Infinitive (imperfective): встава́ть — "to get up, stand up, rise (as a process / habitually)" Infinitive (perfective): встать — "to get up, stand up, rise (one completed act)" Type: a -ва- imperfective paired with a -ну-/-н- perfective — a high-frequency model of suffix-based pair formation
встава́ть / встать is the verb of your whole morning: Я встаю́ в семь "I get up at seven," Встань! "Stand up!", Все вста́ли "Everyone stood up." It's worth a dedicated page because each member hides a trap. The imperfective встава́ть carries the suffix -ва- in the infinitive and the past (встава́л) but drops it completely in the present: you say встаю́, встаёшь — not the spelled-out вставаю. The perfective *встать is built on a -ну-/-н- stem (вста́ну, вста́нешь) — the same instantaneous-action suffix you see in many "do it once" perfectives. Get those two stems right and the rest is regular. Stress is marked on every multisyllable form; note the present is end-stressed while the perfective future is stem-stressed.
Present tense (встава́ть, imperfective) — the -ва- drops!
A perfective has no present, so only встава́ть has one. Here is the central fact of this verb: the present stem is вста-, and the -ва- of the infinitive disappears. The endings are first-conjugation, end-stressed, with the ё of встаёшь, встаёт, etc. always stressed.
| Person | встава́ть — PRESENT (no -ва-!) |
|---|---|
| я | встаю́ |
| ты | встаёшь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | встаёт |
| мы | встаём |
| вы | встаёте |
| они́ | встаю́т |
This is the same disappearing-act you see in дава́ть → даю́, даёшь and встава́ть → встаю́, встаёшь: the -ва- is an infinitive-and-past-only suffix. Learners who say *вставаю are reasoning logically from the infinitive — but the rule is the opposite: drop -ва-, keep the bare вста- stem, add -ю́/-ёшь/-ёт/-ём/-ёте/-ю́т.
Я встаю́ в семь часо́в ка́ждый день.
I get up at seven every day. — встаю́ (NOT *вставаю); в + accusative for clock time; a habit, imperfective.
Во ско́лько ты обы́чно встаёшь?
What time do you usually get up? — встаёшь, present of a habitual action.
По выходны́м мы встаём по́здно.
On weekends we get up late. — встаём, end-stressed present.
Past tense
The past, by contrast, keeps the -ва- in the imperfective: встава́л. The perfective встать has a perfectly regular past built on the вста- stem — встал, feminine вста́ла, neuter вста́ло, plural вста́ли (the -л is there throughout). The only thing to watch is the stress: it lands on вста́- in the perfective but on -ва́- in the imperfective (встава́л).
| Gender / number | встава́ть (impf) | встать (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | встава́л | встал |
| feminine | встава́ла | вста́ла |
| neuter | встава́ло | вста́ло |
| plural | встава́ли | вста́ли |
The aspect contrast: встава́л views getting up as a habit or repeated event ("I used to get up / I was getting up"); встал packages it as one completed act ("I got up [and that was that]"). A single "I got up at six this morning" is perfective: Я встал в шесть.
Сего́дня я встал в шесть и сра́зу пошёл бе́гать.
Today I got up at six and went for a run straight away. — встал: one completed act, perfective.
Ра́ньше она́ встава́ла о́чень ра́но.
She used to get up very early. — встава́ла: a repeated habit (note -ва- in the past), imperfective.
Future tense
The pair forms its future the two standard ways.
- встава́ть (imperfective) → compound future: бу́ду встава́ть "I'll be getting up / will keep getting up."
- встать (perfective) → simple future on the -ну-/-н- stem: вста́ну "I'll get up (once)." Note the stem stress here — вста́ну, вста́нешь — unlike the end-stressed present встаю́.
| Person | встава́ть → бу́ду встава́ть | встать → simple future |
|---|---|---|
| я | бу́ду встава́ть | вста́ну |
| ты | бу́дешь встава́ть | вста́нешь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | бу́дет встава́ть | вста́нет |
| мы | бу́дем встава́ть | вста́нем |
| вы | бу́дете встава́ть | вста́нете |
| они́ | бу́дут встава́ть | вста́нут |
The forms вста́ну, вста́нешь… вста́нут look like a present but are the future, because встать is perfective. For "I'll get up at six tomorrow," the perfective вста́ну is the natural choice; reserve бу́ду встава́ть for "I'll be getting up early all next week." See the perfective simple future page.
