Уро́к 10
10.5 Grammar: Aspect + Adverbs
Люби́мая Грамма́тика
Russian verbs have aspect. They are either – imperfective or perfective.
Let’s review:
Imperfective aspect conveys several meanings. Among them, the most common ones are:
- Regularity of the action or general truths, such as:
I brush my teeth every every day.
The seasons change. - Process, such as:
I am currently renovating my apartment.
Last night I watched Netflix for 5 hours. - General statement with no focus on completion, such as:
I went for a walk.
I studied German last year.
Perfective aspect may indicate the following:
- Achievement of a result, such as:
I passed the exam! - Finishing something, such as:
I finished my paper last night! - Sequence of events, such as:
I woke up, took a shower, had breakfast, made coffee, and went to class. - One-time event that interrupted an activity, such as:
Somebody knocked on my door, when I was cooking.
Adverbs to the rescue!
In order to figure out when to use which, there ARE some clues and helpers, notably adverbs. For imperfective verbs the most frequent ones are the following. Note, you already know several of these!
- до́лго – for a long time,
- всё вре́мя – all the time
- ка́ждый день – every day
- всегда́ – always,
- ча́сто – often,
- ре́дко – rarely,
- иногда́ – sometimes,
- никогда́ не – never
Imperfective verbs are used in the past, present, and future tenses.
Regarding the perfective aspect, remember that they are NEVER used in present tense and, if you think about it, it makes sense. A completed action can never be happening right now. Adverbs can also help you with your decision to use perfective verbs. The most common adverbs used with perfective aspect are the following:
- наконе́ц-то – finally
- уже́ – already
- бы́стро – quickly
- вдруг – all of a sudden
- раз – once
- сра́зу – immediately
Learning these adverbs will help you in starting to recognize and use your люби́мый aspect more effectively! 🙂
