Patterns of stress in suffixed and non-suffixed verbs

Stress in suffixed verbs

All suffixed stems, with just one exception, have constant stress on the stem in the past tense. The one exception is the stem РОД-И: the verb родќть ‘give birth’ is end-stressed in the past, and the verb родќться ‘be born’ has variants:

In the non-past, suffixed stems have three possible patterns of stress:

• constant stress on (the same syllable of) the stem (S-stress);
• constant stress on the ending (E-stress);
• stress that moves from the ending in the 1st person singular to the preceding syllable in all the other forms (M-stress).

Here are some interesting facts about stress:

• Stems with suffixes ending in Й: -АЙ-, -ЕЙ-, -УЙ- and stems with the suffix (НУ) never have moving stress. ЕЙ stems are always stressed on the suffix; (НУ) stems are always stressed on the syllable preceding the suffix.
• Most stems with the suffix -НУ- have constant stress (stem or ending). The -НУ- verbs with moving stress are обманџть ‘deceive; lie’, тонџть ‘drown’, тянџть ‘pull’, заглянџть ‘glance; stop by’, and several others.
• Stems with the suffix -О- have moving stress: борћться ‘struggle’ борєсь бћрешься
• Stems with the suffixes -А- (first conjugation), -И- (second conjugation), -Е- (second conjugation), and Ч-А (second conjugation) come in all three varieties of stress. However: almost all -Е- stems have end stress.

The only stem stressed -Е- stems are

The only -Е- stems with moving stress are

• Almost all Ч-А stems have end stress. There is only one stem that is stressed on the stem:

The only Ч-А stems with moving stress are

Stress in non-suffixed verbs

All the non-suffixed stems, with just one exception, have constant stress (stem or ending) in the non-past. The exception is the stem МОГ (мћчь, помћчь) which has moving stress. In the past there are these patterns of stress:

• In all past forms stress is on (the same syllable of) the stem. (This is the only pattern that stems with suffixes have.)
• In all past forms stress is on the ending. In the masculine singular where there is no ending, the stress is on the final syllable of the stem.
• Stress is on the stem in all the forms except feminine singular, where it moves to the ending (M-stress).

Note that on the basis of the masculine singular form you can make no predictions about the stress pattern; on the basis of the masculine singular and feminine singular forms you cannot distinguish between E-stress and M-stress. The stress of the neuter form is always on the same syllable as the stress of the plural form. Therefore, in the citations of Past tense forms we usually give only the masculine, feminine, and plural forms.

S-stress verbs have their infinitive stressed on (the same syllable of) the stem as their past tense forms. E-stress verbs have their infinitive stressed on the ending -ТЌ. M-stress verbs have their infinitive stressed on the stem. In this group, and in this group only, the stress of the infinitive may be different from the stress of the masculine, neuter, and plural past forms. In these forms stress may move to a prefix, provided the prefix contains a vowel. Compare принїть, whose prefix contains a vowel, with снїть: