Notes on Conjugation Classes

Productive vs. non-productive classes of verbs

The overwhelming majority of Russian verbs belong to five groups: АЙ, ОВА/УЙ, ЕЙ, НУ, И. Outside of these groups there are about three hundred stems, of which about 65 are stems without suffixes, and the rest belong to smaller groups of suffixed stems: А, no-vowel А, О, Е, ЧА.

The first five classes are also the only productive classes of Russian verbs. What this means is that all the new verbs that come into the Russian language, whether borrowed from foreign languages or newly made up in Russian, belong to one of these five classes.

First Conjugation

АЙ stems.

This group contains thousands of stems. In many of them АЙ is, in fact, a part of a larger suffix, such as ВАЙ or ИВАЙ, but this is immaterial for purposes of conjugation. АЙ stems are predictable.

Very few АЙ stems are used without a prefix. The majority of АЙ stems are imperfective partners of prefixed perfective verbs, formed by the suffixes: АЙ, ВАЙ, or ИВАЙ Here are some examples.

ЕЙ stems.

This group includes hundreds of stems. All of them are stressed on the suffix ЕЙ. Most of them form intransitive verbs, i.e., verbs that are not used with a direct object in the Accusative case. The only transitive verbs in this group (i.e., those that are used with a direct object in the Accusative case) are грљть грљют ‘heat’; жалљть жалљют ‘feel sorry for, spare’; имљть имљют ‘have’.

A number of ЕЙ verbs are formed from adjectives. These verbs have the meaning ‘to become so and so’, for example: красн-љть красн-љй-ут (= краснљют) to turn red, to blush (c.f. крђсн-ый ‘red’). ЕЙ stems are predictable. Here are some examples.

ОВА stems.

There are thousands of ОВА stems, and the number keeps growing, for many verbs from West European languages have been and are being incorporated into Russian with this suffix:

ОВА is often part of a larger suffix, ИЗ-ОВА (cf. English -ize) or ИЗИР-ОВА (cf. German -isieren):

Among ОВА stems there are seven in which ОВ is part of the root, and the suffix proper is just А; however, ОВА is replaced by УЙ in such stems also:

These seven stems are stressed on the ending in the non-past; the rest of the ОВА stems are never stressed on the ending. ОВА stems are predictable. Here are some examples.

НУ stems.

There are hundreds of them. Most of them are Perfective even if the verb doesn’t have a prefix. In fact, НУ is the only suffix in the Russian language that builds Perfective verbs. A verb with the suffix НУ typically describes a quick action performed once or a specific number of times:

(The only Imperfective verbs with the suffix НУ are гнџть ‘bend’, тонџть ‘drown’, тянџть ‘pull’, льнџть ‘cling to’.)  НУ is also the only Russian suffix that begins with a consonant. Almost all Russian roots, however, end in a consonant. When the suffix НУ is added to a root, the last consonant of this root often drops out. It is preserved in the related imperfective verb, where it comes before a vowel:

In some НУ verbs the consonant before НУ does not drop out, for example:

(НУ) stems.

The difference between -НУ- and (НУ) is that the suffix (НУ) is often dropped in the past tense forms:

There are about sixty (НУ) verbs. The suffix (НУ) is dropped in the past tense, past deverbal adverb and past active participle. Some stems tend to retain the suffix in the participle and the adverb, sometimes even in the past tense, so that избљгнул ‘avoided’ is acceptable (although избљг is more common) and изчљзнувший is, in fact, better than исчљзший.

In the past tense, when (НУ) is dropped, л is also dropped in the Masculine Singular, when no vowel follows: исчљз исчљзла ‘disappeared’, пђх пђхла ‘smelled’, пронќк пронќкла ‘penetrated’.

In contrast to -НУ- verbs, almost all of which are Perfective, (НУ) verbs are Imperfective, unless they have a prefix. (НУ) stems are predictable. Here are some examples.

А stems

The distinctive feature of А stems is that the final consonant of the root undergoes a change in the present tense. This is discussed in the section on stem changes.

Within first-conjugation stems with the suffix -А- (about ninety of them in the Russian language) there is a small sub-group (about 15) that have no vowel in the root. The only vowel in these stems is the suffix -А- itself. We call such stems no-vowel -А- stems. No-vowel A stems behave somewhat differently from A stems; in fact, they behave somewhat differently from all other suffixed stems. We treat them in a special section below. Here are some examples of regular А stems.

О stems.

There are just five such stems; they all end in ОР-О or ОЛ-О. The suffix О drops out before endings that begin with a vowel; Р and Л become soft. О stems are predictable. Here are some examples.

Note that the verb молћть changes о to е in the Non-past. All five О stems have moving stress: борєсь бћрются.

Second Conjugation

И stems.

This group contains thousands of stems. Many of them are transitive, i.e., require a direct object in the Accusative. И stems are predictable. Here are some examples.

Е and А (ЧА) stems.

