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Past Tense & Verbal Aspect

Past tense formation and the perfective/imperfective distinction
читав / читала
read (past, m./f.)
chytav / chytala
Past tense agrees with gender, not person: -в (m.), -ла (f.)
читало / читали
read (past, n./pl.)
chytalo / chytaly
-ло (neuter), -ли (plural) — past has no person endings
Я читав книгу
I read a book (m.)
ya chytav knyhu
Male speaker; verb shows masculine -в
Я читала книгу
I read a book (f.)
ya chytala knyhu
Female speaker; same pronoun, feminine verb -ла
недоконаний вид
imperfective aspect
nedokonanyi vyd
Action in progress or repeated, no focus on completion
доконаний вид
perfective aspect
dokonanyi vyd
Action viewed as completed/whole
читати / прочитати
to read (impf. / pf.)
chytaty / prochytaty
Aspect pair; prefix про- makes it perfective
писати / написати
to write (impf. / pf.)
pysaty / napysaty
Aspect pair; prefix на- makes it perfective
Я прочитав книгу
I read (finished) the book
ya prochytav knyhu
Perfective = the reading was completed
Я буду читати
I will read
ya budu chytaty
Imperfective future: буду + infinitive