CLASS 6 · LEARNING KNOWLEDGE
Common past tense forms and gender in Russian
How it works
In Russian, the past tense agrees with the subject. In the singular, the verb shows gender: masculine usually ‹-л›, feminine ‹-ла›, neuter ‹-ло›. In the plural, ‹-ли› is used for all genders. Examples: ‹он писал›, ‹она писала›, ‹оно писало›, ‹они писали›. So for the correct form, it is important whether the subject is masculine, feminine, neuter, or plural.
Note
The simple Russian past tense is usually formed from the infinitive stem. After that, the ending depends on the subject: masculine ‹-л›, feminine ‹-ла›, neuter ‹-ло›, plural ‹-ли›. Therefore, for example, one says: ‹он читал›, ‹она читала›, ‹оно читало›, ‹они читали›.
The simple Russian past tense is usually formed from the infinitive stem. After that, the ending depends on the subject: masculine ‹-л›, feminine ‹-ла›, neuter ‹-ло›, plural ‹-ли›. Therefore, for example, one says: ‹он читал›, ‹она читала›, ‹оно читало›, ‹они читали›.
An example
Choose the correct past tense form: ‹Мама ... письмо.›
The correct form is ‹писала›, because ‹мама› is feminine: ‹Мама писала письмо.›
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50 Exercises
To the learning unit →Own explanation and own practice exercises by AmyMath. Subject reference framework: Russian. The topic assignment may vary by federal state.