Imperfective simultaneous gerund

Level 5Sounds Like deepričastie nesoveršennogo vida

The imperfective gerund (деепричастие несовершенного вида) acts like an adverb, describing an action that happens simultaneously with the main verb. It answers the question 'doing what?' (что делая?).

How It Works

The imperfective gerund is a verbal adverb used to provide background information or describe the manner of an action.

1. Formation:
To form it, take the 3rd person plural (они) form of an imperfective verb, remove the ending (-ут/-ют/-ат/-ят), and add -я.

  • читать → чита-ют → читая (reading)
  • говорить → говор-ят → говоря (speaking)

If the stem ends in a husher (ж, ч, ш, щ), use -а instead:

  • лежать → леж-ат → лежа (lying)

2. Reflexive Verbs:
For reflexive verbs, the suffix -ся/-сь always becomes -сь after the gerund vowel.

  • улыбаться → улыба-ются → улыбаясь (smiling)

3. Exceptions and Irregularities:

  • The verb быть has the irregular form будучи (being).
  • Verbs ending in -авать, -знавать, -ставать retain the -ва- from the infinitive: давать (дают) → давая (giving).

4. Adverbialized Gerunds:
Some imperfective gerunds have become "frozen" as adverbs of manner. They often lose their verbal force and simply describe a state or position:

  • стоя (standing)
  • сидя (sitting)
  • молча (silently)
  • лёжа (lying down)

5. Restrictions:
Some verbs do not form imperfective gerunds:

  • Verbs ending in -чь (печь, беречь).
  • Verbs with the suffix -ну- (гаснут, мёрзнут).
  • Verbs with stems that lack vowels in the present tense (ждут, пьют).
  • Verbs where the stem changes from a sibilant to a husher (пишут).
  • Common verbs of motion and state: бежать, ехать, петь, хотеть.

6. Usage Rules:
The most important rule is the same-subject constraint. The person doing the main action must be the same person doing the gerund action. It is primarily used in formal or literary Russian; in casual speech, people often use пока (while) or когда (when) clauses instead.

Examples (4)

  1. Слушая музыку, я обычно убираю в квартире.

    While listening to music, I usually clean the apartment.

    Word by Word: Listening music, I usually clean in apartment.

    The gerund 'слушая' shows that the listening and cleaning happen at the same time.

  2. Он шёл по улице, стараясь не привлекать внимания.

    He walked down the street, trying not to attract attention.

    Word by Word: He walked along street, trying not to attract attention.

    The gerund 'стараясь' describes the manner in which he was walking.

  3. Не зная кода, вы не сможете открыть дверь.

    Not knowing the code, you will not be able to open the door.

    Word by Word: Not knowing code, you not will-be-able to-open door.

    Here, the gerund 'не зная' provides the reason or condition for the main action.

  4. Она сидела у окна, читая книгу.

    She sat by the window, reading a book.

    Word by Word: She sat by window, reading book.

    The gerund 'читая' provides the background process for the main verb 'сидела'.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a gerund when the subjects are different (Dangling Participle).

    *Подходя к дому, пошёл дождь.
    Когда я подходил к дому, пошёл дождь.

    In the incorrect sentence, the subject of 'approaching' is 'I', but the subject of the main verb is 'rain'. In Russian, the subjects must match.

  • Forming a gerund from a verb that does not normally have one.

    *Пиша письмо, он пил кофе.
    Когда он писал письмо, он пил кофе.

    The verb 'писать' (to write) is one of many common verbs that do not have a standard imperfective gerund form.

  • Using the wrong reflexive suffix.

    *Смеяяся, он рассказал шутку.
    Смеясь, он рассказал шутку.

    After the vowel in a gerund suffix, the reflexive marker must always be '-сь', never '-ся'.

How It Connects

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Imperfective simultaneous gerundLevel 5

Learn This First

To learn the imperfective simultaneous gerund, a learner needs to understand its morphological formation (the -я/-а suffixes), the syntactic constraint that it must share a subject with the main verb, and the aspectual concept of using the imperfective to describe background or simultaneous actions.