мне деньги. (He gave me money.) Он давал мне деньги. (He gave me money.) The action is done in the past for both verbs (no matter when). But the difference is that using the verb “дал” the Russians understand that the money was received once. And in the case of using the imperfect aspect “давал”, money was received several times.
Дарить – подарить. (to present with – to have presented with) Read the following sentence and define of what aspect the verb “подарить” is and why? Моя подруга вчера подарила мне часы. (Yesterday my girlfriend presented me with a watch. Let’s speculate! We are talking about yesterday’s event. The girlfriend presented me with a watch once. Therefore, the use of the imperfective verb is inappropriate. We can draw a conclusion that the verb “подарила” is a verb of perfective aspect. And if we take another example: В детстве папа всегда дарил мне цветы на день рождения. (When I was small, my dad always presented me with flowers for my birthday.) We are talking about a repeating event that occur over a period of time. Therefore, the verb of imperfective aspect should be used.
Of course, at the beginning it will be difficult to grasp, what the aspect of a verb to choose to form the Past Tense. But, as you study the language, you will catch in correct using. Just in case, I repeat. In the Past Tense the verbs of perfect aspect are used:
1. Action is taking place 1 time.
2. Action is completed, there is a result.
The verbs of imperfect aspect are used:
1. Action is taking place several times (repeated).
2. Action is not completed, there is no result.
The most important in the formation of the Past Tense is suffix — Л! And, of course, learn the verbs from table 2.
The Present Tense
The Correlation between Tense and Verbal Aspect
As you already understood, at formation of the Past Tense in Russian 2 verbal aspects and suffix-Л are used. What is the correlation between an aspect of a verb and the formation of the Present and the Future Tenses? We’ll talk about this later, but now let’s talk on another point for the beginning. All verbs in Russian in the Present Tense and the Future Tense change their endings depending on pronouns. For example, the verb “знать”. Depending on a pronoun the verb will change: Я знаю. Мы знаем. Ты знаешь. Вы знаете. Он, она знает. Они знают. Another example. Работать – (н.в.). Я работаю. Мы работаем. Ты работаешь. Вы работаете. Он, она работает. Они работают.
And all these changing forms need to learn! (Do you still want to learn Russian? -)). It’s wrong to say: Я работать. Or: Я работаем. When “я”, so, it’s correct to say: Я работаЮ.
The verb “знать” is of imperfective aspect. This means that the phrase “Я знаю” refers to the Present Tense. Why? The fact is that the Present Tense of verbs in Russian is formed from the verbs of imperfective aspect only! Thus, when you want to say about what you’re doing now or about repeated action, you use the verbs of imperfective aspect. To the question “Что ты сейчас делаешь?”, you can answer, for example, Я читаю. (читать – н.в.). Я сплю. (спать – н.в.). Я работаю. (работать – н.в.).
One more example. Я покупаю продукты. (покупать – н.в.). Compare, for example, with the phrase “Я куплю (купить – с.в.) продукты”. The verbs купить-покупать have one and the same meaning and differ in aspects only. While in the first sentence, we are talking about an event that occurs at the present moment (for example, you are in a store and talk on the phone) or about repeated event. The verb “покупать” is of imperfective aspect, it refers to the present tense. The verb “купить” is of perfective aspect, therefore, all forms formed from it, refer to the future tense. For example, when Russian says: “Я куплю машину”, the Future Tense is meant. (You’ll read more about the Future Tense in the next chapter). An example of repeated action, when the verbs of imperfective aspects are used and which refer to the Present Tense, are the following sentences: “Я езжу (ездить – н.в.) на работу на автобусе”. (“I go (to go – imperf.) to work by bus”. ) “Летом часто идут (идти – н.в.) дожди”. (“It rains (to rain – imperf.) often in summer”), « Я часто звоню (звонить – н.в.) домой”. (” I often call (to call – imperf.) home”. ) In table 1 you can see all endings of verbs. Pay your attention, that endings of verbs are different. For example, Он учится (н.в.) – the ending is – ИТ. Он работает (н.в.) – the ending is – ЕТ. The choice between —ит or —ет depends on conjugation (the 1st conjugation predetermines the verb’s ending —ЕТ, the 2nd conjugation predetermines -ИТ). Your brain might blow up from the amount of information that you need to remember. Therefore, in order to make this task easier, at the initial stage the verbs will be given in finished form. The main thing is to change the ending of a verb in relation to pronoun or noun.
The Future Tense
The Future Tense is formed from the verbs of perfective aspect, for example “звонить – позвонить” (to call – shall/will have called). Звонить is the verb of imperfective aspect, so we can form The Present Tense from it only. “Позвонить” is the verb of perfective aspect of the 2nd conjugation, so from this verb we can form only the Future Tense. Я позвоню. Мы позвоним. Ты позвонишь. Вы позвоните. Он, она позвонит. Они позвонят. I.e. when Russian says “Я звоню домой часто”, the Present Tense is meant. But the phrase “Он позвонит мне” means that someone will phone me in future. The endings of the verbs of perfective aspect such as of the verbs of imperfective aspect depend on their conjugation (1st or 2nd).). Я сделаю. Мы сделаем. Ты сделаешь. Вы сделаете. Он, она сделает. Они сделают. See table 1.
So, you should know the aspect of a verb which you use to construct a sentence correctly. When you talk about a future event, you should use a verb of perfective aspect. When you talk about an event which is repeated or is taking place right now, you should use a verb of imperfective aspect.
Conclusions
At forming The Past Tense the verbs of perfective or imperfective aspect are used. At forming The Present Tense the verbs of imperfective aspect are used. At forming The Future Tense the verbs of perfective aspect are used.
The endings in Russian in the Present Tense and the Future Tense vary in relation to pronouns (я, мы, ты, вы, он, она, они) or nouns.
The choose of ending —ЕМ or (-ИМ), -ЕШЬ (-ИШЬ), -ЕТЕ (-ИТЕ), – ЕТ (-ИТ), – ЮТ (-АТ) depends