Colloquial Russian

(Steven Felgate) #1

160 Unit 11: Как снять кварти ́ ру


Мно�го вре�мени он проводи�л в интерне�те
‘He would spend/used to spend/has been spending a lot of time
on the internet’.
The imperfective is used with adverbs which indicate frequency of
action: всегда� ‘always’; обы�чно ‘usually’; ча�сто ‘often’; регуля�рно
‘regularly’.

Пи�тер ча�сто осма�тривал кварти�ры
‘Peter often looked round flats’.

(b) Unfinished or continuous action:

Пи�тер долго иска�л кварти�ру
‘Peter was looking for a flat for a long time’.
Мари�на жила� в общежитии
‘Marina was living in a hostel’.
(c) Emphasis on the process of an action:
Жить в це�нтре Москвы� в гости�нице до�рого.
‘It is expensive to live in the centre of Moscow in an hotel’.

Ве�чером мо�жно сиде�ть на балко�не
‘In the evening you can sit on the balcony’.

(d) After certain verbs:

After the verbs начина�ть ‘to begin’; конча�ть ‘to finish’;
продолжа�ть ‘to continue’ the imperfective infinitive is always used:

Пи�тер начина�ет иска�ть кварти�ру
‘Peter is beginning to look for a flat’.

Perfective aspect


(a) Single actions with the emphasis on completion or result:
Пи�тер прочита�л объявле�ние и сра�зу позвони�л по телефо�ну.
‘Peter read the advertisement and immediately rang up.’

Я хочу� прочита�ть э�тy кни�гу
‘I want to read (finish reading/read to the end of) this book’.
Free download pdf