он/она + -ет/-ит

Present Third-person Singular Verb

Level 1Sounds Like on/ona + -et/-it

In Russian, verbs change their endings to match the subject. For 'he' (он), 'she' (она), 'it' (оно), or any single person/thing, the verb usually ends in -ет or -ит.

How It Works

To talk about what a single third party (он, она, оно) or any singular noun (e.g., студент, машина, собака) is doing (and sometimes will do), you must use the third-person singular form. This corresponds to the English 's' ending (e.g., he reads).

1. First Conjugation (-ет/-ёт):
Many verbs ending in -ать, -ять, or -еть follow this pattern. If a 1st conjugation ending is stressed, the 'е' becomes 'ё'. Note that some verb stems change (consonant mutations) before adding the ending, and you should also watch out for stress shifts, where the stress moves from the ending in the infinitive to the stem in the conjugated form.

  • читать (to read) → он читает
  • петь (to sing) → он поёт
  • писать (to write) → он пишет
  • -овать / -евать verbs: The suffix changes to -у- or -ю- before the ending (рисовать → он рисует, танцевать → она танцует).
  • Other endings: 1st conjugation also applies to verbs ending in -ти (идти → идёт), -чь (мочь → может), and -нуть (отдохнуть → отдохнёт).
  • -ить exceptions: брить (to shave) and стелить (to spread) follow this pattern (он бреет, он стелет).

2. Second Conjugation (-ит):
Most verbs ending in -ить follow this pattern. However, there are several common exceptions that use -ит despite their infinitive endings:

  • -еть exceptions: смотреть (to watch), видеть (to see), терпеть (to endure), зависеть (to depend), ненавидеть (to hate), обидеть (to offend), and вертеть (to twirl).
  • -ать exceptions: слышать (to hear), дышать (to breathe), держать (to hold), and гнать (to drive/chase).
  • говорить (to speak) → она говорит

3. Reflexive Verbs (-тся):
When a verb is reflexive, the third-person singular ending adds -ся. The reflexive particle takes the form -ся after consonants (like the 'т' in -ет/-ит) and -сь after vowels (e.g., я одеваюсь). The soft sign (ь) from the infinitive is dropped, resulting in -ется or -ится (pronounced like 'ца').

  • учиться (to study) → он учится
  • одеваться (to get dressed) → она одевается

4. Irregular Verbs:
Some highly common verbs have irregular third-person singular forms or mix conjugations. For example, дать and есть are truly irregular because they do not use the -ет/-ит endings at all. Meanwhile, хотеть and бежать are mixed conjugation verbs with irregularities across their forms (e.g., хотеть mutates its stem to хоч- in the singular but reverts to хот- in the plural).

  • дать (to give) → он даст
  • есть (to eat) → она ест
  • хотеть (to want) → он хочет
  • бежать (to run) → она бежит

5. The Question Word Кто (Who):
The question word кто (who) always takes the third-person singular form, even if the expected answer is plural or feminine. Кто идёт? (Who is coming?).

6. Usage and Tense:
These endings indicate different times depending on the verb's aspect:

  • Present Tense (Imperfective): Used for ongoing actions or habits. Он читает сейчас (He is reading now).
  • Future Tense (Perfective): Used for completed results in the future. Он прочитает книгу завтра (He will read the book tomorrow).
  • General facts: Солнце светит (The sun shines).
  • Past Tense: Note that this pattern does not apply to the past tense. The past tense uses an entirely different system based on gender (-л, -ла, -ло).

Examples (4)

  1. Он хорошо пишет по-русски.

    He writes well in Russian.

    Word by Word: He well writes in-Russian.

    The verb 'писать' (to write) is a first conjugation verb, so it takes the -ет ending.

  2. Она часто смотрит телевизор.

    She often watches television.

    Word by Word: She often watches television.

    'Смотреть' is an exception verb that takes the second conjugation ending -ит.

  3. Поезд идёт в Москву.

    The train is going to Moscow.

    Word by Word: Train goes to Moscow.

    The train is a singular noun (it), so the verb 'идти' takes the stressed ending -ёт.

  4. Иван говорит по-английски.

    Ivan speaks English.

    Word by Word: Ivan speaks in-English.

    'Говорить' ends in -ить, so it uses the second conjugation ending -ит.

Common Mistakes

  • Mixing up conjugation endings (-ет vs -ит).

    Он говориет по-русски.
    Он говорит по-русски.

    Learners often try to add -ет to all verbs. Remember that -ить verbs almost always take -ит.

  • Confusing the reflexive ending -тся with the infinitive -ться.

    Он учиться в школе.
    Он учится в школе.

    Although they sound the same, the 3rd person singular form does not have a soft sign (ь) before the -ся.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

он/она + -ет/-итLevel 1Present Third-person Singular Verb

Learn This First

To learn third-person singular conjugation, a learner must first be able to identify the subject in the nominative case, recognize the infinitive form of the verb, and be comfortable reading the Cyrillic script.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

And 4 more in the full list.