Russian First and Second Conjugation Explained

We sorted our list of the 600 most common Russian verbs by type: 344 are 1st conjugation, 212 are 2nd and 44 are irregular. Each verb has its own page in our Russian conjugation tables, and the type label on that page links to the matching section below.

The three types at a glance

Count verbs, and the 1st conjugation is the biggest type, with more than half of our 600. Count how often they're used, and the irregular verbs move to the front. Our list is ranked by how often each verb occurs in film and TV subtitles, and the two most common verbs on it, быть (to be) and хотеть (to want), are both irregular. The top 10 has six 1st-conjugation verbs, two 2nd and two irregular. In the top 20, 11 are 1st conjugation, six are irregular and three are 2nd, so the irregular verbs are under a tenth of the list but almost a third of the top 20. In the top 100 they drop back to 17, against 47 in the 1st conjugation and 36 in the 2nd.

The endings side by side

In the present tense, a Russian verb has six forms, one for each person: я (I), ты (you, one person), он or она (he or she), мы (we), вы (you, plural or formal) and они (they). The two conjugations share the я form and differ in the other five. In the ты, он, мы and вы forms, the 1st conjugation has е, written ё when the ending is stressed, and the 2nd has и. In the они form, the 1st has -ут or -ют and the 2nd has -ат or -ят.

Below are the plain models, знать and говорить, plus жить (to live), whose 1st-conjugation endings are stressed, and слышать (to hear), whose stem ends in ш.

Start with the я row. The forms знаю, живу, говорю and слышу all end in -у or -ю, so the я form can't tell you the type. The ты row can: знаешь and живёшь have е or ё, while говоришь and слышишь have и. The они row confirms it, with -ют and -ут on one side and -ят and -ат on the other.

That's the whole test. Check a new verb's ты or они form once and you'll know its conjugation for good. Our verb pages list both.

First conjugation

The 1st conjugation is the largest type, with 344 of our 600 verbs, and it takes in most verbs that don't end in -ить. That covers the bulk of the -ать and -ять verbs, such as знать (to know) and понимать (to understand). It also covers every -нуть verb in our list, such as вернуться (to return), and 10 of our 23 -еть verbs, including иметь (to have) and уметь (to know how). Most -овать verbs belong here too, and they swap -ова- for -у- before the ending: рисовать (to draw) gives рисую, рисуешь, рисуют.

So do three -ить verbs with stressed endings, бить (to hit), пить (to drink) and жить (to live), and the verbs built on them.

All 344 take the endings in the table above. When the ending is stressed, its е is written ё, as in живу, живёшь, живёт, живут from жить, and пойму, поймёшь from понять (to understand, perfective). In our list, 70 of the 344 have stressed endings written with ё.

Nineteen 1st-conjugation verbs change the last consonant of their stem, and once they change it, they change it in every person. The model is писать (to write), which turns с into ш throughout: пишу, пишешь, пишет, пишем, пишете, пишут. The others work the same way: сказать (to say) gives скажу, скажешь (з to ж), искать (to look for) gives ищу, ищешь (ск to щ), and плакать (to cry) gives плачу, плачешь (к to ч). All 19 are -ать verbs. The infinitive and the past keep the original consonant: писал, сказал, искал, плакал.

Three more verbs switch back and forth: мочь (can, to be able), помочь (to help) and лечь (to lie down). They keep г in the я and они forms and switch to ж everywhere else: могу, можешь, может, можем, можете, могут, and лягу, ляжешь, лягут. The infinitives hide the г completely, and it comes back in the past: мог, могла, помог, лёг. This pattern matters early, because мочь is the third most common verb on our list.

In all of these verbs the endings stay plain 1st conjugation. The changes happen in the stem.

Second conjugation

The 2nd conjugation is mostly the -ить verbs. Of the 212 verbs in our 2nd conjugation, 188 end in -ить, such as говорить (to speak), любить (to love) and просить (to ask for). Here is how all 212 break down by the ending of the infinitive:

Going the other way, 188 of our 198 -ить verbs are 2nd conjugation. The exceptions are the бить, пить and жить families, all with stressed endings (бьёшь, пьёшь, живёшь), and ошибиться (to make a mistake), which our tables file as irregular.

Many 2nd-conjugation verbs change the last consonant of the stem, but only in the я form. The verb видеть (to see) gives вижу, then видишь, видит, видим, видите and видят with the д back in place. In the same way, любить gives люблю, then любишь with no л. Of the 210 verbs in our 2nd conjugation that have a я form, 108 make a change like this:

The lip consonants б, п, в and м add an л. The others swap: д and з become ж, с becomes ш, ст becomes щ, and т becomes ч or, in 6 verbs, щ.

