To talk about things that happened in the past in Russian, you need to understand two types of verbs: regular and irregular.

1. Regular Verbs

Regular verbs change their form when you make them past tense. To do this, you take off the last part of the verb, usually the -ть ending. Then, you add the correct ending for the past tense.

Here are some examples:

• Играть (to play) becomes:
  • играл (he played)
  • играла (she played)
  • играли (they played)

The endings depend on the gender of the subject:

• Use -л for he (masculine),
• -ла for she (feminine),
• and -ли for they (plural).

2. Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs do not follow the regular rules. They have different forms in the past tense.

Here are some examples:

• Сделать (to do/make) changes to:
  • сделал (he did)
  • сделала (she did)
• Уйти (to leave) changes to:
  • ушёл (he left)
  • ушла (she left)

3. Aspect Consideration

In Russian, verbs can also show aspect. There are two aspects to know:

• The imperfective aspect talks about actions that are not finished.
• The perfective aspect talks about actions that are complete.

4. Practice Sentences

Here are some sentences to practice:

• Я играла весь день. (I played all day.)
• Он сделал свои домашние задания. (He did his homework.)

Summary

Regular verbs are easier because they follow a pattern. Irregular verbs are special and need to be memorized. Remembering the different endings based on gender will help you talk about past actions correctly.