Welcome to another post on the past tense.
| For the main post, please click here. Here, I explained what the past tense is and how it’s formed. |
In this post, we’ll be focusing on irregularities in the past tense.
We’ve encountered plenty of irregularities when conjugating verbs in the present tense.
Sadly, the past tense is no exception.
Yet, there is good news!
There are far less irregularities in the past tense!
| мочь [to be able, can] |
| мог | могла | могло | могли |
| Other verbs following this pattern [more or less] are помочь* [to help], жечь [to sting], печь [to bake], стричь [to cut], беречь [to keep], etc. Notice they are all verbs ending in –чь. These verbs also conjugate similarly in the present. Click here to learn more. |
| жечь [to sting] |
| жёг | жгла | жгло | жгли |
| печь [to bake] |
| пёк | пекла | пекло | пекли |
| стричь [to cut] |
| стриг | стригла | стригло | стригли |
| беречь [to keep] |
| берёг | берегла | берегло | берегли |
Some examples for clarity:
| Мама стригла мои волосы каждые 2 месяца. Mom gave me a haircut [lit. cut my hair] every 2 months. |
| В детстве мы с бабушкой пекли самые вкусные пирожки. In my childhood, my grandma and I baked the tastiest little pies. |
| Дедушка целую жизнь берёг здоровье и прожил до 100 лет. Grandpa took care of his health his whole life and lived to 100. |
| идти [to go] |
| шёл | шла | шло | шли |
| Other verbs following this pattern are пойти [to go], уйти [to leave], прийти [to arrive], выйти [to leave], отойти [to move away], перейти [to cross], найти [to find], пройти [to pass], etc. |
Some of these verbs are conjugated here so you see:
| выйти [to leave] |
| вышел | вышла | вышло | вышли |
| уйти [to leave] |
| ушёл | ушла | ушло | ушли |
| найти [to find] |
| нашёл | нашла | нашло | нашли |
Some examples for clarity:
| По пути домой я нашёл бумажник с сотнями евро внутри. On the way home, I found a wallet with hundreds of euros inside. |
| Она ушла с работы в начале июня. She quit her job at the beginning of June. |
| Ты вышел покурить? Did you step out to have a smoke? |
| рости [to grow] |
| рос | росла | росло | росли |
| The only other verb I can think of that shares this pattern is спасти* [to save]. The verbs нести [to carry, to take -on foot-] and везти [to take -by vehicle-, to transport] can also be included in this category. |
| спасти [to save] |
| спас | спасла | спасло | спасли |
| нести [to carry, to take on foot] |
| нёс | несла | несло | несли |
| везти [to take by vehicle, to transport] |
| вёз | везла | везло | везли |
Some examples for clarity:
| Пётр родился в Польше, но вырос в Украине. Pyotr was born in Poland but grew up in Ukraine. |
| Он спас мне жизнь. Он настоящий герой. He saved my life. He’s a real hero. |
| Тётя Маша несла медовый торт на праздник. Aunt Masha brough a honey cake to the celebration. |
| есть [to eat] |
| ел | ела | ело | ели |
| The only other verb sharing a similar pattern that I can think of is упасть* [to fall]. I’m including вести [to lead] because it has a similar conjugation pattern. |
| упасть [to fall] |
| упал | упала | упало | упали |
| вести [to lead] |
| вёл | вела | вело | вели |
| привыкнуть* [to get used to] |
For verbs ending in –нуть [perfective verbs], you remove that ending and you’re left with the masculine form. For the other forms, follow the pattern:
| привык | привыкла | привыкло | привыкли |
| ошибиться* [to make a mistake] |
This is just a weird past tense form. I can’t think of any other verbs like it at the moment.
| ошибся | ошиблась | ошиблось | ошиблись |
| умереть* [to die] |
| умер | умерла | умерло | умерли |
Some in-context examples:
| Она уже привылка рано вставать. She’s already gotten used to getting up early. |
| Бабушка вела тихую и счастливую жизнь. Grandma led a quiet and happy life. |
| Извините, Вы ошиблись номером. Sorry, you’ve got the wrong number. [telephone phrase] |
Well, that just about does it for today’s post.
I hope it proved to be useful for you.
My Slavic Studies 