Russian verbs look crowded from a distance: two conjugation patterns, three tenses, two aspects, an imperative, participles. Underneath that crowd sits a surprisingly small system. Once it settles, you can conjugate most new verbs you meet without being taught them.

This article lays out that system in tables. The example verbs and forms — stress marks included — come from Glagol's own verb data.

First, a distinction: aspect

Most Russian verbs exist in two versions:

  • Imperfective (несоверше́нный) — process, repetition, habit: де́лать
  • Perfective (соверше́нный) — one completed action: сде́лать

This shapes conjugation directly, because:

Perfective verbs have NO present tense.

The logic is simple: an action cannot be both "happening right now" and "already completed". That one sentence also explains the strange future tense you'll meet below. For the verbs themselves with their partners, see the 100 most common Russian verbs.

Present tense: two conjugation patterns

The present exists only for imperfective verbs. And verbs fall into two groups by their endings.

The practical test: look at the ты form. Ends in -ешь → first conjugation. Ends in -ишь → second conjugation.

First conjugation — де́лать (to do)

Person Russian English
я де́лаю I do
ты де́лаешь you do
он/она́ де́лает he/she does
мы де́лаем we do
вы де́лаете you do
они́ де́лают they do

Endings: -ю, -ешь, -ет, -ем, -ете, -ют

Second conjugation — говори́ть (to speak)

Person Russian English
я говорю́ I speak
ты говори́шь you speak
он/она́ говори́т he/she speaks
мы говори́м we speak
вы говори́те you speak
они́ говоря́т they speak

Endings: -ю, -ишь, -ит, -им, -ите, -ят

The entire difference is one vowel: e in the first, i in the second. Everything else is parallel.

Note: Russian doesn't separate "I do" from "I am doing". Де́лаю covers both; context decides.

Past tense: the easy part

Here Russian gives something back. In the past tense the verb does not change with the person. There's no separate ending for я, ты or он.

So what does it change with? The gender and number of the subject. Four forms in total:

де́лать English
masculine де́лал did / was doing
feminine де́лала did / was doing
neuter де́лало did
plural де́лали did

Formation is just as simple: drop -ть from the infinitive and add -л / -ла / -ло / -ли.

For an English speaker the consequence takes some getting used to:

Я де́лал. — I did. (said by a man) Я де́лала. — I did. (said by a woman)

In other words, every time you speak about the past you also state your own gender. English has no grammatical gender at all, so this is a genuinely new reflex — but with only four forms, it's among the cheapest things in Russian to acquire.

Aspect appears here too

The same verb has two pasts, and they mean different things:

Imperfective Perfective
де́лал — was doing, worked at it сде́лал — did it and finished
говори́л — was speaking сказа́л — said

Future tense: two different routes

Now the consequence of the rule we opened with. The future is built completely differently depending on aspect.

1. Imperfective → compound future

Conjugated быть + the infinitive:

Person Russian
я бу́ду де́лать
ты бу́дешь де́лать
он бу́дет де́лать
мы бу́дем де́лать
вы бу́дете де́лать
они́ бу́дут де́лать

Essentially "I will be doing" — the process is what's foregrounded.

2. Perfective → simple future

And here's the crux: you conjugate a perfective verb with present-tense endings, but the meaning is FUTURE.

сде́лаю — I will do (not "I am doing") скажу́ — I will say пойду́ — I will go

The shape looks present, but it cannot carry present meaning — because a perfective verb has no present. That vacant form was repurposed to serve as the future.

This is the single point where most learners stall. Once it clicks, it starts to look like one of the more elegant things about the language.

The imperative

Built from the verb stem, with two versions: familiar (ты) and polite/plural (вы).

Verb Familiar Polite
де́лать де́лай де́лайте
говори́ть говори́ говори́те
идти́ иди́ иди́те

The polite form is simply the familiar one plus -те — the same ты/вы logic that runs through the whole language.

The irregulars

As in every language, the most-used verbs are the least regular.

хоте́ть (to want) — mixes both conjugations

Person Russian
я хочу́
ты хо́чешь
он хо́чет
мы хоти́м
вы хоти́те
они́ хотя́т

The singular behaves like the first conjugation (-ешь), the plural like the second (-им) — and the stress moves as well.

идти́ (to go) — a completely different past

Person Present
я иду́
ты идёшь
он идёт
они́ иду́т

In the past the stem changes entirely: шёл / шла / шло / шли. No resemblance to the infinitive — it simply has to be memorised. English does the same thing with go / went, so the phenomenon isn't foreign, only the specific forms.

быть (to be)

Not used in the present — Я студе́нт means "I am a student" with no verb at all. But it returns in the past and future:

past: был / была́ / бы́ло / бы́ли future: бу́ду, бу́дешь, бу́дет, бу́дем, бу́дете, бу́дут

Note the stress moving to the end in the feminine: был but была́.

Summary

Tense Imperfective Perfective
Present де́лаю none
Past де́лал(а) сде́лал(а)
Future бу́ду де́лать сде́лаю

Three rows, and that's the system. Everything else — stem changes, stress shifts, irregulars — hangs on this skeleton.

How to study it

  1. Memorise one verb from each conjugation (де́лать and говори́ть are good choices). Pattern-match every new verb against them.
  2. Learn the past early — only four forms, the best return on effort available.
  3. Take aspect pairs together. де́лать/сде́лать should be one card, not two words.
  4. Learn stress with the form. It moves between хочу́ and хо́чешь, and correcting that later is slow work.

Glagol's Verbs section drills 22 aspect pairs with full conjugation tables, native audio and correct stress — the tables in this article come from that same data. Verbs of motion get their own tab, paired with their aspect partners.