In our data this rule has no exceptions. Every 2nd-conjugation verb whose stem ends in one of these consonants changes it in the я form, and only there, so ходить (to walk, to go) gives хожу but ходишь, ходит and ходят. The other 102 verbs have stems that end in a different consonant and keep it, as in говорю and учусь (I study). Two verbs, победить (to win) and убедить (to convince), have no я form at all, because Russian avoids it.

One pair shows both conjugations' habits at once. The 2nd-conjugation verb платить (to pay) changes т to ч in the я form only: плачу, платишь. The 1st-conjugation verb плакать (to cry) changes к to ч in every form: плачу, плачешь. So плачу means either “I pay” or “I cry,” and only the stress tells you which, on the ending for paying (плачу́) and on the first syllable for crying (пла́чу).

A spelling rule explains why some 2nd-conjugation они forms end in -ат. Russian doesn't write я or ю after ж, ш, ч or щ, so a 2nd-conjugation verb whose stem ends in one of those letters takes -у in the я form and -ат in the они form. That's why держать (to hold) gives держу and держат, слышать gives слышу and слышат, and кричать (to shout) gives кричу and кричат. In our list, 44 они forms in the 2nd conjugation end in -ат, and every one follows ж, ш, ч or щ. They're the usual -ю and -ят, spelled to suit the letter before them.

How to tell from the infinitive

You can often guess the conjugation from the infinitive, and Russian schools teach a rule for it. The rule only covers verbs whose endings are unstressed, and it goes like this:

• Every -ить verb is 2nd conjugation, except брить (to shave) and стелить (to spread, as you spread a sheet).
• The 11 exceptions are 2nd conjugation too: seven verbs in -еть and four in -ать. Six of them are in our 600: видеть (to see), смотреть (to watch, to look) and ненавидеть (to hate), and слышать (to hear), держать (to hold) and дышать (to breathe). The other five aren't on our list.
• Every other verb is 1st conjugation.

Verbs with stressed endings fall outside the rule, because the ending decides for itself. That's why жить is 1st conjugation (живёшь) and лететь (to fly) is 2nd (летишь), whatever the infinitive suggests. For a learner, that means one more list, the verbs that look 1st conjugation by the rule but have stressed 2nd-conjugation endings. Our 600 include ten: сидеть (to sit), лететь, висеть (to hang), лежать (to lie), кричать (to shout), молчать (to be silent), принадлежать (to belong), стоять (to stand), бояться (to be afraid) and спать (to sleep).

Prefixed verbs follow the verb they're built on. So увидеть (to see) and посмотреть (to watch), built on видеть and смотреть, are 2nd conjugation too, and выпить (to drink up) stays 1st conjugation like пить, even though its stress moves onto вы- and its endings become unstressed. The same logic makes выглядеть (to look, as in “look tired”) 2nd conjugation. It isn't one of the 11, but it's built on глядеть (to look), a 2nd-conjugation verb.

Guess from the infinitive, then check the ты form.

Irregular verbs

Our tables label 44 verbs irregular. They fall into four groups, and the biggest, with 24 verbs, has perfectly regular endings.

Mixed endings. The verb хотеть (to want) takes 1st-conjugation endings in the singular and 2nd-conjugation endings in the plural, and its stem changes from хоч- to хот- along the way: хочу, хочешь, хочет, but хотим, хотите, хотят. Its perfective захотеть does the same, and хотеться (to feel like) gives хочется. The verb бежать (to run) is 2nd conjugation except in the они form, which takes the 1st-conjugation -ут, and like мочь it keeps г in the я and они forms: бегу, бежишь, бежит, but бегут. Its compounds сбежать and убежать (both meaning to run away) follow it.

Their own endings. In the singular, есть (to eat) and дать (to give) add -м, -шь and -ст straight to the stem: ем, ешь, ест and дам, дашь, даст. Their plurals take 2nd-conjugation endings on a longer stem, as in едим, едите, едят and дадим, дадите, with one exception: дадут takes the 1st-conjugation -ут. The other 11 verbs in the group are built on these two, such as съесть (to eat up), создать (to create) and продать (to sell), and they conjugate the same way: создам, создашь, создаст.

A group of one. The most common verb on our list, быть (to be), normally drops out of the present: “I'm a student” is я студент. Our table shows есть (is) in all six present slots, because that one form can stand for any person. The future, буду (I will be), takes 1st-conjugation endings, and the past is был, была, были.

