Russian Gerund


Definition: The gerund is also called the present participle; however, the gerund is Not the equivalent to the English gerund. It may Not be used as a noun as in English. The English gerund is normally translated into Russian as an infinitive.

Present Gerunds

The present gerunds in Russian are formed from the third person plural, for that you can do a gerund, you must remove the final letters ут, ют, ат ят of verb and add the letter я or a the verb; If the verb finished in ж, ч, ш, щ you must add the letter a the verb.

Verb Gerund Verb in Third Person Gerund Pronunciation
play playing играют играя igraya
read reading читают читая chitaya
dance dancing танцуют танцуя tantsuya
sing singing поют поя poya
cook cooking готовят готовя gotovya


But also exist other gerunds that have a irregular formation, that you can see below.

Irregular Formation
  1. The verbs ending in вать preceded by да, зна or стa form their gerund from the infinitive.

    Verb Gerund Verb in Third Person Gerund Pronunciation
    give giving давать давая davaya
    rise rising вставать вставая vstavaya
    sell selling продавать продавая prodavaya


  2. The gerunds in present tense may end occasionally in учи or ючи; This is usually limited to colloquial language, folksongs or set expressions.

    Verb Gerund Verb in Third Person Gerund Pronunciation
    go going идти едучи yeduchi
    drive driving привод едучи yeduchi
    walk walking ходить идучи iduchi


  3. Many verbs do not have gerunds or your gerunds are obsolete. This verbs are:

    • The verbs with no vowel in the stem of the present tense, such as: ждать (to wait) жду, ждёшь; врать (to tell lies), вру, врёшь.

    • The verbs ending in чь, such as: мочь (to be able); жечь (to burn).

    • The verbs with the suffix нуть, such as: гибнуть (to perish); мокнуть (to get wet).

    English Russian Pronunciation
    to run бежать bezhatʹ
    to beat бить bitʹ
    to spin вить vitʹ
    to knit вязать vyazatʹ
    to pour лить litʹ
    to appear казаться kazatʹsya
    to sew шить shitʹ
    to climb лезть leztʹ
    to spread мазать mazatʹ
    to sing петь petʹ
    to write писать pisatʹ
    to drink пить pitʹ
    to scratch чесать chesatʹ
    to dance плясать plyasatʹ


Past Gerunds

  1. When the past end in a vowel л, you must remove the final letter л and add the letter в.

    Verb Gerund Verb in Past Gerund Pronunciation
    to write writing написал написав napisav
    to ask asking спросил спросив sprosiv
    to fly flying полетел полетев poletev

  2. When the stem of the infinitive ends in a vowel, and the stem of the past ends in a consonant other than л, the ending ть is dropped from the infinitive and в is added to the stem.

    Verb Gerund Verb in Past Gerund Pronunciation
    to lock locking запереть заперев zaperev
    to pay paying платить платив plativ
    to make making делать делав delav

  3. Irregular Formation: The compounds of идти

    Verb Gerund Verb in Perfective Future Gerund Pronunciation
    to find finding найдут найдя naĭdya
    to bring bringing принесут принеся prinesya
    to see seeing делать увидят uvidev


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