Thread: Future / Past Tense questions

Hello, about the future tense(s), are there only two?

...and is this the difference?

Ya govoru (as in "I will speak at the meeting") (or should this be "Ya skazhu"?)
Ya budu govorit' (as in "I will speak for two hours")


Also, in the past perfect tense, ( I think this is the one, please correct me if I'm wrong), Most are formed with "Po" or "Za" preceeding the verb... Is there any way to know which one, or is it just something you have to learn?

Thanks for the answers, I am finally going to start formal lessons tonight, so I won't be so much of a durok!
-Fantom

There are two:

Ya skazhu - perfective
Ya budu govorit' - imperfective

The first means that you will do something and be done with it, the second means that there will be some kind of ongoing action in the future.

As for your past tense question, no, you have to learn it for each verb, and many are not formed by "po" or "za."

Originally Posted by Pravit

There are two:

Ya skazhu - perfective
Ya budu govorit' - imperfective

The first means that you will do something and be done with it, the second means that there will be some kind of ongoing action in the future.

As for your past tense question, no, you have to learn it for each verb, and many are not formed by "po" or "za."

Question:

Could "I will speak at the meeting" not be considered a planned future tense, and so also legitimately be translated as "я говорю на собрании*", the tense being understood from the context?

*(or however you translate 'meeting')

Originally Posted by scotcher

*(or however you translate 'meeting')

совещание (about business matters)

собрание is connected with something торжественным

Спасибо, наверно я должен найти мой большой словарь

Originally Posted by scotcher

Originally Posted by Pravit

There are two:

Ya skazhu - perfective
Ya budu govorit' - imperfective

The first means that you will do something and be done with it, the second means that there will be some kind of ongoing action in the future.

As for your past tense question, no, you have to learn it for each verb, and many are not formed by "po" or "za."

Question:

Could "I will speak at the meeting" not be considered a planned future tense, and so also legitimately be translated as "я говорю на собрании*", the tense being understood from the context?

*(or however you translate 'meeting')

You could say: завтра я говорю на совещании
But that translates to "Tomorrow I am speaking at the meeting", which IMHO sounds a little funny.
If you say "I will" it is planned and you need either future perfect or imperfect. In this context буду говорить, because it is a general statement, with no information on specific statement or to whom.

You could say: я скажу людям на совещании, что их всех уволили
I will tell the people at the meeting that they are all fired

... I think ?

In this kind of situation I usually dodge the question and say something like this:

Я произношу речь на совещании.

However, I think буду говорить would probably be OK.

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

You could say: завтра я говорю на совещании
But that translates to "Tomorrow I am speaking at the meeting", which IMHO sounds a little funny.
If you say "I will" it is planned and you need either future perfect or imperfect. In this context буду говорить, because it is a general statement, with no information on specific statement or to whom.

You could say: я скажу людям на совещании, что их всех уволили
I will tell the people at the meeting that they are all fired

... I think ?

Cheers Vinnie

Right so, you if can say "завтра я говорю на совещании", could you just say "я говорю на совещании" so long as the person you're talking to knows which meeting you are talking about and when it is taking place?

I ask because, you reckon the translation sounds funny in English, but I'd actually disagree, though I'd put it in a slightly different order:

"I am/ I'm speaking at the meeting tomorrow"

"I'm going to London tomorrow"

etc

That's perfectly normal English in my opinion, and both of them would be just fine without the "tomorrow" qualifier too, so long as the other party understood (from context, or implicit shared knowledge) that you were talking about the future.

Is the same thing (generally) possible in Russian?

(I'm not realy asking about the specific example used, because the fact that говорить/ сказать is a fairly atypical imperfective/ perfective pairing complicates things a wee bit)

Right so, you if can say "завтра я говорю на совещании", could you just say "я говорю на совещании" so long as the person you're talking to knows which meeting you are talking about and when it is taking place?

I think we'd have to go to native speakers for that one. I am of the opinion that you can't.

Well I know you can say: завтра, я иду на работу - Tomorrow I am going to work
Which sounds fine in both languages.

Tomorrow I am speaking at the meeting... maybe, maybe... I really think this rule only applies to verbs of motion.

Я произношу речь на совещании

I will hold a speech at the meeting
Sounds good, but in the world of business wouldn't you rather use:
Я представлю на совещании/я буду представлять на совещании
I will present at the meeting/ I will be presenting at the meeting

завтра, я иду на работу

The verbs of motion are always weird. You can say я ходил в магазин to mean you went to the store once and came back. And I'm not too sure myself if you can really say "завтра, я иду на работу". Motion verbs are strange but I'm thinking that may not be entirely correct.

About what scotcher is talking about, I know it's fair game in German as well(n

Originally Posted by Pravit

In this kind of situation I usually dodge the question and say something like this:

Я произношу речь на совещании.

However, I think буду говорить would probably be OK.

Я бы сказал так:

Я выступаю <с речью> на совещании