Understanding Past Tense Forms in Russian

Overview of the Past Tense in Russian

In Russian, the past tense is used to indicate actions or states that occurred in the past. Unlike English, Russian does not use auxiliary verbs to form the past tense. Instead, it relies heavily on verb conjugation and, importantly, the subject's gender and number.

Basic Formulation

To form the past tense in Russian, you typically take the infinitive of the verb, remove the ending, and then add a specific ending based on gender and number.

Gender and Number Endings

• For masculine subjects: -л (l)
• For feminine subjects: -ла (la)
• For neuter subjects: -ло (lo)
• For plural subjects: -ли (li)

Examples of Conjugation

Aspectual Distinctions

Besides simple conveyance of past events, Russian past tenses also involve verb aspects: perfective and imperfective. The perfective aspect suggests completed actions, while the imperfective indicates ongoing or habitual past activities.

Utilizing Perfective and Imperfective Aspects

• Perfective: Indicates completion (He read the entire book).
• Imperfective: Indicates duration or habit (He was reading the book).