In this lesson we will consider the past tense form of verbs including the verb БЫТЬ — to be. We will consider only the imperfective aspect of verbs, and what is it — you’ll know later, in lesson 16, for now just focus on this lesson!
Regular verbs in the past tense are formed by dropping the last two letters (-ТЬ) for the 1st , as well as the 2nd conjugations, and adding an appropriate lending regarding to a gender of a speaker or plural.
ГОВОРИТЬ – to speak/to talk/to say
| Я ГОВОРИЛ Я ГОВОРИЛА | I spoke(a man says) I spoke(a woman says) |
| ТЫ ГОВОРИЛ ТЫ ГОВОРИЛА | You spoke(said to a man) You spoke(said to a woman) |
| ОН ГОВОРИЛ | He spoke |
| ОНА ГОВОРИЛА | She spoke |
| МЫ ГОВОРИЛИ | We spoke |
| ВЫ ГОВОРИЛИ | You spoke(plural) |
| ОНИ ГОВОРИЛИ | They spoke |
| ОНО ГОВОРИЛО | It spoke (ОНО– it – neuter pronoun) |
Notice that verbs in masculine gender have the ending [Л], in feminine [-ЛА], in neuter [-ЛО], and in plural [-ЛИ] but I recommend that you simply try to remember which form to use with each pronoun. More information about grammatical genders and plural will be considered in lesson 5. In order to improve your skill of verb conjugation, conjugate 20 – 50 verbs by yourself.
Let’s conjugate the verb УЧИТЬ with a negation —
НЕ УЧИТЬ (not to learn):
| Я НЕ УЧИЛ Я НЕ УЧИЛА | I didn’t learn(a man says) I didn’t learn(a woman says) |
| ТЫ НЕ УЧИЛ ТЫ НЕ УЧИЛА | You didn’t learn(said to a man) You didn’t learn(said to a woman) |
| ОН НЕ УЧИЛ | He didn’t learn |
| ОНА НЕ УЧИЛА | She didn’t learn |
| МЫ НЕ УЧИЛИ | We didn’t learn |
| ВЫ НЕ УЧИЛИ | You didn’t learn(plural) |
| ОНИ НЕ УЧИЛИ | They didn’t learn |
| ОНО НЕ УЧИЛО | It didn’t learn |
Now let us consider verbs of 1th conjugation, it is almost the same:
ЗНАТЬ – to know:
| Я ЗНАЛ Я ЗНАЛА | I knew(a man says) I knew(a woman says) |
| ТЫ ЗНАЛ ТЫ ЗНАЛА | You knew(said to a man) You knew(said to a woman) |
| ОН ЗНАЛ | He knew |
| ОНА ЗНАЛА | She knew |
| МЫ ЗНАЛИ | We knew |
| ВЫ ЗНАЛИ | You knew(plural) |
| ОНИ ЗНАЛИ | They knew |
| ОНО ЗНАЛО | It knew (ОНО– it – neuter pronoun) |
Interrogative form: Just change intonation and add the question mark»?».
The verb БЫТЬ (to be):
| Я БЫЛ Я БЫЛА | I was(a man says) I was(a woman says) |
| ТЫ БЫЛ ТЫ БЫЛА | You were(said to a man) You were(said to a woman) |
| ОН БЫЛ | He was |
| ОНА БЫЛА | She was |
| МЫ БЫЛИ | We were |
| ВЫ БЫЛИ | You were(plural)k |
| ОНИ БЫЛИ | They were |
| ОНО БЫЛО | It was (ОНО– it – neuter pronoun) |
And in conclusion, memorize the Russian question words:
ЧТО? What?
КАКОЙ? What?
КТО? Who?
ГДЕ? Where?
КОГДА? When?
ПОЧЕМУ? Why?
ЗАЧЕМ? What for?
КУДА? Whereto?
ОТКУДА? From where?
СКОЛЬКО? How much?/how many?
EXAMPLES
Я ЗНАЛ ПРО ТУ КНИГУ I knew about that book.
Я ВИДЕЛ ПУСТОЙ ГОРОД I saw an empty town.
ТЫ БЫЛ В МОСКВЕ? Have you been to Moscow?
МАШИНА БЫЛА В ГАРАЖЕ A car was in the garage.
МЫ БЫЛИ НА МОРЕ We were at sea.
Я ЗНАЛ О ТЕБЕ I knew about you
ТЫ ИДЁШЬ В СПОРТЗАЛ You are going to gym
Я ШЁЛ НА КОНЦЕРТ I was going to the concert
МЫ ШЛИ МЕДЛЕННО We went slowly
ОНИ ИГРАЛИ НА КОМПЬЮТЕРЕ They were playing on the computer
ЧТО ТЫ ДЕЛАЕШЬ? Я ПИШУ ТЕКСТ What are you doing? I am writing a text
КАК ТЫ СОБИРАЕШЬСЯ ПОКУПАТЬ МАШИНУ? How are you going to buy a car?
КОГДА ВЫ ЕЗДИЛИ В ПЕТЕРБУРГ? В АВГУСТЕ When did you go to Petersburg? In August.
ОН ГОВОРИЛ ПО-АНГЛИЙСКИ, НО ОНА НЕ ПОНИМАЛА He spoke English but she didn’t understand.
ПОЧЕМУ ТЫ ХОТЕЛА ИДТИ В МАГАЗИН ВЧЕРА? Why did you want to go to a shop yesterday?
КОГДА ТЫ ХОТЕЛ ПОКУПАТЬ НОВЫЙ ДОМ? ЧЕРЕЗ МЕСЯЦ. When are you going to buy a new house? In a month.
ГОВОРЯТ, ЧТО ОНА ХОТЕЛА ИЗУЧАТЬ ИСКУССТВО One says that she wanted to study arts.
ЗДЕСЬ СТРОИЛИ ЗДАНИЕ One built a building here
ПРО ЭТО РАССКАЗЫВАЛИ МНОГО РАЗ One told about it many times.
Я ПОНИМАЛ МНОГО ЯЗЫКОВ I understood many languages
Exercises
Conjugate verbs in the past tense.
- Моя сестра(feminine) на диване (ЛЕЖАТЬ – to lie down) – My sister lied down on sofa
- Яблоко(neuter) с дерева (ПАДАТЬ – to fall) – The apple fell from the tree.
- Хомяк(masculine) есть (ХОТЕТЬ – to want) – The hamster wanted to eat
- Наши друзья(plural) фильм (СМОТРЕТЬ – to watch) – Our friends watched a film
- Я(female) это не так (ПРЕДСТАВЛЯТЬ – to imagine) – I imagined it not so
- Эти люди(plural) здесь? (БЫТЬ – to be) – These people have been here?
- Что они когда были здесь? (ДЕЛАТЬ – to do) – What did they do when they have been here?
- Мы не Эрмитаж в Петербурге (ПОСЕЩАТЬ – to visit) – We didn’t visit the Hermitage in Petersburg
- Я(male) стену (КРАСИТЬ – to paint) – I painted the wall
- Еда(feminine) в холодильнике (БЫТЬ – to be) – The food was in the refrigerator
Answers
1: Лежала, 2: Падало, 3: Хотел, 4: Смотрели,
5: Представляла, 6: Были, 7: Делали, 8: Посещали, 9:Красил