ASPECT (ВИД)

Verbal Aspect for Elementary Russian

Depending on how you count them, English has

as many as SEVENTEEN tenses.

I spent a few hours reading the New Yorker last night, as I have

done for many years. I might (correctly) say any or all of the

following:

• I read the New Yorker.• I did read the New Yorker.• I had read the latest New Yorker and fallen

asleep when suddenly….• I was reading the New Yorker when

suddenly….• I had been reading the New Yorker for an hour

when suddenly…• I have read the New Yorker for years.

We could do this in the present and the future, too… But you get

the idea.

In addition to TENSE, English has ASPECT.

• Aspect, in short, indicates the speaker’s SUBJECTIVE relationship towards temporal flow when describing the event of action.

But you are unaware of it, since in English, choice of tense is also

choice of aspect.Some tenses indicate perfective

aspect, others imperfective.

PERFECTIVE vs IMPERFECTIVE

In simplest terms, PERFECTIVE stresses the RESULT of an action while IMPERFECTIVE stresses the

PROCESS.

When might I say…

I watched the Flintstones. (Perfective)

I was watching the Flintstones. (Imperfective)

No mistaking aspect…

Note that in English and in Russian, it’s very difficult to make denotative

mistakes in aspectual choice. In other words, whatever choice I make, no one

is going to be confused.

Aspect in Russian

• As you know, Russian is a “tense poor” language: It has a past, a present, and a future tense.

• Russian has ASPECT, too.• Unlike English (where aspect and tense

are confused), Russian maintains separate aspect because verbs have multiple forms, some of which are perfective and others imperfective.

ASPECT is a LEXICAL PHENOMENON

• When teaching aspect, I am not teaching you grammar, I am teaching you VOCABULARY.

• Up to today, ALL THE VERBS you have learned are IMPERFECTIVE.

• Verbs in Russian exist in “clusters” of imperfective and perfective verbs. For instance, the verb писать (imperfective) has several perfective forms: написать, записать, прописать, выписать, вписать.... And, amazingly, each of those verbs has an imperfective verb: написывать, записывать, etc.

• Let’s not get distracted…

But for your purposes, verbs exist in PAIRS! One verb is

imperfective, the other is perfective

Some examples…

IMPERFECTIVE/PERFECTIVE

• смотреть (смотрят)/посмотреть• писать (пишут)/написaть • читать (-ают)/прочитать• видеть (видят)/увидеть• помнить (помнят)/запомнить• пить (пьют)/выпить• готовить (готовят)/приготовить

It is CRUCIAL to understand that ASPECT and TENSE are

separate; you already KNOW how to conjugate EVERY verb in

Russian.

RESULT versus PROCESS

• The PERFECTIVE stresses result; the IMPERFECTIVE stresses process.

PRESENT TENSE IS ALWAYS IMPERFECTIVE!

Past and Future Tenses

• In the PAST TENSE and FUTURE TENSE, you have to choose one or the other aspect, just as we do in English.

Present Tense

• In Russian, aspect DOES NOT pertain to PRESENT TENSE, because (by its nature) the present tense is ALWAYS IMPERFECTIVE.

• Go on, TRY to emphasize result using the present tense!

• Сейчас, я читаю и завтракаю и пью...

To form the PAST PERFECTIVE, just conjugate the verb in the

past (написал, выпила, посмотрели)

To form the FUTURE PERFECTIVE, just conjugate the

perfective verbs as you would any first- or second-congugation

verb: напишу, посмотрим, прочитаешь.

Our motto…

• JUST CONJUGATE THE DAMN VERB!

How do you choose aspect?

Just as in English, aspect reflects the speaker’s relationship (literally his view) on

the event or action.

Do you want to stress the PROCESS (imperfective) or the RESULT (perfective) of

an action?Another way to think of it: Could you take a photograph of the sentence (perfective), or

would you need to make a film (imperfective)?