About fifty and thirty respectively. Е and А stems are historically related: at some point Е changed to А after the hushing consonants Ж, Ш, Ч, Щ. Verbs in both groups are mostly intransitive; many of them denote sounds: звенљть звенїт ‘ring’, свистљть свистїт ‘whistle’, шумљть шумїт ‘make noise’, ворчђть ворчђт ‘grumble’, кричђть кричђт ‘yell’, молчђть молчђт ‘be silent’.

In А- stems of the first conjugation (like ПИСА-) the А suffix is never preceded by a hushing consonant; in А stems of the second conjugation (like КРИЧА-) it always is. This is why we refer to these verbs as ЧА verbs. Here are some examples.

The АЙ suffix of first conjugation verbs can be preceded by a hushing consonant, so if a verb ends in -чать or -щать or -жать or -шать, it can be either a second conjugation ЧА verb like кричђть (лежђть лежђт ‘lie down’, молчђть молчђт ‘be silent’ ) or it can be a first conjugation АЙ verb (отвечђть отвечђют ‘answer’, возражђть возражђют ‘object’) but it cannot be a verb like писђть пќшут.

There are also two second conjugation -А- stems in which the suffix -А- is preceded by Й (Й + А are spelled я). About these two verbs, стоїть ‘stand’ and боїться ‘fear’, you simply have to remember that they are second conjugation. All the other Й-А- verbs are first conjugation.

• the -ва- part drops out in all the non-past forms but not in the imperative:

• all the non-past forms are stressed on the ending;
• да-вай is the only stem of the three that is used without a prefix: давать (imperfective) — дать (perfective);
• all three stems form only imperfective verbs.

No-vowel -А- stems.

There are about fifteen of them. Almost all are first conjugation, but спђть сплє спїт ‘sleep’ and гнђть гонє гћнят ‘chase’ are second conjugation. (From now on we treat спђть and гнђть as exceptions and do not include them with no-vowel А stems.) Note that ржђть ‘neigh’, is first conjugation, even though the suffix А is preceded by a hushing consonant. (See section 4.3).

Three no-vowel А stems insert a vowel in the non-past. (брђть берџт; дрђть дерџт; звђть зовџт).

All no-vowel А stems are end stressed in the non-past. In the past, some no-vowel А stems have moving stress, unlike the rest of suffixed verbs.

Examples:

Several no-vowel A stems have irregularities concerning consonant changes in the non-past. Here are some more examples.

Stems without suffixes: Resonants and Obstruents

Stems without suffixes consist of roots alone, or roots with prefixes. All stems without suffixes are first conjugation. Because they all end in consonants, in the majority of cases, vowel (non-past) endings will join without causing any changes. Joining consonant (past/infinitive) endings will cause changes, as specified by the rule of likes and unlikes. Some additional changes are minor, affecting only certain classes of verbs. In order to give rules for these minor changes, it is helpful to classify stems without suffixes according to their last consonant. This last consonant will belong to one of two groups:

The consonants in the first group are very sonorous: you can pronounce them continuously, so that they resound. (Resonant means ‘resounding’ in Latin.) Therefore they are called resonants.

The consonants in the second group are pronounced differently: an obstruction is formed in the mouth with the lips and tongue, and the sound emerges when this obstruction is over­come by air coming from the lungs. Therefore these consonants are called obstruents. To repeat: р, м, н, й, в, are resonants; б, п, д, т, з, с, г, к, х are obstruents. Below we give a more detailed breakdown of non-suffixed stems.

Resonant stems

В, Н, Й stems.

In accordance with the rule of likes and unlikes, the final consonant will drop before past and infinitive endings.

-В- stems.

There are three of them: жќть ‘live’, плІть ‘swim’, слІть ‘have the reputation of’.

-Н- stems.

Four of them: дљть ‘put’, стђть ‘become’, and two others.

-Й- stems.

Sixteen of them, including four regular ones, two with a vowel change and two irregular subgroups of five stems each. An example of a regular -И- stem is the stem of the verb дџть ‘blow’:

The two -Й- stems that have different vowels in the non-past and infinitive/past stems are:

The two irregular subgroups of Й verbs are given in the next section.

All the В, Н, Й verbs share this property: the imperfective partner of a prefixed В, И, Й verb is formed with the suffix -ВАЙ-. We remind you that when you add a prefix to a prefix-less verb you get a perfective verb; to obtain the correspondng imperfective you usually add a suffix, or replace the one already there.

Here are some further examples.

Two irregular subgroups of Й verbs:

verbs like пќть

There are five prefixless verbs in Russian that conjugate exactly like the verb пќть пьєт: пќть ‘drink’, лќть ‘pour’, бќть ‘beat’, шќть ‘sew’, вќть ‘twist’. Note the following:

• The non-past stem consists of just two consonants:

• If there is a prefix and it ends in a consonant, then О is inserted in the non-past forms:

• The stress in the non-past is on the ending throughout: пьє пьёшь пьёт пьём пьёте пьєт.
• The imperative form has Е inserted in the non-past stem: пљй, лљй, бљй, шљй, бљй.
• To obtain the imperfective of a prefixed verb, add the suffix -ВАЙ.