За́втра я вста́ну в пять — у меня́ ра́нний рейс.
Tomorrow I'll get up at five — I have an early flight. — вста́ну: one planned act, perfective (stem-stressed).
С понеде́льника я бу́ду встава́ть ра́ньше.
From Monday I'll start getting up earlier. — бу́ду встава́ть: a new repeated routine, imperfective.
Imperative
The imperatives come from the two stems and differ noticeably.
| Addressee | встава́ть (impf) | встать (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| ты (informal) | встава́й | встань |
| вы (formal / plural) | встава́йте | вста́ньте |
The imperfective встава́й(те) is the everyday morning "get up, time to get up!" — it keeps the -ва- and is the gentle, process-oriented wake-up call. The perfective встань / вста́ньте is the sharp, one-act "stand up! / get up now!" — a command for an immediate single action. Встава́й, уже́ во́семь! "Get up, it's already eight!" vs Встань, когда́ говори́шь со ста́ршими "Stand up when you speak to your elders."
Встава́й, со́ня, за́втрак на столе́!
Get up, sleepyhead, breakfast's on the table! — встава́й: the everyday wake-up, imperfective.
Встань ро́вно и не суту́лься.
Stand up straight and don't slouch. — встань: one immediate act, perfective.
Participles and verbal adverbs
| Form | встава́ть (impf) | встать (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| present active participle | встаю́щий "(the one) getting up" | — (perfectives have none) |
| past active participle | встава́вший | вста́вший |
| verbal adverb | встава́я "while getting up" | встав "having got up" |
These are mostly (literary / written). The perfective verbal adverb встав "having got up / once up" appears in narrative prose: Встав пора́ньше, он успе́л на пе́рвый по́езд "Having got up a bit earlier, he caught the first train." Note that the imperfective verbal adverb keeps the -ва- (встава́я), exactly as the past does.
Встав с посте́ли, она́ сра́зу подошла́ к окну́.
Getting out of bed, she went straight to the window. — verbal adverb встав ('having got up').
Key uses & collocations
1. встава́ть в + accusative — at what time
For clock time, "get up at [a time]" uses в + accusative: встаю́ в семь (часо́в) "I get up at seven." This is the standard time-of-day construction.
Мы встаём в полови́не седьмо́го.
We get up at half past six. — в + accusative for clock time.
2. встать с + genitive — to get up FROM
To get up from a place — bed, a chair, the table — use с + genitive: встать с посте́ли "get out of bed," встать со сту́ла "get up from the chair," встать из-за стола́ "get up from the table" (here из-за + genitive). The "rise off a surface" idea is с + genitive.
Он уста́л и не мог встать со сту́ла.
He was so tired he couldn't get up from the chair. — встать с + genitive сту́ла.
3. встать = to come to a stop / to stand (still)
Beyond people, встать also means a mechanism or process coming to a halt: Маши́на вста́ла "The car stalled / stopped," Часы́ вста́ли "The clock stopped," Заво́д встал "The factory shut down." Here it's "stopped dead, came to a standstill."
В це́нтре всё вста́ло из-за про́бок.
Everything came to a standstill downtown because of traffic. — встать = 'come to a stop'.
Common Mistakes
❌ Я вставаю́ в семь часо́в.
The -ва- must DROP in the present — say встаю́, not *вставаю. The suffix lives only in the infinitive and past.
✅ Я встаю́ в семь часо́в.
I get up at seven.
❌ За́втра я бу́ду встать в пять.
Aspect error — the бу́ду future needs an imperfective infinitive. The perfective встать makes its own future: вста́ну (no бу́ду).
✅ За́втра я вста́ну в пять.
Tomorrow I'll get up at five.
❌ Ка́ждое у́тро я вста́ну ра́но.
