ABSTRACT
As mentioned in Unit 5, the conjugation of a verb can be established beyond doubt by identifying the vowel which comes before the personal ending in all persons of the present conjugation except the first person singular and third person plural. In second conjugation verbs this vowel is -и; for example говорить-‘to speak, say’:
я говор-ю мы говори-м
ты говори-шь вы говори-те
он/она/оно говори-т они говоря-т
Note on second conjugation verbs: In Russian orthography there is a spelling rule whereby the letters г, к, х, ж, ч, ш and щ are never followed by ы, ю or я. This rule affects the spelling of second conjugation verbs whose present stem ends in ж, ч, ш or щ. In such verbs, the first person singular ends in -y (never -ю), while the third person plural ends in -ат (never -ят). For example:
Stem ending in ж Stem ending in ш леж-ать-‘to lie, be lying down’ слыш-ать-‘to hear’ я леж-у слыш-у ты леж-ишь слыш-ишь
он/она/оно леж-ит слыш-ит
мы леж-им слыш-им
вы леж-ите слыш-ите
они леж-ат слыш-ат
Consonant mutation in verbs: In many verbs, the consonant or consonants found in the infinitive stem change, or ‘mutate’, in a predictable way to other consonants in the present stem. In the second conjugation this consonant mutation takes place only in the first person singular; for example:
• -c-in the infinitive changes to -ш-in the present stem:
с → ш нос-ить нош-у, нос-ишь,…нос-ят ‘to carry’ ‘I, you,…they carry (are carrying)’
• -д-in the infinitive changes to -ж-in the present stem:
д → ж ход-ить хож-у, ход-ишь,…ход-ят ‘to go’ ‘I, you,…they walk (are walking)’
•-т-in the infinitive changes to -ч-in the present stem:
т → ч платить плач-у, плат-ишь,…плат-ят ‘to pay’ ‘I, you,…they pay (are paying)’
Second conjugation verbs with an infinitive stem ending in one of the following consonants insert -л-in the first person singular only of the present stem: б, в, м, п, ф.
