Russian Verb Tenses — Past, Present & Future

Russian has only three tenses — past, present, and future — but the system is shaped by verbal aspect. Imperfective verbs have all three tenses; perfective verbs have only past and future (no present, because perfective expresses completion).

Past tense is formed by replacing -ть with -л / -ла / -ло / -ли and agrees with the subject in gender (singular) or just takes -ли in plural. Present tense uses personal endings (you, I, he, etc.). Future tense splits in two: imperfective future is а compound form (я бу́ду чита́ть — "I will be reading"); perfective future uses the conjugated perfective verb directly (я прочита́ю — "I will read [and finish]").

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