What prefixes do#
A prefix attached to an imperfective verb does two things in one stroke. It turns the verb perfective, AND it adds a spatial, temporal, or semantic shade to the meaning. Take писать (impf, "to write"): add на- and you get написать (pf, "to write, and finish"). Add пере- and you get переписать (pf, "to rewrite or copy"). Add за- and you get записать (pf, "to jot down"). One root, many prefixed verbs.
To pair a prefixed perfective with an imperfective partner, Russian typically "re-imperfectivises" by adding a suffix like -ыва-/-ива-: переписать (pf) ↔ переписывать (impf). The prefix's directional meaning sticks to both members of the new pair. See the Aspect chapter for the full re-imperfectivisation story.
Common prefixes#
Each prefix has a core spatial or directional meaning, plus a few extended figurative senses. Memorising the core meaning explains 80% of the prefixed verbs you'll meet.
- по-
- a bit / setting off / 'just'
- посидеть, поговорить, пойти (sit a while, chat, set off)
- на-
- on, onto / a quantity / completion
- написать, набрать, наесться (write [down], gather a quantity, eat one's fill)
- пере-
- across, over / re-, again
- перейти, переписать, переехать (cross over, rewrite, move house)
- при-
- arrival / attaching
- прийти, прибить, приехать (arrive on foot, nail on, arrive by transport)
- у-
- away, leaving
- уйти, уехать, унести (leave on foot, depart, carry away)
- до-
- up to / reaching / finishing
- доходить, допить, добраться (reach, drink up, make one's way to)
- вы-
- out (of) / exiting
- выйти, выпить, выучить (go out, drink up, learn by heart)
- в-
- in, into / entering
- войти, влететь, вписать (enter, fly into, write into)
- за-
- behind / start / dropping by
- зайти, заплакать, записать (drop by, start crying, write down / record)
- от-
- away from / detach
- отойти, отказаться, отрезать (step away, refuse, cut off)
- под-
- up to, under / approach
- подойти, подписать, поддерживать (approach, sign, support)
- об-
- around / past
- обойти, объяснить, обдумать (go around, explain, think over)
- раз- / рас-
- apart / distribution / undo
- разойтись, рассказать, разбить (disperse, tell / narrate, smash)
- с-
- off, down / together
- сойти, сделать, спустить (get off, do, lower)
- из- / ис-
- out (of) / thoroughly
- избрать, исписать, изучать (elect, fill with writing, study thoroughly)
- про-
- through, past / complete
- пройти, прочитать, проспать (go through / past, read through, oversleep)
- вз- / вс-
- up, upwards / sudden
- встать, вскрикнуть, взлететь (stand up, cry out suddenly, take off [flying])
- при-
- partial / slightly
- присесть, прилечь (sit down briefly, lie down briefly)
Many prefixes (с-, в-, под-, от-, об-, раз-) have voicing variants (з/с, во-/в-, отъ-, etc.) that surface before specific consonants. The variants are phonetic spelling adjustments, not different prefixes.
Pure-aspect prefixes#
Some prefix-verb combinations carry virtually no extra meaning beyond "make this verb perfective". These are the "pure-aspect" or "empty" prefixes for a given root, and they're what learners think of when they hear "aspect pair":
- писать
- написать
- на-
- читать
- прочитать
- про-
- делать
- сделать
- с-
- строить
- построить
- по-
- видеть
- увидеть
- у-
- слышать
- услышать
- у-
- ужинать
- поужинать
- по-
Which prefix is the "empty" one for a given verb is lexically fixed and partly arbitrary, so you have to learn each pair. на-, про-, с-, по- are the most common empty prefixes; the choice between them isn't random but isn't fully predictable either.
Directional prefixes (motion)#
Attached to motion verbs, prefixes give you the full system of "go in", "go out", "approach", "cross", "reach", "leave", "drop by", "go around". The same prefix attaches to multiple motion roots and gives parallel meanings throughout, but a less-obvious thing also happens: the prefix transforms aspect.
Unprefixed motion verbs come as a determinate/indeterminate pair, both imperfective. ехать describes one ongoing trip in a specific direction; ездить the round-trip / habitual / multidirectional movement. Add a prefix to both, and the pair becomes a perfective/imperfective pair: the determinate stem yields the perfective, the indeterminate stem yields the imperfective. So при- + ехать/ездить → приехать (pf) / приезжать (impf).
- идти
- ходить
- прийти
- приходить
- come on foot
- ехать
- ездить
- приехать
- приезжать
- arrive by vehicle
- бежать
- бегать
- прибежать
- прибегать
- come running
- лететь
- летать
- прилететь
- прилетать
- arrive by air
- плыть
- плавать
- приплыть
- приплывать
- arrive by water
- нести
- носить
- принести
- приносить
- bring (carry)
- вести
- водить
- привести
- приводить
- bring (lead)
- везти
- возить
- привезти
- привозить
- bring (transport)
The Verbs of motion chapter lays out the full grid, every prefix crossed with every base motion verb, with usage notes per cell.
Он перешёл дорогу.
He crossed the road.
Они обошли парк.
They walked around the park.
Машина отъехала от дома.
The car pulled away from the house.
Поезд приезжает каждую субботу.
The train arrives every Saturday. (impf, habitual)
Поезд приехал ровно в семь.
The train arrived exactly at seven. (pf, single completion)
The вы- stress rule#
When вы- is added to a perfective verb, it always carries the stress, in every form of the paradigm. выпить, выйти, вырасти, выучить, выспаться. The imperfective partner (when one exists) reverts to its normal stress pattern: выпивать, выходить, вырастать, выучивать.
Aktionsart prefixes (no -ыва- partner)#
Earlier we saw that lexical prefixes create a new perfective and Russian then re-imperfectivises it with -ыва-/-ива- (переписать ↔ переписывать, with both members sharing the meaning "rewrite"). A different family of prefixes, the Aktionsart prefixes, adds a temporal or quantitative shading to the verb (for a while, start doing, do throughout). These forms are perfective by design and don't form a clean aspect pair: the bounding is the meaning, so there's nothing to "re-imperfectivise" while keeping the same sense.
- по-
- Delimitative ('for a while')
- почитать, посидеть, поспать, поговорить, поработать
- none
- за-
- Ingressive ('start doing')
- запеть, заговорить, заплакать, засмеяться
- none
- про-
- Perdurative ('do throughout a duration')
- проспать весь день, проработать год, прожить жизнь
- none
- по-…-ыва-
- Attenuative ('a little, intermittently'): this -ыва- IS the impf
- покуривать, пописывать, похаживать
- is impf
The dictionary follows this convention: почитать shows no aspect partner, because neither sense (delimitative "read for a while", or the homograph imperfective "honour, esteem") pairs cleanly with читать. The grammar chapter on Aspect covers the full pf/impf-pair landscape.
Multiple prefixes on one root#
One root can carry several prefixes simultaneously, each adding a layer of meaning. по-на-вы-думывать (colloquial: "to make up a bunch of nonsense") stacks three prefixes onto думать. More everyday examples: расспросить (рас- + про- + сить, "to question thoroughly"), подсказать (под- + с-казать, "to whisper a hint"), понадобиться (по- + на- + добить-ся, "to become needed").
The order of stacking is fixed: each prefix combines with the existing prefixed stem, so reading order matches semantic layering. Russian doesn't allow arbitrary re-orderings; pre-stacked clusters are lexicalised forms you learn whole.