Thread: сделал & делал

Хи,
Can someone explain why one is imperfective and one perfective?
thanks

Когда он [Стасов] умер, я подумал: Вот человек, который делал всё, что мог, и всё, что мог, сделал.

Originally Posted by sperk

Хи,
Can someone explain why one is imperfective and one perfective?
thanks

Когда он [Стасов] умер, я подумал: Вот человек, который делал всё, что мог, и всё, что мог, сделал.

When he is dead, I thought: He was the man that always kept trying to do his best, and he's done.

делал - because it desribes things he WAS DOING during his whole life

сделал - because it means that he HAS FINISHED doing everything he could during his life

This is basically Past continuous tense vs. Perfective tense.

P.S. Хай not Хи... хи-хи

Хи = He, Hehe
Hi = Хай, Привет (better)

Originally Posted by Оля

Хи = He, Hehe
Hi = Хай, Привет (better)

Можно и ласково - хаюшки! А то перепутается с
Хай жiве i працує

I just wanted to ask this question, can someone really explain better and in Russian, what is prefective and imperfective please? and give more examples.

Originally Posted by Remyisme

I just wanted to ask this question, can someone really explain better and in Russian, what is prefective and imperfective please? and give more examples.

The difference is basically the same than it is in English.
Perfective forms used to describe an action which is completed while imperfective ones are for describing actions themselves (in the process).

Я делал что-л. = I was doing smth. (Here is described an action in the process or the result is irrelevant).

Я сделал что-л. = I have smth. done. (Here is described a completed action and the result is important).

Я видел = I saw
Я увидел = I've seen

Although some russian verbs may have several perfective forms:
Я бегал - imperfective (I ran) or
Я бежал через улицу - (I was running across the street - imperfective)
Я бежал из тюрьмы (I escaped the prison - perfective)
Я прибежал - (I've run - well, sort of...I came running)
Я добежал - perfective (nearly the same as above)
Я убежал - I run away
Я отбегался - Also a perfective form but translation may vary from 'I've finished jogging for today' to 'I died'.

Context defines the tense. Consider an action whether it is completed or not. And one more thing - any perfect English tense translates into perfective form of the verb.

A general rule (still, with lots of exception) = an Indefinite tense is translated into Russian imperfective form and Perfect tense is to perfective one.

http://www.auburn.edu/~mitrege/RWT/tutorials/verbs.html
or
http://masterrussian.com/aa031600a.shtml
or
http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/aspect.html

I'm not really that smart, I just googled "russian verb aspect" and came up with 449 thousand hits. You can do it too.