Ждать / Подождать (to wait)

Infinitive (imperfective): жда́ть — "to wait, to wait for (in progress)" Infinitive (perfective): подожда́ть — "to wait (a bit / until something happens)" Type: first conjugation with a present-tense ё-stem (жд- → жду́, ждёшь); the catch is its case government, not its endings

This is one of the first verbs you need in order to survive a Russian day — at a bus stop, a counter, a doorway. But жда́ть hides two traps that English never warns you about. First, the present stem is жд- with no vowel of its own, so the endings carry an inserted ё: жду́, ждёшь, ждёт. Second, and more important, "wait for X" does not use a preposition the way English does — the thing waited for goes straight into the genitive (for something indefinite) or the accusative (for a definite person). Get the conjugation right and the case wrong, and you still sound foreign; this page nails both. The perfective partner подожда́ть ("wait a little / wait until") is built with the prefix подо- and carries the same case rules.

Present tense (жда́ть, imperfective)

A perfective verb has no present tense, so only the imperfective жда́ть has a present. The stem жд- takes first-conjugation endings, and because the stem ends in a consonant cluster with no vowel, the stressed ё surfaces in the middle four forms.

The stress is on the ending throughout (жду́, ждёшь — the ё is always stressed by definition). The Russian present covers both "I wait" and "I am waiting"; there is no separate continuous form. So я жду́ answers both "Do you wait here?" and "Are you waiting?"

Past tense

The past is built on the infinitive stem жда-, and here lies the famous end-stressed feminine: ждала́, with the stress jumping onto the very last vowel in the feminine form only. The masculine, neuter, and plural keep the stress on the root.

The feminine ждала́ belongs to a small but very common group of verbs that throw their stress onto the ending in the feminine past only (compare брала́, спала́, была́). This is not optional and not regional — a native speaker hears жда́ла with root stress as a clear mistake. Memorise the rhythm: он жда́л, она́ ждала́.

Future tense

The aspects split the usual way. жда́ть (imperfective) builds a compound future with бу́ду + infinitive ("will be waiting"). подожда́ть (perfective) has a simple future — its conjugated forms, which look present-shaped but mean the future, because a perfective cannot describe the present moment.

The two futures mean genuinely different things. бу́ду жда́ть is an open-ended waiting ("I'll be waiting, for as long as it takes"); подожду́ is bounded ("I'll wait a bit / I'll wait until X, then move on"). This is why подожди́! ("hang on a sec!") is perfective — it asks for a short, finite pause. The mechanics of the two futures live on the perfective simple future and imperfective compound future pages.

Imperative

In practice the perfective подожди́(те) is the everyday "wait a second, hold on" — it asks for one short, bounded pause and is by far the more frequent command. The imperfective жди́(те) tells someone to keep waiting, settle in for an open-ended wait, or to expect something: Жди́ меня́, и я верну́сь "Wait for me, and I'll return" (the famous wartime line). Note both imperatives are end-stressed: жди́, подожди́.

Participles and verbal adverbs

жда́ть is one of the verbs whose imperfective verbal adverb is felt as awkward and is simply not used — Russians rephrase ("в ожида́нии" — "while waiting", literally "in expectation"). The present active participle жду́щий is alive and useful, especially the adjective-like phrase в режи́ме ожида́ния ("in standby mode"). The perfective подожда́в ("having waited a bit") is normal in narrative writing (formal / written).

Key uses & collocations

1. ждать + genitive — waiting for the indefinite / abstract

When you wait for something non-specific, abstract, or not a particular named person — a bus, help, an answer, news, a chance — it goes into the genitive. This is the default, the case you reach for when in doubt.

2. ждать + accusative — waiting for a definite person

When you wait for a specific, definite person (named, or clearly identified), the object goes into the accusative: ждать Ма́шу, ждать дру́га, ждать тебя́. With masculine animate nouns the accusative equals the genitive, so the contrast is most visible with feminine names and pronouns: жду́ Ма́шу (acc), not жду́ Ма́ши. The choice maps onto a real meaning split — genitive for the vague, accusative for the concrete — covered on the genitive vs accusative object page.

3. ждать, что / пока́ — waiting that / until

To say "wait until something happens", Russian uses ждать, пока́ (often with a negated verb in the subordinate clause — a structural quirk): Подожди́, пока́ дождь не ко́нчится "Wait until the rain stops." To "expect that…", use ждать, что.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Present (жда́ть): жду́ / ждёшь / ждёт / ждём / ждёте / жду́т — the stem жд- inserts a stressed ё; stress on the ending throughout.
• Past: жда́л / ждала́ / жда́ло / жда́ли — feminine is end-stressed (ждала́), like была́, брала́. This is the headline stress trap.
• Future: imperfective compound бу́ду ждать (open-ended); perfective simple подожду́ (bounded, "wait a bit / until").
• Imperative: жди́(те) (keep waiting / negated) vs подожди́(те) (the everyday "hang on a sec").
• Government — the real difficulty: wait for the indefinite/abstract = genitive (ждать авто́буса, по́мощи); wait for a definite person = accusative (ждать Ма́шу). No preposition — never "для" or "на" with this verb.