Unlike in English, in Russian, there is only one past tense. In the past tense, verbs change by gender and number (not by person, like in the present tense). To form the past tense, replace the infinitive ending ‘-ть’ by ‘-л’ (for masculine), ‘-ла’ (for feminine), ‘-ло’ (for neuter) or ‘-ли’ (for plural).
Infinitive | работать | говорить |
Masculine | он работал | он говорил |
Feminine | она работала | она говорила |
Neuter | оно работало | оно говорило |
Plural | они работали | они говорили |
Listen to the audio & read the examples:
1. Вчера Джон играл в теннис.
Yesterday, John played tennis.
2. Сегодня утром она гуляла в парке.
This morning, she walked in the park.
3. В пятницу мы ужинали в ресторане.
On Friday, we had dinner in the restaurant.
4. Я не работал вчера.
I didn’t work yesterday.
Listen to the audio to hear the correct answers