Verbs — Present Tense
In a nutshell
- Russian verbs come in two conjugation types (1st and 2nd) — the infinitive ending is your first clue which one you're dealing with.
- Every present-tense verb agrees with its subject by person (I / you / he-she-it / we / you-all / they), not by gender.
- Some verbs mutate a consonant in the "я" form only — люблю́, ви́жу, пишу́ — then the mutation disappears in the other forms.
- A handful of very common verbs (хоте́ть, есть, дать) are irregular and just need to be memorized.
You've spent six cases learning how nouns change shape. Now it's time for verbs. Good news: verbs are more predictable than nouns — once you know a verb's conjugation type, most of the endings write themselves.
Infinitives
The infinitive — the "to do" form, the one you'd look up in a dictionary — almost always ends in -ть: чита́ть (to read), говори́ть (to speak), де́лать (to do/make). A small number end in -ти (идти́ — to go) or -чь (мочь — to be able to), and those tend to be irregular; we'll cover them below.
The infinitive itself never appears with a subject doing something right now — it's the "neutral" form used after other verbs (хочу́ чита́ть — "I want to read") and in dictionaries. To actually say "I read" / "she reads" / "we read," you need to conjugate it.
Two conjugation types
Russian verbs split into two families, based on what their endings look like. Strip the infinitive down to guess which type — but the reliable way is to just learn each verb's type as vocabulary, the same way you learn its gender if it were a noun.
1st conjugation — the "-ешь/-ет" family
Most verbs ending in -ать or -ять (with some exceptions) belong here. Take the stem (infinitive minus -ть) and add these endings:
| чита́ть (to read) | рабо́тать (to work) | Ending | |
|---|---|---|---|
| я | чита́ю | рабо́таю | -ю |
| ты | чита́ешь | рабо́таешь | -ешь |
| он/она́/оно́ | чита́ет | рабо́тает | -ет |
| мы | чита́ем | рабо́таем | -ем |
| вы | чита́ете | рабо́таете | -ете |
| они́ | чита́ют | рабо́тают | -ют |
Я чита́ю кни́гу ка́ждый день. — lit. "I read book-ACC every day." — "I read a book every day."
Мы рабо́таем в о́фисе. — lit. "We work in office-PREP." — "We work in an office."
Notice the pattern: singular "я" and plural "они" get -ю/-ют if the stem ends in a vowel, everyone else gets -е- in the middle (-ешь, -ет, -ем, -ете).
2nd conjugation — the "-ишь/-ит" family
Most verbs ending in -ить (plus a few in -еть/-ать that are just irregular exceptions to memorize) belong here:
| говори́ть (to speak) | люби́ть (to love/like) | Ending | |
|---|---|---|---|
| я | говорю́ | люблю́ | -ю (see mutation below) |
| ты | говори́шь | лю́бишь | -ишь |
| он/она́/оно́ | говори́т | лю́бит | -ит |
| мы | говори́м | лю́бим | -им |
| вы | говори́те | лю́бите | -ите |
| они́ | говоря́т | лю́бят | -ят |
Она́ говори́т по-ру́сски. — lit. "She speaks in-Russian-way." — "She speaks Russian."
Я люблю́ ко́фе. — lit. "I love coffee-ACC." — "I love coffee."
The core visual difference from 1st conjugation: 2nd conjugation uses и in the middle of most endings (-ишь, -ит, -им, -ите) instead of е, and its "они" ending is -ат/-ят instead of -ут/-ют.
Consonant mutation in the "я" form
Some 2nd-conjugation verbs change a consonant right before the ending — but only in the "я" form. Every other form uses the plain stem. This trips people up because it looks irregular, but it's a small, learnable set of swaps:
| Stem consonant | Becomes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| б | бл | люби́ть → люблю́ (I love) |
| д | ж | ви́деть → ви́жу (I see) |
| т | ч or щ | плати́ть → плачу́ (I pay) |
| с | ш | проси́ть → прошу́ (I ask) |
| п | пл | купи́ть → куплю́ (I'll buy) |
Я ви́жу теа́тр. — lit. "I see-mutated theater-ACC." — "I see the theater."
Ты ви́дишь теа́тр? — lit. "You see theater-ACC?" — "Do you see the theater?"
Notice ты ви́дишь has the plain д — no mutation. It's genuinely just the "я" form that mutates. Some 1st-conjugation verbs mutate too (писа́ть → пишу́, "to write" → "I write" — с→ш throughout the whole present tense in that case, not just "я" — because писать is a special stem-changing 1st-conjugation verb). You'll meet these case-by-case; the table above covers the highest-frequency 2nd-conjugation pattern.
Spelling rules that shape endings
Recall from the Alphabet lesson that ж, ш, щ, ч (and also ц, г, к, х) have fixed spelling behavior around certain vowels. Two rules matter constantly for verb endings:
- No unstressed о after ж/ш/щ/ч/ц — use е instead. This is why писать (write) → пишешь, пишет, etc. use е, and why the "они" ending after these letters is -ут (not -ют) when the stem consonant is one of ж ш щ ч: пи́шут, not пи́шют.
- No ы after г к х ж ш щ ч — use и instead. This is invisible in most present-tense endings (2nd conjugation already uses и), but it explains spellings you'll see elsewhere in the paradigm system, like plural nouns.
You don't need to derive these rules from scratch each time — just recognize that пишу, пишешь, пишет, пишем, пишете, пишут (писа́ть, 1st conjugation with с→ш mutation throughout) is the correct, spelling-rule-compliant paradigm, not an exception to panic over.
