Grammar•January 28, 2026

Past Tense in Russian

Past tense in Russian: verb conjugation, exceptions like идти and мочь, and useful context words. Essential grammar for learners.

By BeFluent Team5 min read

Past tense, of course, is very important for any conversation. We're talking about what we did the day before; your friend will tell you about a crazy story that happened last weekend, etc. And today let's learn how to form past tense sentences in Russian. Mastering past tense is a key milestone when you learn Russian and crucial for Russian language learning. After mastering past tense, you'll want to learn how to form future tense to express your plans and intentions.

Putting verbs in the past tense

Let's start with verbs, which is the easiest part of this topic. Before diving in, make sure you understand Russian verb conjugation basics. We take an infinitive and change its ending depending on the gender of the subject. Here's the table:

	играть	ending
masculine	играл	-л
feminine	играла	-ла
neuter	играло	-ло
plural	играли	-ли

So, we just take any infinitive and replace the ending "-ть" with the right ending for the gender. And again, the gender of the subject matters here.

For example:

Мама играла на пианино — mom played the piano
We chose a feminine ending, because mom is feminine.

Мальчики играли в футбол — boys played soccer
Мальчики is plural, that's why we chose a plural ending of "играть".

A couple of exceptions

Sometimes you will see some verbs forming past tense forms in their own unique ways. Here's two of those exceptions that are extremely common:

	идти	мочь
masculine	шёл	мог
feminine	шла	могла
neuter	шло	могло
plural	шли	могли

As you can see, the infinitives don't have almost anything in common with the forms of the past tense verbs. This will happen extremely rarely, however, don't be scared!

Past tense context words

Let's learn some words that you can use to talk about the past:

Вчера	(vchera)	Yesterday
На прошлой неделе	(na proshloy nedele)	Last week
Тогда	(togda)	Then
Раньше	(ran'she)	Before, earlier
Позавчера	(pozavchera)	The day before yesterday
Недавно	(nedavno)	Recently
Давно	(davno)	Long ago
В прошлом году	(v proshlom godu)	Last year
Однажды	(odnazhdy)	Once
Когда-то	(kogda-to)	Once, at some time in the past

These are all used by natives a whole lot! Here's some examples:

Однажды мы смотрели кино и...
— Once we were watching a movie and...

Это было давно
— This was a long time ago

Дедушка приехал ко мне в гости в прошлом году
— Last year grandpa came to visit me

Мудрец когда-то мне сказал об этом
— A wise man once told me about this

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do you form past tense in Russian?

To form past tense in Russian, take the infinitive verb, remove "-ть", and add the appropriate ending based on gender/number: masculine = -л, feminine = -ла, neuter = -ло, plural = -ли. Example: "играть" (to play) becomes "играл" (he played), "играла" (she played), "играло" (it played), "играли" (they played). The gender of the subject determines the ending!

Does Russian past tense change by gender?

Yes! Russian past tense endings change based on the gender and number of the subject: masculine subjects use -л ("он играл" - he played), feminine subjects use -ла ("она играла" - she played), neuter subjects use -ло ("оно играло" - it played), and plural subjects use -ли ("они играли" - they played). This is unique to Russian—English past tense doesn't change by gender!

What are the past tense endings in Russian?

Russian past tense has 4 endings: -л (masculine: "он читал" - he read), -ла (feminine: "она читала" - she read), -ло (neuter: "оно читало" - it read), -ли (plural: "они читали" - they read). Simply remove "-ть" from the infinitive and add the appropriate ending. The subject's gender determines which ending to use!

Are there irregular past tense verbs in Russian?

Yes, some verbs have irregular past tense forms. Common exceptions include: "идти" (to go) → "шёл/шла/шло/шли" (went), "мочь" (to be able) → "мог/могла/могло/могли" (could). These verbs don't follow the standard -ть → -л/-ла/-ло/-ли pattern. However, most Russian verbs are regular, so learn the exceptions separately and you'll be fine!

How do you say 'yesterday' in Russian?

The word for "yesterday" in Russian is "вчера" (vchera). Other useful past tense time words include: "позавчера" (the day before yesterday), "на прошлой неделе" (last week), "в прошлом году" (last year), "недавно" (recently), "давно" (long ago), "тогда" (then), "раньше" (before, earlier), "однажды" (once), "когда-то" (once, at some time in the past).

Do you need to conjugate verbs in past tense?

Russian past tense doesn't require conjugation by person (I, you, he, etc.) like present tense does. Instead, it changes by gender and number. The same past tense form works for all persons of the same gender: "Я читал" (I read - masculine), "Ты читал" (You read - masculine), "Он читал" (He read). The verb form stays the same; only gender/number matter!

What's the difference between perfective and imperfective in past tense?

Perfective past tense ("Я прочитал книгу") indicates a completed action—the book was fully read. Imperfective past tense ("Я читал книгу") indicates an ongoing or repeated action—you were reading (but may not have finished). Perfective = completed action, Imperfective = ongoing/repeated action. Both are past tense, but they convey different aspects of the action!

How do you form negative past tense in Russian?

To form negative past tense, use "не" (not) before the past tense verb: "Я не читал" (I didn't read - masculine), "Она не читала" (She didn't read - feminine), "Они не читали" (They didn't read - plural). The negation doesn't change the verb ending—just add "не" before the verb. The gender/number endings remain the same as in positive sentences!

Grammar