Aspect mismatch — a repeated daily habit needs the imperfective present встаю́, not the perfective future вста́ну (which is one future act).
✅ Ка́ждое у́тро я встаю́ ра́но.
Every morning I get up early.
❌ Я вста́ну с семь часо́в.
Wrong preposition for clock time — use в + accusative for 'at [a time]': в семь часо́в. (с + genitive means 'from' a place: встать с посте́ли.)
✅ Я вста́ну в семь часо́в.
I'll get up at seven.
Key Takeaways
- The -ва- drops in the present: встаю́ / встаёшь / встаёт / встаём / встаёте / встаю́т — never *вставаю. The suffix survives only in the infinitive (встава́ть) and past (встава́л). Same rule as дава́ть → даю́.
- Perfective on a -ну-/-н- stem: вста́ну / вста́нешь / вста́нут — stem-stressed, unlike the end-stressed present встаю́.
- Past: встава́л (habit, keeps -ва-) vs встал / вста́ла (one completed act).
- Future: imperfective compound бу́ду встава́ть; perfective simple вста́ну (looks like a present, but it's the future).
- Imperative: встава́й(те) = the everyday "get up!"; встань / вста́ньте = a sharp one-act "stand up!".
- Government: в + accusative for clock time (встаю́ в семь); с + genitive for "get up from" (встать с посте́ли).
- Also means a mechanism stopping dead (Маши́на вста́ла).
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- Forming Aspect Pairs: Suffixation and Secondary ImperfectivesB1 — The other direction of pair formation: deriving an imperfective from a perfective by suffix. The 'secondary imperfective' process (-ыва-/-ива-, -ва-, -а́-) rebalances the system after a prefix has perfectivized a verb, giving triplets like писа́ть → записа́ть → запи́сывать. Master the suffixes and you can predict the imperfective partner of most prefixed perfectives.
- Verbal Aspect: The Big PictureA2 — Aspect is the spine of the Russian verb: nearly every verb belongs to a pair — imperfective (process, repetition, general fact) and perfective (a single completed whole with a result). This page explains the pair, the consequences for the tense system (perfectives have no present), and why you must decide 'process or result?' before you even pick a tense.
- The Perfective (Simple) FutureA2 — The perfective future is a single word: you conjugate a perfective verb with the ordinary present-tense endings (-у/-ю, -ешь/-ишь…) and the result means the FUTURE — прочита́ю 'I'll read (and finish),' напишу́ 'I'll write,' куплю́ 'I'll buy,' позвоню́ 'I'll call.' The trap is that these forms look exactly like a present tense, but a perfective verb has no present, so a conjugated perfective is always future. It names a single completed action with a result, a promise, or one step in a sequence.
- Одеваться / Одеться (to get dressed)A2 — Complete conjugation-and-usage reference for the reflexive aspect pair одева́ться / оде́ться 'to get dressed, dress oneself': a model -ся verb showing the -ся (after a consonant) / -сь (after a vowel) alternation, the imperfective with the disappearing -ва- (одева́юсь but оде́нусь in the perfective), the imperative оде́нься / одева́йся, the relatives раздева́ться 'undress' and переодева́ться 'change clothes', and the government в + accusative ('dress in') and adverbs like тепло́ ('warmly').
- Давать / Дать (to give)A2 — Complete conjugation-and-usage reference for the aspect pair дава́ть (imperfective) / дать (perfective), 'to give'. Full paradigms: the -ва--dropping present даю́/даёшь/даю́т, the athematic perfective дам/дашь/даст/дади́м/дади́те/даду́т (its future), the past дал/дала́/да́ло/да́ли, imperatives дава́й(те) and дай(те), and the дава́й 'let's' use.
- Prepositional for Location (в and на)A1 — The prepositional's main job: saying WHERE something is, after в (in/at, enclosed) and на (on/at a surface or event). В Москве́, в шко́ле, на столе́, на рабо́те. The big contrast: location takes the prepositional (Я в шко́ле) but motion-to takes the accusative (Я иду́ в шко́лу) — same prepositions, different case. Plus the lexical на-list you must memorize.