Irregular and "must-know" verbs
These don't fit either paradigm cleanly. Learn them as fixed vocabulary — they're too common to skip.
хоте́ть (to want) — mixed conjugation
Singular forms follow 1st conjugation, plural forms follow 2nd conjugation. This mix is unique to хотеть and a couple of related verbs.
| Form | |
|---|---|
| я | хочу́ |
| ты | хо́чешь |
| он/она́ | хо́чет |
| мы | хоти́м |
| вы | хоти́те |
| они́ | хотя́т |
Я хочу́ пить. — lit. "I want to-drink." — "I want to drink (something)."
мочь (to be able to / can)
| Form | |
|---|---|
| я | могу́ |
| ты | мо́жешь |
| он/она́ | мо́жет |
| мы | мо́жем |
| вы | мо́жете |
| они́ | мо́гут |
Я не могу́ говори́ть сейча́с. — lit. "I not can speak now." — "I can't talk right now."
жить (to live)
| Form | |
|---|---|
| я | живу́ |
| ты | живёшь |
| он/она́ | живёт |
| мы | живём |
| вы | живёте |
| они́ | живу́т |
Мы живём в Москве́. — lit. "We live in Moscow-PREP." — "We live in Moscow."
есть (to eat)
| Form | |
|---|---|
| я | ем |
| ты | ешь |
| он/она́ | ест |
| мы | еди́м |
| вы | еди́те |
| они́ | едя́т |
Что ты ешь? — lit. "What you eat?" — "What are you eating?"
пить (to drink)
| Form | |
|---|---|
| я | пью |
| ты | пьёшь |
| он/она́ | пьёт |
| мы | пьём |
| вы | пьёте |
| они́ | пьют |
Он пьёт чай. — lit. "He drinks tea-ACC." — "He's drinking tea."
идти́ (to go, on foot, one direction) and е́хать (to go, by vehicle)
We'll cover the full picture of motion verbs in Lesson 13, but you'll need the basic present tense long before then:
| идти́ | е́хать | |
|---|---|---|
| я | иду́ | е́ду |
| ты | идёшь | е́дешь |
| он/она́ | идёт | е́дет |
| мы | идём | е́дем |
| вы | идёте | е́дете |
| они́ | иду́т | е́дут |
Я иду́ в парк. — lit. "I go(on-foot) into park-ACC." — "I'm walking to the park."
Мы е́дем в Москву́. — lit. "We go(by-vehicle) into Moscow-ACC." — "We're driving/traveling to Moscow."
Reflexive verbs: -ся / -сь
Some verbs carry a fixed suffix, -ся (after a consonant or й) or -сь (after a vowel), stuck onto the end of every conjugated form. Historically this suffix is a shrunken form of себя́ ("self") — the action reflects back on the subject in some way, though in practice many -ся verbs just have their own dictionary meaning to learn.
Two very common examples: учи́ться (to study/be a student) and занима́ться (to study/be occupied with something).
| учи́ться | |
|---|---|
| я | учу́сь |
| ты | у́чишься |
| он/она́ | у́чится |
| мы | у́чимся |
| вы | у́читесь |
| они́ | у́чатся |
Я учу́сь в университе́те. — lit. "I study-self in university-PREP." — "I study at university."
Она́ занима́ется спо́ртом. — lit. "She occupies-self sport-INSTR." — "She does sports / She's into sports."
The rule for which suffix to use is purely about the sound right before it: consonant or й → -ся; vowel → -сь. Compare учу́сь (after the vowel у) to у́чится (after the consonant т).
Practice
- Conjugate чита́ть for "ты" and "они́".
- Conjugate говори́ть for "мы" and "вы".
- Give the "я" form of люби́ть. What's special about it?
- Give the "я" form of ви́деть. What's special about it?
- Conjugate хоте́ть fully (all six forms).
- Fill in the blank: Он ___ (мочь) чита́ть по-ру́сски.
- Fill in the blank: Мы ___ (жить) в Санкт-Петербу́рге.
- Translate: "I drink tea, and she drinks coffee." (use пить)
- Translate: "We are going to the park." (use идти́, on foot)
- Fill in the blank with the correct reflexive form: Я ___ (учи́ться) в шко́ле.
- Explain in one sentence why пи́шут is spelled with у, not ю.
- Translate: "I want to eat." (use хоте́ть + есть)
Answers
- ты чита́ешь, они́ чита́ют — 1st conjugation regular endings.
- мы говори́м, вы говори́те — 2nd conjugation regular endings.
- люблю́ — б→бл mutation happens only in the "я" form of 2nd-conjugation люби́ть.
- ви́жу — д→ж mutation, also only in the "я" form.
- хочу́, хо́чешь, хо́чет, хоти́м, хоти́те, хотя́т — mixed conjugation: singular like 1st, plural like 2nd.
- Он мо́жет чита́ть по-ру́сски. — 3rd person singular of мочь.
- Мы живём в Санкт-Петербу́рге. — 1st person plural of жить.
- Я пью чай, а она́ пьёт ко́фе. — irregular пить conjugated for "я" and "она".
- Мы идём в парк. — идти́ used for a specific on-foot trip happening now.
- Я учу́сь в шко́ле. — reflexive -сь after the vowel у in the "я" form.
- The spelling rule says no unstressed ю after ш — а plain у is used instead, even though the underlying ending pattern is the same "they" ending as -ют verbs.
- Я хочу́ есть. — хоте́ть conjugated for "я," followed by the plain infinitive есть.