perfective/imperfective

[chirashi-don.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if I'm understanding the perfective/imperfective aspect of verbs correctly? Can anyone explain the difference or direct me to a good website (in english)? I filled out the underlined parts with little confidence.

1. Вчера весь день я писала приглашения на свадьбу.
Я написала 100 приглашений.

2. Утром я позавтракала, а потом поехала в университет.

3. Целый месяц Филипп переводил книгу о Москве на японский язык.

4. Вечером Оля поужинала и посмотрела телевизор.

5. Дедука всегда помогал мне делать домашние задания.

6. Аня окончила университет, а потом выходила замуж за Колю.

7. Бабушка сидела со мной дома, пока моя мама работала.

8. Когда мы поженились, мы переехали жить в Москву.

9. –Я слышала, что твои родители развелись?
-Да, развестили год назад.

Comments

[platonicus.livejournal.com]

5. ДедуШка (a typo)
6. выШла замуж за Колю (She had completed the job, I suppose)
9.9. развеЛИСЬ год назад.

[kazak-ixbt.livejournal.com]

5. Дедушка
6. выходила вышла
9. развестили развелись

[funbit.livejournal.com]

Hi =)

Everything is right except 3 mistakes mentioned above.

[katiroma.livejournal.com]

Perfective verbs always mean a completed action. You can never use perfective verb in present tense.
The difference can be explained with the first example. Писала - a continuous action (весь день), and no indication of the result. Написала - completed action with the result (100 приглашений).
In the 4th example, one particular evening is meant, so the action is not repetead and happens just once: поужинала, посмотрела. If it were "по вечерам" instead of "вечером", then one would have to use imperfective verbs: ужинала и смотрела.

[eez.livejournal.com]

Agree with katiroma.
Perfective is completed action. Imperfective indicates the process of the action.
As for the errors:
In #6: if you say "выходила замуж" - it is like "she was marrying him", as if you are describing the process as they were marrying; however, "вышла замуж" - "she married him", already.
In #9: the action is completed. Also, you can use the verb in the question as a prompt for the answer:
- они развелись?
- да, они развелись (нет, они не развелись)

[archaicos.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to note that, yes, even though писала & написала look the same from the suffix/ending standpoint and theoretically might both be considered as imperfect or perfect by mistake, the two verbs differ in perfection because of the prefix на. It's exactly the same thing with the verbs делать and сделать: я делал vs я сделал. 1st case is imperfect, 2nd is perfect. So, it's not only the suffix/ending to watch out for, it's also the prefix. While the following would not be a perfect analogy, but consider the English verbs that are composed of a verb and some particle like up or down: to write down, to finish up. 1st is translated as записать/записывать and 2nd is translated as закончить/заканчивать. If there's no *ва* in the suffix/ending (the clear indicator of imeperfection), you should look for any prefix. If there's a prefix, it may mean perfect.

You never realize how comlicated your own language is until you get asked or try to to question it, something you rarely do. :)

So, as far as the prefixes are concerned, here's a list of them (whatever I could come up with just thinking hard enough):
в, вс/вз, вос/воз, вы, до, за, ис/из, на, о, об, от/ото, пере, по, при, про, с, у.

So, let's look what happens to делать wich itself is imperfect form of the infinitive (yes, you can think that way too -- perfect and imperfect infinitive) with those prefixes in the past:
делал - imperfect
возделал (rare) - perfect
возделывал - imperfect
выделал - perfect
выделывал - imperfect
доделал - perfect
доделывал - imperfect
заделал - perfect
заделывал - imperfect
отделал - perfect
отделывал - imperfect
переделал - perfect
переделывал - imperfect
поделал - perfect
поделывал - imperfect
приделал - perfect
приделывал - imperfect
проделал - perfect
проделывал - imperfect
разделал - perfect
разделывал - imperfect
сделал - perfect
уделал - perfect
уделывал - imperfect

Some other verbs and prefixes:

бежать/бегать:
бежал - imperfect
бегал - imperfect
yep, both above are imperfect, but watch what happens with the prefixes:
вбежал - perfect
вбегал - imperfect
notice here another indicator of perfection/imperfection - жа/га suffix.
взбежал - perfect
взбегал - imperfect
избежал - perfect
избегал - imperfect
набежал - perfect
набегал - imperfect
обежал - perfect
обегал - imperfect

Of course, you have to know what prefix should be used. For example, here's how you can make a few verbs/actions perfect by adding a prefix and w/o chanhing the meaning:
делать -> сделать (сделал)
пить -> выпить (выпил)
пис*а*ть -> написать/записать (писал/записал)
However, if you use a wrong prefix, the meaning can be different or non-existent:
заделать = to patch/wall up, not to make/do
выделать = to curry (the skin), not to make/do in its plain meaning
запить = to drink after (e.g. a pill), not just to drink w/o a specific/normal reason

I wish there had been someone to explain me similar things in English many years ago. I had to learn and figure out a lot on my own. I don't know if this was just a bad luck with the teachers or there aren't many good teachers at all that can explain all the rules, provide with most of the patterns that make up the exceptions and give a good deal of the practical stuff and training. Oh well...