Lesson 65 - Verbs. Imperfective vs. Perfective.

Imperfective vs. Perfective verbs

Imperfective

In Russian, imperfective verbs are those that denote habitual or incomplete actions (or when an action”s completion is not the point). For example, using the verb to write, "I write a letter" or "I am writing a letter" mean pretty much the same thing in English. We don”t know whether the action has been completed.

The best way to think about your choice in Russian is to decide whether the action has been completed or not but including all the information you can. For example, " I am writing this letter (right now and but I haven”t finished it yet)."

The habitual action is a little more complicated, because the action can be completed, but the person often does this action. "I am writing this letter (and will soon finish like I have in the past.)

Key words to look for are: always, never, often, every (hour, day, week, month, year), etc. These words tell us that the actions are done over and over again.

Russian imperfective verbs are most often unprefixed.

Perfective

Perfective verbs are reserved for actions that have been completed, or, at least, when the speaker wants to emphasize the completion of the action. The most important question to ask when deciding which aspect to use is "Has the action been completed?"

"I wrote the letter (and completed it)" would use the perfective, prefixed form of the verb.

"I am going to buy the groceries today" would use the perfective aspect because the speaker is planning on completing the action, but "I will buy groceries every week" uses the imperfective aspect because that action is habitual.

When choosing your aspect, think the action through - will it be complete? Do you do that action habitually, or is it a one-time action? Are there any key words like “every” or “always”?

The table below demonstrates some frequently used Russian verbs in imperfective/perfective pairs: