How to form the Russian Past Tense
The Russian past tense is equivalent to all the English past tense constructions
- I wrote, I did write, I was writing, I used to write, I had written, I had been writing etc.
To form the past tense:
1. Remove
ть or
сть from the infinitive.
2. Add
л for masculine
ла for feminine
ло for neuter
ли for plural
Depending on the gender or number of the speaker.
For example
читать - to read
We remove the ть to leave just the stem: чита
We then add л if a man was speaking to give читал
or ла if a woman was speaking to give читала
or ло for neuter objects
or ли for all plurals regardless of gender. eg all males, all females, or a mixture
Russian Past Tense Exercises
Now do the following exercises to see that you've understood how to form the Russian Past Tense.
Russian Keyboard: A pop-up Russian keyboard will appear when you click on the textboxes. Type
with your keyboard or use your mouse to select the Russian characters!