Categories: "Specialized verbs"

Приходить/прийти (часть первая)

by Don  

The verb pair приходить/прийти is usually translated as “to arrive, come.” Notice that there is an й in the perfective infinitive:

Imperfective Perfective
Infinitive приходить прийти
Past приходил
приходила
приходило
приходили
пришёл
пришла
пришло
пришли
Present прихожу
приходишь
приходит
приходим
приходите
приходят
No such thing as
perfective present
in Russian.
Future буду приходить
будешь приходить
будет приходить
будем приходить
будете приходить
будут приходить
приду
придёшь
придёт
придём
придёте
придут
Imperative приходи(те) приди(те)

In English we often use the preposition “at” with the verb “arrive,” so we have to bear in mind that for Russians arrival is a motion; that is, you complement the verb with either в/на + accusative or with к + dative:

Профессор пришёл в университет в восемь часов утра. The professor came to the university at eight o'clock. or
The professor arrived at the university at eight o'clock.
Юля всегда приходит на работу поздно. Julie always comes to work late. or
Julie always arrives late at work.
Когда ты придёшь к нам в гости? When will you come visit us?

Now here's an interesting quirk. Compare these two sentences:

1. Профессор пришёл в университет в восемь часов утра.
2. Профессор пришёл в Москву в восемь часов утра.

Although the sentences are grammatically identical, (1) sounds perfectly natural, whereas (2) sounds awful. That's because the stems ход- and ид- often imply going somewhere by foot, and it's quite uncommon to travel to a city by foot. In other words, avoid приходить/прийти when talking about travel over a long distance.

One last quirk. When someone knocks at a door, in English the response is “Come in.” Beginning students sometimes translate that as «Приходите, пожалуйста». A Russian will never say приходите in that context because the person knocking has in fact already arrived. Instead a Russian will express that idea with входить/войти “to enter”:

Входите, пожалуйста. Come in.
— Можно войти?
— Пожалуйста.
“May I come in?”
“Yes, please do.”
Когда я вошёл в комнату, я заметил, что телевизор был включён. When I came into the room, I noticed that the television was on.

Летать

by Don  

The most generic verb for travelling by air in Russian is летать “to fly.” It is a perfectly regular imperfective verb and conjugates exactly like читать:

Imperfective
Infinitive летать
Past летал
летала
летало
летали
Present летаю
летаешь
летает
летаем
летаете
летают
Future буду летать
будешь летать
будет летать
будем летать
будете летать
будут летать
Imperative летай(те)

This is an indeterminate (multidirectional) verb of motion, which means it has several uses. First of all, in the past tense it can mean a completed trip to and from a place:

В августе мама летала в Москву. In August Mom flew to Moscow.

By using a unidirectional verb in that context, Russian clearly states that Mom is no longer in Moscow. She went there and then departed. Another example:

— Что ты вчера делал?
— Я летал в Мосвку.
— Ты туда и обратно слетал за один день? Какая у тебя сумасшедшая жизнь!
“What did you do yesterday?”
“I flew to Moscow.”
“You flew there and back in a single day? What a crazy life you lead!”

The verb can also be used of flying generically or of the ability to fly:

Змеи ползают, люди ходят, а птицы летают. Я хочу быть птицей! Snakes crawl, people walk, and birds fly. I want to be a bird!
— Как я люблю летать!
— А я нет. Вдруг в мотор влетит гусь? Тогда ты пропал!
“I really love to fly!”
“I don't. What if a goose flies into the engine? Then you are done for!”

Побежать

by Don  

Побежать is the perfective form of the verb бегать “to run.” It incorporates one of the four most irregular verb stems in the Russian language:

to run
Perfective
Infinitive побежать
Past побежал
побежала
побежало
побежали
Present No such thing as
perfective present
in Russian.
Future побегу
побежишь
побежит
побежим
побежите
побегут
Imperative побеги(те)

Побежать literally means “to run”:

Ваня побежал по дороге. Ivan ran down the road.

Although the verb does mean “to run,” it's actually used in conversation more often to mean “to take a quick trip” or “to be moving quickly” instead of literally running. The same is true for the English verb “to run” as well, of course.

— Где мама?
— Она побежала в магазин.
“Where is Mom?”
“She ran to the store.”

On the colloquial level the verb can almost mean the equivalent of the English “I'm out of here/I'm gone”:

— Серёжа, не уходи. Останься, пока не напишем доклад.
— Нет, я побежал. Моя девушка ждёт меня.
“Sergei, don't leave. Stay until we finish writing the report.”
“No, I'm out of here. My girlfriend is waiting for me.”
Я не могу здесь остаться. Я побежал. I can't stay here any more. I'm gone.