The verbs пить, лить, бить, шить, вить themselves have perfective partners as follows:

The verbs вІпить, сшќть, свќть are also related to the imperfective verbs выпивђть, сшивђть, свивђть; these verbs are sometimes interchangeable with пќть, вќть, шќть. The triple пќть-вІпить-выпивђть presents an additional problem. If used with an object (вІпить молокћ) the verb вІпить is the perfective partner of пќть. If used without an object, it means ‘to have a drink’ (typically hard liquor), and in this meaning it is the perfective partner of the verb выпивђть, which, when used without an object, means ‘to have drinks repeatedly, to have a drinking problem’. (Note: you can also say Ћн пќл, without an object, meaning ‘He drank (heavily)’, and you can say Кђждое џтро ћн выпивђл стакђн молокђ ‘Every morning he drank a glass of milk’, but these details of usage shouldn’t concern us here.)

verbs like мІть

There are five stems in Russian that conjugate exactly like мІть мћют: мІть ‘wash’, крІть ‘roof, cover’, вІть ‘howl’, нІть ‘whine’, рІть ‘dig’.

The imperfective pair to a verb with a prefix is formed by the suffix -ВАЙ:

Here are some further examples.

No-vowel resonant stems.

Two groups of resonant stems have no vowels in them: Р stems and

Р stems.

There are four such stems:: МР, ПР, ТР, СТР. They all have ЕРЕ in the infinitive; they are rarely used without a prefix. Some examples:

Note the following:

• The stress in the non-past is always on the ending (except, of course, if the prefix is вы-, in which case the stress is always on that prefix). умрџ умрџт; замрџ замрџт; сотрџ сотрџт; вІтру вІтрут.
• If the prefix ends in a consonant, the vowel О is inserted between the prefix and the root in all the non-past forms and in the imperative: сотрџ сотрќ; отопрџ отопрќ. (See Grammar 2).
• In the past a vowel is inserted between the two consonants of the root. This vowel is spelled ё under stress, е not under stress: вІ-тер, зђ-пер за-пер-лђ, с-тёр с-тёр-ла.
• There is no Л in Masculine Singular Past. The Л reappears in all other Past forms, i.e., whenever it is followed by a vowel: џмер умерлђ; зђпер заперлђ; стёр стёрла.
• The imperfective partner of a prefixed Р verb is formed according to the following rule: the vowel И is inserted between the two consonants of the root and the suffix -АЙ- is added. (This rule applies to all no-vowel stems.)

Here are some further examples.

М and Н stems.

There are five such stems. Before endings that begin with a consonant (infinitive/past endings), the consonant М or Н is replaced by the vowel А. The consonant before А becomes soft if it can — in other words, А will be spelled я except after the hushing consonants Ж and Ч.

Note:жђть рџку комџ-нибудь shake hands with somebody

нажђть на кнћпку press the button

The stems ПН and ЧН are never used without a prefix.

The imperfective partners of no-vowel М, Н verbs are formed according to the same rule that applied to Р verbs: insert И between the consonants of the root, add -АЙ-.

The verb взїть возьмџт also belongs in this group. Its root consists of just one consonant М that alternates with А in the infinitive/past forms; the prefix is вз-/воз-, and the last consonant of the prefix is soft.

Here are some further examples.

Obstruent stems.

З and С stems.

There are four З stems and six С stems; There is no Л in the masculine singular past; the Л reappears in the other past tense forms, where it is followed by a vowel. З stems are predictable.

Г and К stems.

There are six Г stems and five К stems. Infinitive ends in -ЧЬ. Г changes to Ж and К changes to Ч before е and ё of the non-past endings. No Л in the masculine Singular Past, as with З, С stems.

In one Г stem the vowel changes from Е/Ё in the Infinitive/past to Я in the non-past:

Б, Д, Т stems.

There are two Б stems, four Д stems and six Т stems. The consonants Б, Д, Т change to С before the ending of the infinitive. The consonants Д and Т drop out before all past tense endings. The past tense of Б stems works the same way as the past tense of Р, З, С, Г, К stems: there is no Л in the masculine singular; Л reappears in the other past tense forms where it is followed by a vowel.

In one Д stem the vowel changes from Е in the Infinitive/past to Я in the non-past.

No-vowel obstruent stems: ЖГ, -ЧТ

There are just two such stems, one a Г stem, the other a Т stem: ЖГ, -ЧТ. They conjugate just like the corresponding stems with vowels in them, except that е or ё is inserted between the consonants of the root when there is no vowel in the ending.

- НЯТЬ verbs.

In this section we list a few members of a family of verbs in -нять: поднїть, понїть, принїть and so on. The non-past stem and stress pattern of these verbs vary according to the prefix. There are three groups: (1) with prefixes ending in a consonant, (2) with prefixes ending in a vowel, and (3) the special case принїть.

• -нять verbs like поднїть: with prefixes ending in a consonant: Non-past stem: -НИМ-:

• -нять verbs like понїть: with prefixes ending in a vowel: Non-past stem: -ЙМ-:

• The special case принїть: Non-past stem: -М-:

The past stress for all these verbs is on the ending in feminine, and on the prefix in all other forms, if there is a vowel in the prefix:

All of these verbs are perfectives. Their imperfective partners end in -нимђть -нимђют.