288 Unit 20: Сиби�рь
Examples:
Си�дя в по�езде, Пи�тер разгова�ривает с ру�сскими
пассажи�рами
‘Sitting in the train, Peter talks to the Russian passengers’. The ger-
und си�дя ‘sitting’ is used instead of the adverbial clause когда� он
сиди�т ‘while he sits’.
Provided the action of the gerund takes place at the same time
as the action of the main verb, an imperfective gerund is used what-
ever the tense of the main verb: Си�дя в по�езде, Пи�тер бу�дет
разгова�ривать с ру�сскими пассажи�рами ‘Sitting in the train,
Peter will talk to the Russian passengers’; Си�дя в по�езде, Питер
разгова�ривал с ру�сскими пассажи�рами ‘Sitting in the train, Peter
talked to the Russian passengers’. In the first example, си�дя is used
instead of the clause когда� он бу�дет сиде�ть, and in the second
example, it replaces когда� он сиде�л.
In the above examples, a gerund has been used to replace an adver-
bial clause of time. Gerunds may also replace other kinds of adverbial
clauses: Зна�я пробле�мы Сиби�ри, Пи�тер реши�л пое�хать туда�
‘Knowing the problems of Siberia, Peter decided to go there’. Here,
зна�я replaces the causal clause так как он знал ‘since he knew’.
A gerund may also be used to replace one of two main verbs linked
by ‘and’: Она� гото�вит обе�д и слу�шает ра�дио ‘She prepares dinner
and listens to the radio’; Она� гото�вит обе�д, слу�шая ра�диo ‘She
prepares dinner listening to the radio’.
Note the use of the negative gerund to translate ‘without... -ing’:
Постро�или фа�брики в Сиби�ри, не принима�я во внима�ние
экологи�ческие фа�кторы ‘They have built factories in Siberia with-
out taking into consideration ecological factors’.Perfective gerund
Formation of the perfective gerund
To form the perfective gerund, remove the -л from the masculine form of
the perfective past tense and replace it with -в or -вши (the latter being
less common): прочита�ть – прочита�л – прочита�в ‘having read’;
уви�деть – уви�дел – уви�дев ‘having seen’. The perfective gerund
of reflexive verbs ends in -вшись: оде�ться – оде�лся – оде�вшись
‘having dressed’.