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
-у
You (informal)
-ёшь
He / she / it
-ёт
We
-ём
You (formal or plural)
-ёте
They
-ут
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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)
Not doing ...
To indicate that you are NOT doing something then you add the word "не" (nyeh) between the pronoun and the verb.
