Немно́го о языке́ 9.3 Как То́ни заблуди́лся
Imperatives
You are already familiar with a number of command forms in Russian.
| Commands to people you speak to in ты | Commands to people you speak to in вы |
|---|---|
| Расскажи́ | Расскажи́те |
| Помоги́ | Помоги́те |
| Повтори́ | Повтори́те |
| Чита́й | Чита́йте |
| Слу́шай | Слу́шайте |
| Посове́туй | Посове́туйте |
In this section, you will learn how to form imperatives for other verbs, for which we start with the они́́ form of the conjugated form of the verb. This will be the present tense for imperfective verbs, and the future tense for perfective verbs. Remove the ending for the third person: -ут for first conjugation verbs; -ят/-ат for second conjugation verbs.
If the resulting form uncovers a stem in –й-, then you have the imperative.
If the resulting form ends in a consonant other than й, check the location of the stress in the я form of the verb.
| If the stress in the я form is on the ending, add –и́. |
| If the stress in the я form is on the stem, then add –ь. |
When giving a command to people whom you address with вы, add the ending –те to the base imperative form.
| Infinitive: | де́лать | гуля́ть | купи́ть | говори́ть | гото́вить | забы́ть |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| они | де́лают | гуля́ют | ку́пят | говоря́т | гото́вят | забу́дут |
| - ending | де́лай - ут | гуля́й -ут | куп - ят | говор - ят | готов - ят | забуд - ут |
| uncover й or add и́ or add -ь |
де́лай! * | гуля́й! * | купи́! ** |
говори́! ** |
готовь! *** |
забудь! *** |
| вы imperative add -те |
де́лайте! | гуля́йте! | купи́те! | говори́те! | гото́вьте! | забу́дьте |
Упражне́ние 1
Read the English situations and pick out the imperative that you would use in the situation. All the forms in the table are real imperatives in Russian.
There are some additional complications in forming imperatives.
1. Since й is a consonant, we spell the reflexive particle –ся after it. For example, занима́йся!
2. A verb like по́мнить has stem stress in all forms (я по́мню, они́́ по́мнят), but the stem of the third person plural ends in two consonants (по́мн- ят). For such verbs, the imperative will end in unstress –и (по́мни! по́мните!)
3. A verb like пить has the third person plural form пьют. When –ут is removed, the result is пьй- where the ь is replaced with the fill vowel е. Пей! Вы́пей!