Common Russian aspect pairs for everyday verbs (делать — сделать, говорить — сказать, открывать — открыть)

Я каждый день делаю уроки. Сегодня я сделал их быстро.I do my homework every day. Today I did it quickly.

Russian verbs usually come in pairs: an imperfective verb (делать) and a perfective verb (сделать), as explained in Russian verbal aspect: imperfective and perfective. The pairs are formed in three main ways. Learning the most frequent ones as two-word units makes everyday talk much easier.

Quick shortcut: when you meet a new verb, learn it together with its partner (делать — сделать). Pairs are formed by adding a prefix (делать — сделать), by changing the suffix (открывать — открыть) or by using a different stem (говорить — сказать).

Pairs formed with a prefix

In many pairs the perfective verb is the imperfective one plus a prefix. The prefix is often с-, по-, на-, про- or вы-:

The prefix is not predictable, so each pair is best learned as a unit. A prefixed verb can also carry an extra meaning of its own, so it is worth checking it as a separate dictionary entry rather than assuming every prefixed form is simply the perfective.

Pairs formed with a suffix

In other pairs the perfective verb is the basic one and the imperfective is made from it with a suffix such as -ыва- / -ива-, -ва-, -а- or -я-:

Pairs with a different stem

A few very common verbs have two different verbs for the two aspects:

How the pairs behave

• говорить in the sense of "to say, to tell" pairs with сказать. In the sense of "to speak a language" (говорить по-русски) it has no сказать partner.
• The imperfective verb has a past, a present and a future (буду делать). The perfective verb has a past and a future (сделал, сделаю), as in Russian verbal aspect: imperfective and perfective.
• A perfective verb is conjugated like other verbs, with endings that look like present-tense endings but refer to the future: Завтра я напишу письмо. (Tomorrow I will write a letter.) The details are in Future tense: perfective (simple future).
• Pairs of verbs of motion, such as идти — пойти, are covered in Verbs of motion: идти/ходить and ехать/ездить.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Я каждый день сделаю уроки. → ✅ Я каждый день делаю уроки. (a habit needs the imperfective)
• ❌ Я часто сказал ему об этом. → ✅ Я часто говорил ему об этом. (repeated action: говорить)
• ❌ Он покупил хлеб. → ✅ Он купил хлеб. (the perfective partner of покупать is купить)
• ❌ Я откровую окно. → ✅ Я открываю окно. (the imperfective of открыть is открывать)

Quick check

Give the perfective partner of each verb.

1. делать
2. говорить
3. покупать
4. открывать
5. брать

Key takeaways

• Most everyday verbs come in an imperfective — perfective pair, and it helps to learn both together.
• Pairs are formed with a prefix (делать — сделать), with a suffix (открывать — открыть) or with a different stem (говорить — сказать).
• The perfective forms are conjugated like other verbs, and their present-tense-looking endings refer to the future (сделаю, напишу, куплю, скажу, возьму).
• The pair itself does not tell you which aspect to use: that depends on whether the action is a process or habit, or a completed action with a result.