Conjugation

Russian has six personal pronouns (я, ты, он / она / оно, мы, вы, они) and six matching endings. The endings differ between the two conjugations, but the pronouns are the same. Knowing which conjugation a verb belongs to is enough to produce its entire present-tense paradigm.

Only one ending is shared across both conjugations: the first-person singular я (-у / -ю). All five other forms differ. Later in this chapter you'll see why the first-person singular я and the third-person plural они each have two endings, and when to use which.

Almost every Russian infinitive ends in -ть. Two small closed groups end differently: a handful in stressed -ти, and about thirty in -чь. You'll recognize them on sight, so they're worth meeting first.

The -ти group tends to describe motion or transport (идти, нести, везти, вести) and growing (расти, цвести). All of them are end-stressed and follow the 1st conjugation. The -чь group hides a stem in -г- or -к- that surfaces in the present: мочь → я могу, ты можешь (г → ж alternation), печь → я пеку, ты печёшь (к → ч). These mechanics live in the Irregular Verbs chapter.

The 1st conjugation is the more common pattern, covering roughly two thirds of common Russian verbs. The model verb знать (to know) shows it cleanly: take the stem зна- and add the endings.

The pattern is identical regardless of which vowel precedes -ть in the infinitive: -ать, -ять, and -еть verbs all take the same endings once you reach the present stem. The one twist is -овать: the suffix -ова- is replaced by -у- throughout the present. The Suffixes chapter covers this group in full.

The 2nd conjugation uses -и- vowels in the endings. Most -ить verbs follow this pattern. Model verb: говорить (to speak).

The 2nd conjugation is not limited to -ить. A closed group of verbs ending in -еть, -ать, and -ять follow the 2nd pattern despite their infinitive; the table below lines them up so you can see that the present endings are identical to говорить. The infinitive ending is misleading; the present-tense vowel is what tells you the conjugation.

There are only about a dozen base verbs in this group, so it's worth memorizing whole. Seven end in -еть and four in -ать; a few more (спать, стоять, бояться) round it out. Every prefixed form (посмотреть, услышать) inherits the same conjugation.

The я-form ends in -у or -ю, and the они-form in -ут / -ют (1st conjugation) or -ат / -ят (2nd). Which spelling a verb uses is part of the verb, picked up from its forms. Two cases, though, are predictable:

The two reliable cases: a stem ending in a vowel or -й- takes -ю / -ют (знаю), and a husher ж, ш, ч, щ takes -у (пишу, держу). For an ordinary consonant there's nothing in the spelling to go on: it's simply part of the verb (говорю but несу), learned along with it. The exact они vowel (-ют vs -ят, -ут vs -ат) follows from the conjugation.

One catch: go by how the verb actually conjugates, not the look of the infinitive. писать seems to end in a vowel, but it conjugates with a husher (пишу, пишут), so it takes -у. Hushers are common enough to get their own rule, next.

Russian spelling forbids -ю and -я immediately after the four "husher" consonants ж, ч, ш, щ. Whenever a verb's я-form or они-form would put one of those vowels next to a husher, the spelling swaps to -у or -а instead. The grammar doesn't change, only the spelling.

The rule applies to both conjugations. In учить (2nd conj) it shows up as учу, учат. In писать (1st conj, with a separate с → ш mutation) it shows up as пишу, пишут. Whenever you see a husher right before the ending, expect -у / -а, not -ю / -я.

The infinitive ending is a strong predictor. Almost every -ить verb is 2nd conjugation. Verbs ending in -ать, -ять, -еть, or -овать are usually 1st conjugation, with a small set of well-known exceptions.