ABSTRACT
In Russian, verbal aspect is one of the core grammatical concepts, together with the three tenses — past, present and future. Russian tenses give us the time during which the action takes place — in the present, past or future. Most Russian verbs have two verbal aspects, called imperfective and perfective. Only a few verbs have just one aspect. Use of the verbal aspect depends on three factors: the context, the nature of the action described and what information about this action the speaker wants to give. Some prefixes added to some basic imperfective verbs change the meaning of the verb and make the verb perfective. Some perfective aspects can be formed by using a verb with a different stem. Verbal aspect can carry some additional meanings in sentences with an animate subject. The infinitive is a basic verb form. It cannot be conjugated and cannot have a tense on its own.
