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Поить/напоить
Back in 1988 or so I was in Moscow at «Дом книги» with a former student. He was thirsty. I asked a saleswoman whether there was any place he could get a drink of water. I figured the woman would say to one of her coworkers something like «Покажи нашему гостю, где попить» “Show our guest where to get a drink.” Instead she said, «Надь, напои этого мальчика» “Nadya, water this boy.”
Wow, talk about a learning moment. Once again a Russian had shown me her ability to compress what was a multiword phrase in English into a single Russian verb: поить/напоить. The verb means “to give [something] [to someone] to drink,” and it's conjugated like this:
| to give (something to someone) to drink | ||
| Imperfective | Perfective | |
| Infinitive | поить | напоить |
| Past | поил поила поило поил |
напоил напоила напоило напоил |
| Present | пою поишь поит поим поите поят |
No such thing as perfective present in Russian. |
| Future |
буду поить будешь поить будет поить будем поить будете поить будут поить |
напою напоишь напоит напоим напоите напоит |
| Imperative | пои(те) | напои(те) |
The person or animal that will be drinking shows up in the accusative case. The thing you give them to drink shows up in the instrumental case:
| Я напоил сына и положил его спать. | I gave my son a drink of water and then put him to bed. |
| Напоите меня, а то сдохну! | Give me something to drink or else I'll die like a dog! |
| Я напоил иностранных гостей водкой, и нам не задавали никаких неуместных вопросов. | I gave our foreign guests vodka to drink, and they didn't ask us any awkward questions. |
| — Чем ты напоил Машу? Онa спит уже спокойно. — Имбирным чаем. Он успокаивает живот. |
“What did you give Mary to drink? She's sleeping peacefully now.” “Ginger tea. It soothes the stomach.” |
| Я коней напою. | I'll water the horses. |
| Тимошенко в Японии напоили чаем. (source) | Timoshenko was given tea to drink in Japan. |
| Грузины поят иностранцев вином перед посольством РФ в Тбилиси. (source) | The Georgians are giving foreigners wine to drink in front of the Russian Federation's embassy in Tbilisi. |
Note: standard dictionaries describe the stress pattern of this verb as either shifting-stress or end-stressed. All the native speakers I have consulted prefer the shifting stress pattern shown here.
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