As you already know Russian language is divided only in 3 tenses: Present Tense, Past Tense and Future Tense. In previous article, we have explained Present Tense and ways of its usage. We think it’s smart to study Past Tense as a second tense of Russian language since it’s easy and fast to learn.
It also worth to mention that Russian Past Tense is similar to Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect and Perfect Continuous as well as Present Perfect in English. The last one refers to Past tense in Russian because it’s already finished (complete) action. And everything that has been done has to be used in Past tense in Russian language.
| In English | = | In Russian |
| Present Perfect | Past Tense in Russian | |
| Past Simple | ||
| Past Continuous | ||
| Past Perfect | ||
| Past Perfect Continuous |
The formation of Past Tense is the easiest to remember. From “The infinitive verb in Russian” lesson you already know that there is three types of ending of Russian infinitive verb:
-ть; -ти and -чь.
1. The formation of Past Tense in Russian language with infinitive ending: -ть.
All you need is to remove the ending “ть” from infinitive form of the Russian verb and add the following endings accordingly to Gender and Quantity:
| Example of Infinitive verb | Ending in Past Tense | Past Tense |
| Делать – to do, to make Replace the ending “ть” with the following ending in Past tense | Masculine gender – л | Он делал – He did |
| Feminine gender – ла | Она делала – She did | |
| Neutral gender – ло | Оно делало – It did | |
| Plural form – ли | Они делали – They did |
Always keep in mind the following: When “я” is the subject, the verb agrees with the subject’s gender, so a man should say: “я делал”; a woman should say: “я делала”.
As well as the gender of the person addressed is “ты”. If the subject “ты” is a woman then feminine formation should be used or the subject “ты” is man then masculine formation has to be used accordingly: Ты сделала (for woman) / ты сделал (for man).
2. The formation of Past Tense in Russian language with infinitive ending: -ти.
The formation of Russian Past tense with such ending is the easiest thing to do. In case, you have infinitive verb ending “-ти” in Russian you need to remember this:
a) With Masculine gender to form a Past Tense you simply remove the ending -ти.
b) With Feminine, Neuter and Plural genders you apply the first rule of this article. Replace -ти with -ла, -ло and -ли accordingly.
For example:
| Example of Infinitive verb | Ending in Past Tense | Past Tense |
| везти – to carry, convey (by transport) ползти – to crawl | Masculine gender Remove the ending -ти | Он вёз – He carried Он полз – He crawled |
| Feminine -ла | Она везла – She carried Она ползла – She crawled | |
| Neuter -ло | Оно везло – It carried Оно ползло – It crawled | |
| Plural -ли | Они везли – They carried Они позли – They crawled |
Note: In the masculine form in the Past tense the letter “е” in the stem of some verbs has to be replaced with “ё”. This rule is also applicable to all situations.
3. The formation of Past Tense in Russian language with infinitive ending: -чь.
a) In case of Masculine gender you replace the infinitive ending “-чь” with the ending “-г” or “-к”. b) Feminine, Neuter and Plural genders are formed by adding to Masculine formation (to the previous option “a)”) “-г” or “-к” endings additional endings of Feminine, Neuter and Plural accordingly “-ла”, “-ло” or “-ли”.
For example:
| Example of Infinitive verb | Ending in Past Tense | Past Tense |
| беречь – to take care of, to protect отвлечь – to distract, to divert | г / к | Он берёг – He took care of Он отвлёк – He distracted |
| Feminine -ла | Она берегла – She took care of Она отвлекла – She distracted | |
| Neuter -ло | Оно берегло – It took care of Оно отвлекло – It distracted | |
| Plural -ли | Они берегли – They took care of Они отвлекли – They distracted |
Past Tense with Reflexive Verbs
Reflexive verbs maintain the reflexive endings (-ся and -сь) and they are conjugated in exactly the same way as discussed already above. Let’s explain what we mean by that.
For example:
| Example of Infinitive verb | Ending in Past Tense | Past Tense |
| беречь – to take care of, to protect отвлечь – to distract, to divert | г / к + reflexive ending -ся | Он берёгся – He took care of himself Он отвлёкся – He distracted himself |
| Feminine -ла + reflexive ending -сь | Она береглась – She took care of herself Она отвлеклась – She distracted herself | |
| Neuter –ло + reflexive ending -сь | Оно береглось – It took care of itself Оно отвлеклось – It distracted itself | |
| Plural –ли + reflexive ending -сь | Они береглись – They took care of themselves Они отвлеклись – They distracted themselves |
All those 3 rules with infinitive endings “-ть”, “-ти” and “-чь” can go along with reflexive endings (-ся and -сь) in case you need to form SELF actionable form (or reflexive form). You simply apply the rule according to what ending it has and then simply add reflexive ending to form reflexive verbs in Past Tense in Russian language.
Some irregulars from Past tense conjugation
| Example of Infinitive verb | Past Tense Conjugation |
| идти – to go (on foot) | Masculine gender – Он шёл Feminine gender – Она шла Neuter gender – Оно шло Plural gender – Они шли |
| мочь – to be able to, can | Masculine gender – Он мог Feminine gender – Она могла Neuter gender – Оно могло Plural gender – Они могли |
| мести – sweep, broom | Masculine gender – Он мёл Feminine gender – Она мела Neuter gender – Оно мело Plural gender – Они мели |
If you still have any questions, please write them in a comment section or ask for a professional tutor.
