Home    Menu    About Us    Contact Us    Links  

Introduction to Verbs

_________________________________

VOCABULARY USED IN THIS LESSON

Russian Pronunciation English
в Австралии v afv-strah-lee in Australia
в квартире v kvar-teer-yeh in an apartment
в Лондоне v lon-da-nyeh in London
в России v ra-see-i in Russia
с s with
с ним s-nim with him
с родителями s ra-dee-tyel-ya-mi with parents

_________________________________

Special Note

Do you understand why?
· The word for Australia (Австралия) is written as → Австралии
· The word for Russia (Россия) is written as → России
· The word for 'apartment' (квартира) is written as → квартире
· The word for 'him' (его) is written as → ним

To speak correctly you need to understand these transformations!

We explain these transformations in our new online Russian course for beginners: Learn Russian Step-by-step

 

 

Type 4 and 5 verbs are simply special cases of Type 3 verbs where the suffix is stressed. For these verbs it is also usually impossible to guess the stem from the infinitive.

For example, the verb жить means "to live".

The unguessable stem of жить is жив-

However, unlike Type 3 verbs, the suffix of Type 4 verbs is always stressed, which causes the "е" in the suffix to change to a "ё".


Here is a summary of Type 4 verb suffixes organised by pronoun:

 

Pronoun Type 4 Verb Suffix
I
You (informal) -ёшь
He / she / it -ёт
We -ём
You (formal or plural) -ёте
They -ут

_________________________________

 

Therefore we can conjugate жить in the following manner:

Verb: To live

Infinitive: жить


Stem: жив-

Conjugation Type: 4

Russian English
Я живу I live
Ты живёшь You live
Он/ Она/ Оно живёт He/ She/ It lives
Мы живём We live
Вы живёте You live
Они живут They live

_________________________________

 

I live in Australia
Я живу в Австралии
Pronounced: ya zhi-voo v-afv-strah-lee

Listen:

(Lena)
Do you live in Russia?
Ты живёшь в России?
Pronounced: tei zhiv-yosh v ra-see-i

Listen:

(Lena)
She lives in London
Она живёт в Лондоне
Pronounced: a-nah zhi-vyot v lon-da-nyeh

Listen:

(Lena)
We live in an apartment
Мы живём в квартире
Pronounced:

mwei zhiv-yom v kvar-teer-yeh
(Note: "v kvar-teer-yeh" is pronounced more like "fkwar-teer-yeh")

Listen:

(Irina)
Do you live with him?
Вы живёте с ним?
Pronounced: vwei zhiv-yoh-tyeh s-nim

Listen:

(Irina)
They live with parents
Они живут с родителями
Pronounced: a-ni zhi-voot s ra-dee-tyel-ya-mi

Listen:

(Irina)