perfective vs. imperfective

[milos-dimitrov.livejournal.com]

i'm trying to better understand verb forms and i was wondering if anyone could help me understand the different implications of these questions:

Ты посмотрел/смотрел этот фильм?
Ты позвонил/звонил домой сегодня?
Ты прочитал/читал эту книгу?
На прошлой неделе он заболел/болел?

Comments

[old-radist.livejournal.com]

I know as I am native speaker. °-) (Let say, does not allways mean)

But nevertheless I still do not understand the joke... Could you explain it in Russian please?

[windy-corner.livejournal.com]

The candidate stated that Imperfective verbs only refer to actions that are not completed. So читал Каренину would mean then 'didn't complete reading'. That's all.

oryx-and-crake, sorry if the joke wasn't funny. I only meant to illustrate the usage.

[old-radist.livejournal.com]

Yesss!