Let us consider only one single cell:
For the unique top-left cell of the table, the cell are further subdivided into header and data cells in Russian.
+-------+
| I ate |
| |
+-------+
|
|
Imperfective & Perfective
\ partners /
+--------+--------+
| есть | съесть | infinitive
+-----------------+
-- Singular -- | | |
| | |
Masculine Past | ел | съел | I, you, he
| | |
Feminine Past | ела | съела | I, you, she
| | |
Neuter Past | ело | съело | I, you, it
- - - - - - - - - + - - - + - - - + - - - - - - -
| | |
Plural & Polite | ели | съели | we, you, they
| | |
- - - - - - - - - +--------+--------+
This lets us to say more by writing less in Russian. Compare:
еcт it eats съест it will eat
едим we eat съедим we shall eat
едят they eat съедят they will eat
What the aspect actually is
A dog greedily ate her meat.
.
.
NO · · · · · · Собака жадно ела мясо.
are you sure she / .
swallowed it whole? _____/ .
\ .
\YES · · · · · · Собака жадно съела мясо.
=====
|
She has already eaten her meat ____|
She ate in quick gulps, and never got enough.
===
|
Imperf ?|? Perf
|
(ела/съела) торопливо, и никогда не бывала сыта.
Does it look so simple? In my opinion, for beginning Russian, think of that no more. Before we can quickly and easily applying those aspects, we must first improve our knowledge of the process on compound words — the graphic first-level elements in Russian.
We shall consider an application how to combining a prefix (or sometimes two prefixes) with the root and suffix.
Two points coincide.
English: co-in-cid-e
| | |
with | fall ········· unfamiliar Latin form -cide (fall)
| into |
со | пад ········· everyday Russian stem, ex: in падать
| в |
| | | .········ they, unknown as long and now continues
| | | /
Russian: со- в- пад -ают
Две точки совпадают.
In Russian the process on compound words is used very wide and extensively:
push to the limit,
finally
(и наконец)
Imperfective | Perfective
\ | /
переписывал (---->) переписал | недописывал, недописавший, недописывая, недописаться, недонадписывал ...+ -ший, -ся ..., пописывал ...+ -ший, -ся ..., записывал ..., записывался, недозаписывал, расписывал, расписывался, отписывал, вписывал, надписывал, пописывал,
читал (---->) прочитал | дочитал, дочитался, дочитавшись, дочитывая, недочитал, ...+ -ший, -ся ..., считал, вчитался, почитал, начитал, отчитался, дочитал, ...
делил (---->) разделил | разделил, недоразделил, переделил, недопеределил, обделил, выделил, уделил, наделил, отделил, поделил, + ... + -ший, -ся ...,
таял (---->) растаял | растаял, дотаял, утаял, оттаял, стаял, протаял, потаял, надтаял, недорастаял, ...
белил (---->) побелил | ...
пахал (---->) вспахал | ...
In Russian the process on compound words remain much more clearly visible than in English, so focus on it.