(no subject)

[xswt-cherryx.livejournal.com]

Im am having some difficulties grasping the concept of aspect.

I was given 12 sentances (in english) and was suppoesed to pick 5 which I think would be used in perfective future aspect. These are the 5 sentances I picked (because they wern't a habitual action and not 'compleate').
Can you tell me, what are some general rules for assignning aspect to a verb? (like how would one know if it is perfective vs. imperfective?)

1.We'll close the shop at midnight.
2.On Saturday, I will sleep until noon.
3. I'll get her a new CD.
4.Then on Sunday afternoon I'll definitely finish writing my history term paper no matter what.
5.When I get home I'll feed the cat.

Comments

[zhirafov-nyet.livejournal.com]

From what I understand, the perfective aspect is given to verbs that are completed actions and non-habitual. Also, they don't take place over a period of time; they happen once at one specific time. Imperfective verbs happen multiple times, or they're incomplete, or they take place over a certain amount of time (or in some cases, all of the above)
For these reasons, I don't think that #2 is perfective. Sleeping takes place over a period of time and would therefore be imperfective. If it said something like, "On Saturday, I will get up at noon", then it would be perfective because getting up happens just once, and in this case it will be a completely finished task.
The rest sound fine. But I wouldn't go on just my word alone; I'm still somewhat of a novice.

[lia910.livejournal.com]

There's a simple rule about it. If a verb answers the question "что делать (делаю, делает, etc.)" than it is imperfective; if it answers "что сделать (сделаю, сделаем, etc.)" than it is perfective. Thus, for instance, the first sentence you've chosen will be used in future perfective aspect:
We'll close the shop at midnight. - Мы закроем магазин в полночь. The verb "закроем" answers the question "что Сделаем?".
Try to check all the sentences you've chosen and you'll see if you were right or not.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

There's only one problem: this rule is good for native Russian speakers, but English speakers cannot understand it :) As they DO NOT have the aspect feature in their language, at least in the form we have it, they cannot understand what is the difference between "делаем" and "сделаем" -- and thus cannot benefit from this "simple" rule, which is only simple for those who already speaks Russian as their native language :)

[lia910.livejournal.com]

Yes, maybe you are right. I didn't think 'bout it :)

[archaicos.livejournal.com]

Right. It's one of those things that don't map exactly in another language. Contemporary English doesn't have the notion of (or has it very limited or simplistic): gender, polite/formal you, cases, inflection, reflexivity, this thing about verbs coming in two forms (including the infinitive): perfective and imperfective and maybe some others, relaxed word order, etc. No wonder why all of the sudden Russian poses such problems. And there's the lack of clues for proper accentuation (somewhat similar to that of English, but worse), the word order and word/phrase emphasis has additional meaning. I wonder if a better bridge from English to Russian could be something like Spanish, which has more stuff in common with Russian (gender, you, more apparent though limited cases, inflection, reflexivity, a bit relaxed word order compared to English). Still, Russian is Russian, there would remain specific things not encountered in the bridge langage.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I would say that German, with its three genders, formal/informal you (du/Sie), strong case system, rich use of aspect, reflexivity etc., is even a better bridge to Russian (being Germanic, just like English is.) But surely German is not as widely spread in North America as Spanish.

[lia910.livejournal.com]

As far as the second is concerned, it could be used both in perfective and imperfective aspects.
On Saturday, I will sleep until noon.
{Compare:}
В субботу я буду спать до полудня. (спать answers the question "что делать?" so it's imperfective)
В субботу я просплю до полудня. (просплю answers the question "что Сделаю?" therefore it's perfective).

[towarysc.livejournal.com]

1) Мы закроем магазин в полночь (if it's an exception to common case) or Мы закрываем магазин в полночь (if it's common case).
2) See previous comment (both variants are synonimical).
3) Я подарю ей новый диск (я буду дарить is unaccptable if there is only one CD).
4) В воскресенье днем я точно закончу курсовую по истории (буду заканчивать means that the term paper won't be complete yet).
5) Когда я приду домой, я покормлю кошку (буду кормить is also acceptable, but not so good).

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

>5) Когда я приду домой, я покормлю кошку (буду кормить is also acceptable, but not so good).

Буду кормить is only OK if you are going to feed your cat all night long until it pops. If it's a single action and you only going to give the poor beast enough food for a one-time consumption, using буду кормить is a wrong idea :)

[towarysc.livejournal.com]

- Я буду дома в 11 часов.
- А кошку кто за тебя кормить будет?
- Я буду. Когда вернусь.

One can invent a twisted case for each rule =)))

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

This is colloquial. Colloquial use bends many rules :) Before one learns colloquialisms, it is useful to master the "normative" use.

[towarysc.livejournal.com]

Yessssssss. You're quite right:)

[oryx_and_crake]

sentEnces
supposed
complete
(sorry, could not help myself ;-))