P.S. As maxmixiv pointed out, if you need to express the English "everybody" while emphasizing the singular, you can use каждый, "each":

Все здесь любят морожение. = All the people here love ice cream.
Каждый человек здесь любит морожение. = Each person here loves ice cream.

Thank you - great explanation - tutor me please?!?! Hah