Russian · TORFL Band 1 (A1) · Chapter 34
Вчера я отдыхалYesterday I rested
Our first big past tense! Until now we spoke only about the present. Now we learn to tell about yesterday. In Russian the past is formed very simply: take the infinitive, drop «-ть» and add «-л»: читать → читал, работать → работал, купить → купил. But there is one twist, familiar from chapter 20: the form agrees not with the PERSON but with the GENDER and NUMBER of the subject. Masculine: «-л» (он читал). Feminine: «-ла» (она читала). Neuter: «-ло» (радио играло). Plural: «-ли» (они читали). So a man says «я читал», a woman «я читала». Mike, the Englishman, forgets about gender (English «read» is the same for everyone) and says «Она читал» ✗ instead of «Она читала» ✓. Ivan will recall the gender rule from chapter 20. Sound corner: «читал» = «chi-TÁL», «читала» = «chi-TÁ-la».
Dialogue
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Что делала Аня вчера?— What did Anya do yesterday?
- ivan
- mike
- ivan
- mike
- ivan
- mike
Dialogue
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Выходные— The weekend
- anya
- ivan
- anya
- ivan
- anya
- ivan
Vocabulary
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- вчера
adverbyesterday
- отдыхать
verbto rest
- купить
verbto buy
- смотреть
verbto watch, to look
- гулять
verbto stroll, to walk
- готовить
verbto cook, to prepare
- фильм
nounfilm, movie
- письмо
nounletter
- уже
adverbalready
- недавно
adverbrecently
Grammar
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The past tense: «-л / -ла / -ло / -ли»
Explanation
The Russian past tense is surprisingly easy. Take the infinitive, drop «-ть» and add the ending by the GENDER and NUMBER of the SUBJECT: masculine «-л», feminine «-ла», neuter «-ло», plural «-ли». Look: читать → читал (he), читала (she), читали (we/they). Работать → работал, работала, работали. Купить → купил, купила, купили. Important: the ending does NOT depend on the person (я / ты / он) — only on gender and number. So a man says «я работал», a woman «я работала»; «ты купил» to a man, «ты купила» to a woman. This is the same gender-agreement logic as adjectives in chapter 20 (новый / новая / новое). Past of «быть» (to be): был / была / было / были. Mike’s mistake: in English the past-tense verb does not change by gender («she read», «he read» — the same), so he says «Она читал» ✗. But the subject «она» is feminine, so it must be «Она читала» ✓.
Examples
- Вчера он работал дома.Yesterday he worked at home.
- Вчера она читала книгу.Yesterday she read a book.
- Мы купили хлеб и молоко.We bought bread and milk.
- Я уже смотрел этот фильм.I have already watched this film. (man speaking)
- Я уже смотрела этот фильм.I have already watched this film. (woman speaking)
Cyrillic
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Шипящие: «ж, ш» твёрдые, «ч, щ» мягкие— The hushing letters: «ж, ш» hard, «ч, щ» soft
Four "hushing" letters. Two of them — «ж» (as in «уже») and «ш» (as in «хорошо») — are ALWAYS hard, whatever follows. The other two — «ч» (as in «читал», «вчера») and «щ» (as in «ещё») — are ALWAYS soft. So «ж» sounds like the English «s» in «pleasure», «ш» like «sh» in «shop», «ч» like «ch» in «chair», «щ» like a long soft «sh-ch». A useful consequence: after «ж, ш, ч, щ» you never write «я» or «ю» — only «а», «у». And: an unstressed «о» after a hushing letter is also read as «a» — «хорошо» = «kha-ra-SHÓ». This links up with the "akanye" of chapter 32. Read the words aloud and listen for the hush.
Read the words aloud:
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