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Ложиться/лечь
Let's think about the verb ложиться/лечь. The first thing to notice is that it is one of only four verbs in Russian where the imperfective is reflexive and the perfective is not.¹ It conjugates like this:
| to lie down | ||
| Imperfective | Perfective | |
| Infinitive | ложиться | лечь |
| Past |
ложился ложилась ложилось ложились |
лёг легла легло легли |
| Present |
ложусь ложишься ложится ложимся ложитесь ложатся |
No such thing as perfective present in Russian. |
| Future |
буду ложиться будешь ложиться будет ложиться будем ложиться будете ложиться будут ложиться |
лягу ляжешь ляжет ляжем ляжете лягут |
| Imperative | ложись ложитесь | ляг(те) |
The primary meaning of the verb is “to lie” in the sense of “to lie down.” The first thing to notice is that the thing you lie down on appears in the accusative case after the preposition на:
| Мама легла на диван. | Mom lay² on the couch. |
| Борис ляжет на постель. | Boris will lie on the bed |
| Муж маркизы лёг на правый бок. | The husband of the marquise lay on his right side. |
| Томас лёг на спину. | Thomas lay on his back. |
| Кленовый лист лёг на мою ладонь. | A maple leaf settled upon my palm. |
It's also possible to lie under something под + accusative:
| Житель Новокузнецка лёг под поезд. Водитель электрички самоубийцы не увидел. (source) | A Novokuznetsk inhabitant lay under a train. The driver of the local train did not see the suicide. |
| Престарелый король Бельгии лёг под нож. | The extremely old King of Belgium went under the knife. |
We often find this verb in is in combination with спать. The resulting phrase means “to go to bed.”
| Я люблю и рано ложиться спать и рано вставать. | I love both to go to bed early and to get up early. |
| Во сколько ты вчера легла спать? | What time did you go to bed yesterday? |
| Как я устал! Сегодня я лягу спать сразу же после ужина. | I'm so tired! Today I'm going to bed right after dinner. |
| Не ложись спать на сквозняке, а то простудишься. | Don't go to bed under a draft or else you catch a cold. |
¹ You get extra points if you can name the three other verbs. Lots of people can name two others, but if you get three others, you are special. Add a comment to this post to prove your prowess!
² The verb “to lie” in the sense of “to lie down” is currently shifting in English. The old standard for the past is to say “Yesterday I lay on the couch after lunch because my head hurt” and the standard for the infinitive can be seen in “My head hurts, and I need to lie down.” In modern American English now people often say “Yesterday I laid down on the couch after lunch” and “My head hurts, and I need to lay down.” This verb is one my personal pet peeves in life, and I'm going to defend the old literary norm either to my dying die or to the day my sister finally admits she has been saying it wrong all these years, whichever comes first.
Death seems to be a-comin’ awful fast.
2 comments
I saw no one had posted a comment, so I figured I would ask :)
Don responds: You want me to give out a piece of mystery knowledge so easily??? :D Tell you what: figure out two of the other three and e-mail me with them, and I'll send you the third. (The third is really tricky. I suspect most Russian professors can't come up with the last one.) This is actually a good exercise for a Russian student. It develops your knowledge of what references are available, and it develops your skills in using them.
становиться/стать is the less obvious one.
As for the third pair... кошке даю мой язык, как говорят по-французски.
Don responds: Well done! I'm sending you the fourth by e-mail!
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