Уро́к 4
4.5 Grammar: Past Tense
Люби́мая Грамма́тика
Part I.
Past tense refers to actions or states that happened in the past.
In Unit 2, you learned how to conjugate verbs in the present tense. The present tense in both Russian and English refers to actions or states that occur in the time of ‘now’. Before we get into past tense, recall that:
Russian present tense conjugation can translate into English two ways: either present simple, or present continuous.
For example, the Russian sentence:
Я рабо́таю… = EITHER ‘I work’ OR ‘I am working.’
English speakers immediately sense a difference in the two constructions. Context and additional words may be understood to make the distinction in Russian.
Forming past tense in Russian is relatively simple compared to present tense patterns we discussed in Unit 2. With present tense you had to make sure the verb always showed agreement with the subject in person and number (first person singular, third person plural, etc). With past tense, you ONLY need the subject’s GENDER and NUMBER (singular or plural).
[AUDIO]
The past tense forms for ‘рабо́тать’ are:
| рабо́тал | ‘worked’ / ‘was working’ (masculine, singular) |
| рабо́тала | ‘worked’ / ‘was working’ (feminine, singular) |
| рабо́тало | ‘worked’ / ‘was working’ (neuter, singular) |
| рабо́тали | ‘worked’ / ‘was working’ (plural) |
Part II.
The past tense is easy to derive from the infinitive.
[AUDIO]
For most Russian verbs, to make past tense forms, drop the infinitive -ть ending and add one of four possible endings:
| -л | for all masculine subjects |
| -ла | for all feminine subjects |
| -ло | for all neuter subjects |
| -ли | for all plural subjects |
Read the following examples:
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Я рабо́тала в э́том ба́нке.
‘I worked / used to work in this bank.’ |
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Когда́ ты жил в Росси́и?
‘When did you live in Russia?’ |
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Она (Оля) отдыха́ла до́ма. ‘She rested at home.’ |
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Она́ (ко́шка) лежа́ла на полу́.
‘It (the cat) was lying on the floor.’ |
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Мы гуля́ли в па́рке.
‘We walked in the park.’ |
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Вы говори́ли по-неме́цки в Герма́нии?
‘Did you speak German in Germany?’ |
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Они́ (часы́) висе́ли на стене́.
‘The clock* was hanging on the wall.’ *часы́ ‘clock’ is plural in Russian |
