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The abstract approach: the default form of the verb in Russian is imperfective. One uses the perfective verb when three conditions apply:
Practical guideline: actions that are in progress at the point in discourse are expressed with the imperfective verb. Since –ing verbs in English indicate progressive action, they are always translated with imperfective verbs:
Когда папа ехал на работу, я ещё завтракал.
I was eating breakfast while dad was driving to work.
Practical guideline: Actions that are repeated in the discourse are expressed with imperfective:
Раньше я завтракал в университетской столовой.
I used to eat breakfast in the university cafeteria.
Practical guideline: a sequence of actions that occur one after the other will occur in the perfective:
Я поехал в библиотеку, написал задание, и потом поехал на работу.
I went to the library, wrote out the assignment, and then went to work.
Sometimes a question can be asked either in the imperfective or the perfective. For instance, one may ask:
| 1. (imperfective) | Ты вчера покупала одежду? | Did you shop for clothes yesterday? |
| 2. (perfective) | Ты вчера купила одежду? | Did you buy clothes yesterday? |
When the speaker says (1), then he is asking whether the other person went shopping for clothes, but he doesn’t necessarily want to see the clothes; in other words the result of the shopping (the actual purchase) isn’t relevant to the discourse at that point, and so criterion 3 is not met above. When the speaker says (2), he has in mind that the result is significant to the discourse; in other words, he probably wants to see the new clothing.