Regular endings, irregular stem. The 24 verbs in the last group conjugate with ordinary 1st-conjugation endings. What's irregular is the stem. The verb идти (to go, on foot) gives иду, идёшь, идут, but its past is шёл, шла, шли, with no ид- in sight. Its compounds, including найти (to find), пойти (to go, set off) and прийти (to come), follow it: найду, пойду, приду, and in the past нашёл, пошёл, пришёл. The verb ехать (to go, by vehicle) gives еду, едешь, едут, from a stem the infinitive doesn't show, and its compounds, such as поехать (to set off), do the same. The verbs забыть (to forget) and прибыть (to arrive) conjugate like буду: забуду, забудешь. Last comes ошибиться (to make a mistake), with ошибусь, ошибёшься and a past, ошибся, that drops the и.

This is where our label and a grammar book may disagree. Teachers and the Russian Academy Grammar of 1980 put идти, ехать and быть in the 1st conjugation, because their endings are 1st conjugation, and the Academy Grammar treats ошибиться as an ordinary 1st-conjugation verb too. Our label calls them irregular to flag the stem, since the stem is the part you have to learn by heart. If your teacher says идти is 1st conjugation, your teacher is right.

Some English-language textbooks, such as Cornell's Beginning Russian, name only four verbs with irregular endings: дать, есть, хотеть and бежать. Every verb in our first two groups is one of those four or built on one.

Aspect, stress and -ся

Three more things shape the forms in our tables, and none of them changes a verb's conjugation.

Aspect. Our 600 split evenly: 299 imperfective and 299 perfective, plus two that can be either, использовать (to use) and жениться (to get married). A perfective verb has no present tense. Its conjugated forms mean the future, so сделать (to do, perfective) gives сделаю, I will do. An imperfective verb such as делать (to do) makes its future with буду instead: буду делать, I will do or I will be doing. Both kinds conjugate the same way, so сказать is 1st conjugation (скажу, скажешь) and купить (to buy) is 2nd (куплю, купишь), even though those forms are futures.

Stress. In the present, stress follows one of three patterns. It stays on the stem in every form, as in знать, or on the ending, as in говорить. Or it shifts, usually sitting on the ending in the я form and on the stem everywhere else, as in любить.

Behind the scenes, our tables classify each verb with Zaliznyak's codes, the system Wiktionary follows. His letters a, b and c are these three patterns, and his numbers, 1 to 16, describe how the stem behaves. The Russian Academy Grammar numbers its own classes I to X, and the two systems don't match. You won't see either on our pages.

-ся verbs. Our list has 121 reflexive verbs. Conjugate the verb as usual, then add -ся after a consonant or -сь after a vowel: учиться (to study) gives учусь, учишься, учится, учимся, учитесь, учатся. The ending doesn't affect the type, so учиться is 2nd conjugation (учишься) and вернуться is 1st (вернёшься).

In what order to learn them

1. The two sets of endings. Learn знать and говорить side by side. Their endings cover all 556 verbs in the 1st and 2nd conjugations. With each new verb, learn the я and ты forms together: the ты form shows the conjugation, and the pair shows the stress.
2. The most common verbs, by heart. The top three on our list are быть, хотеть and мочь, and идти is number 13. Learn them form by form, like vocabulary. Once you know идти, its compounds найти, пойти and прийти come almost free.
3. The consonant changes. In the 2nd conjugation they hit the я form only (вижу, видишь). In the 1st they run through every person (скажу, скажешь). Both turn up in the top 10, in видеть and сказать.
4. Perfective verbs as futures. When you learn сказать, learn скажу as “I will say” from the start.
5. The rest of the irregular verbs, as you meet them. Start with есть and дать, then ехать and its compounds.

To drill one pattern at a time, the Russian verb conjugation worksheet generator lets you filter its list by conjugation and prints every form with its stress mark. Put видеть, ходить, любить and купить on one sheet, and you'll write вижу, хожу, люблю and куплю until they stop looking strange. The Russian verb conjugation quiz asks for one form at a time and marks each answer when you press Enter, and the Russian stress marker adds stress marks to any Russian text you paste in.

Frequently asked questions

Licenses and credits

Conjugation tables come from English Wiktionary through kaikki.org (CC BY-SA 4.0). Verbs are ranked by Hermit Dave's FrequencyWords list, built from OpenSubtitles 2018 (CC BY-SA 4.0).