First-conjugation verbs

English verbs barely change in the present: "I read, you read, she reads". Russian verbs have a different ending for each person, six in all. The good news is that there are just two main sets of endings, called the first and the second conjugation, and most verbs follow one of them.

The first conjugation is the larger group. It includes most verbs ending in -ать and -ять, like чита́ть (to read), рабо́тать (to work), знать (to know), гуля́ть (to go for a walk). Drop -ть and add the endings:

The endings: -ю, -ешь, -ет, -ем, -ете, -ют. The vowel е runs through the middle four, which is the mark of this group.

When the ending is stressed

If the stress falls on the ending, е becomes ё: жить → живу́, живёшь, живёт, живём, живёте, живу́т; идти́ → иду́, идёшь. After a consonant, -ю and -ют become -у and -ут, as in живу́ and живу́т.

The ending of the infinitive is a hint, not a rule

Most -ать verbs are first conjugation, but a few common ones are not: слы́шать (to hear), держа́ть (to hold) and спать (to sleep) are second. Verbs in -еть split: уме́ть (can, know how) and боле́ть (to be ill) are first, смотре́ть (to watch) and ви́деть (to see) are second. When you learn a new verb, learn the ты form with it: чита́ешь tells you the group straight away.

Mistakes English speakers make

• Using the infinitive for everything: *Я чита́ть кни́гу. Every present-tense verb needs its person ending.
• Mixing the two groups: *они́ чита́ят. First-conjugation они́ ends in -ют/-ут.
• Forgetting that there is no separate "-ing" form: Я чита́ю is both "I read" and "I am reading".