Grammar guide The rule
Perfective vs imperfective: choosing the verb aspect in Russian
Most Russian verbs come in pairs: делать / сделать, читать / прочитать. The imperfective describes a process or a repeated action; the perfective describes a single completed result.
How to choose the aspect
Ask whether you are talking about the process or the finished result.
- Imperfective
- Process, habit, repetition An ongoing action, something done regularly, or the mere fact of the action. Я читал весь вечер. · Каждый день я делаю зарядку.
- Perfective
- One completed result The action was done once and finished. Вчера я сделал всю работу. · Я прочитал книгу.
- Future
- Two ways to form it The imperfective uses буду + infinitive; the perfective takes present endings with a future meaning. Never буду + perfective. Я буду делать уроки. · Я сделаю уроки. — not Я буду сделать
- After начать, закончить
- Imperfective only Verbs of starting and finishing take an imperfective infinitive. Я начал читать. — not начал прочитать
Typical mistakes on this topic
What YabLab does with this mistake
- Catches it right as you write — comments, email, docs.
- Explains the why in your language, not just the fix.
- Helps you practice it until it is gone for good.