Past Tense
Past Tense Formation
Russian past tense is simple: remove -ть from infinitive, add gender ending.
| Gender | Ending | Example (читать) | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | -л | он читал | on chi-TAL |
| Feminine | -ла | она читала | a-NA chi-TA-la |
| Neuter | -ло | оно читало | a-NO chi-TA-la |
| Plural | -ли | они читали | a-NI chi-TA-li |
💡 Past tense agrees with gender of subject, NOT person. Я (I) uses -л if speaker is male, -ла if female!
Examples
- Он читал газету. (on chi-TAL ga-ZYE-too) (He was reading the newspaper.)
- Она читала книгу. (a-NA chi-TA-la KNEEgoo) (She was reading a book.)
- Я читал (ya chi-TAL) (male speaker) / Я читала (ya chi-TA-la) (female speaker) роман (ra-MAN).
Aspect in Past Tense
| Imperfective past | Perfective past | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | was doing / used to | did (completed) |
| Example | Я читал — I was reading | Я прочитал — I read (finished it) |
Irregular Past Tenses
| Infinitive | Pronunciation | He (masc.) | Pronunciation | She (fem.) | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| идти | id-TEE | шёл | shyol | шла | shla |
| мочь | moch' | мог | mok | могла | mak-LA |
| есть (eat) | yest' | ел | yel | ела | YE-la |
Practice
Past tense of читать for она (she)?
она читала
If a female speaker says 'I worked yesterday', what ending does she use?
-ла: Я работала вчера.
Difference: он читал vs он прочитал?
читал = was reading (process/imperfective) | прочитал = finished reading (completed/perfective)