«У меня есть» or «я имею»?

by Don  

Previously we discussed how the «у меня есть» construction can be equivalent to a I have construction, and we also discussed иметь, which means “to own, possess.” But if you look up иметь in some dictionaries, sometimes you will find something like this:

have /hæv/ n.: 1. иметь;

This sometimes leads to confusion: when can you use иметь for have, and when does that not work? Here are couple of rules of thumb:

1. When you want to know whether someone has a particular item on them at a particular moment, then you cannot use the иметь construction, you must use a variation of the есть construction:

У тебя есть ручка? Мне надо записать телефон. Do you have a pen? I need to write down a telephone number.
У тебя нет ручки? Do you happen to have a pen [on you]?
У тебя не будет ручки? Would you happen to have a pen [on you]?

(See this post for a discussion of the use of не in polite requests.)

2. When you want to know whether someone owns something, both the есть and the иметь construction are theoretically possible. Both are grammatical:

У вас есть машина?
Вы имеете машину?
Do you own a car?

The normal way to ask the question is «У вас есть машина?»¹ But if you want a verb that is vastly more formal or emphatic, say when a lawyer is interviewing a suspicious client, then you might hear «Вы имеете машину?»²

3. There are dozens of phrases where иметь bears the tense of the sentence but the noun that follows it in the accusative case bears most of the meaning. For instance:

иметь значение to mean something
(lit. to have meaning)
иметь смысл to make sense
(lit. to have sense)
иметь место to have a place
иметь в виду to have/bear/keep in mind
(lit. to have in view)
иметь возможность to have the opportunity

There are lots of phrases like this. Here are some examples:

— Почему ты меня покинула? Я ведь подарил тебе цветы!
— Это не имеет значения. Ты ведь украл у моей мамы тридцать тысяч рублей.
“Why did you leave me? I mean, I gave you flowers!”
“That doesn't mean anything. After all, you stole thirty thousand rubles from my mother.”
— Хочу примириться с Дарьей. Может, я ей куплю цветы?
— Это имеет смысл.
“I want to make up with Darya. Maybe I should buy her some flowers?”
“That makes sense.”
Не ругайся матом. Такие слова здесь не имеют места. Don't cuss. That kind of language doesn't belong here.
Имей в виду, что цветы не решат все проблемы с Дарьей. Надо бы и поподлизываться. Bear in mind that flowers won't solve all your problems with Darya. You're going to have to kiss up to her as well.
Ты когда-нибудь имел возможность ходить на концерт Леди Гаги? Have you ever had the opportunity to go to a Lady Gaga concert?

¹ Bear in mind that the question «У вас есть машина?» is ambiguous. It can mean either “Do you own a car?” or “Do you have a car [at your disposal today]?”

² Bear in mind that «Вы имеете машину?» can only mean “Do you own a car?”, not “Do you have a car [at your disposal today]?” Thus if you want to be perfectly clear that you are asking about ownership, then can use иметь, but it will have either a vastly more formal or more emphatic sense than “у кого” phrases.

Иметь

by Don  

The primary meaning of the verb иметь is “to own, possess.” It's a fairly straightforward first conjugation verb:

to own, possess
Imperfective
Infinitive иметь
Past имел
имела
имело
имели
Present имею
имеешь
имеет
имеем
имеете
имееют
Future буду иметь
будешь иметь
будет иметь
будем иметь
будете иметь
будут иметь
Imperative имей(те)

The owner goes in the nominative case, and the thing owned goes in the accusative case:

Мой брат — меломан, он имеет семьсот тридцать шесть пластинок. My brother is a music fanatic. He owns seven hundred thirty-six records.
— У вас две пары очков?
— Да что вы, я имею четыре пары очков.
“You have two pairs of glasses?”
“Give me a break: I own four pairs of glasses.”
Когда я буду взрослой, я буду иметь три машины. When I grow up, I will own three cars.
До распада экономики я имел два дома, а теперь снимаю комнату у бабушки. Before the economic collapse I owned two houses, but now I'm renting a room from my grandmother.

Although all the sentences above are perfectly grammatical, I should point out that using иметь for “to own/have” is stylistically marked. It's more formal, higher style, and sometimes more emphatic, than the “у кого есть” construction, so don't automatically assume it's the best way to say “to own.” Soon we'll discuss the overlap between иметь sentences and «у кого есть» sentences.

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