Infinitive (imperfective): класть — "to put / lay (into a lying, flat position)" Infinitive (perfective): положи́ть — "to put / lay (one completed act)" Type: a suppletive aspect pair — different roots (клад- vs полож-), and one of the most error-prone "put" pairs in Russian
This pair means "to put something down so it lies flat" — a book on a table, sugar in tea, a phone in your pocket, money in an account. It is paired by aspect with ста́вить / поста́вить "to put upright (standing)": Russian forces you to choose the verb by the posture the object ends up in, a distinction English collapses into the single word "put." What makes класть / положи́ть genuinely hard is not the meaning but the morphology: it is suppletive, so the imperfective (класть, root клад-) and the perfective (положи́ть, root полож-) share nothing, and there is a famous trap — the form *ло́жить that learners reach for does not exist in the standard language.
Present tense (класть, imperfective)
Only класть has a present (положи́ть is perfective and has none). The present stem is клад- (note the -д-, invisible in the infinitive класть), with first-conjugation endings and end-stress throughout.
| Person | класть — PRESENT |
|---|---|
| я | кладу́ |
| ты | кладёшь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | кладёт |
| мы | кладём |
| вы | кладёте |
| они́ | кладу́т |
The infinitive класть hides the -д- of the stem (it surfaces only in the conjugated forms: клад-у́, клад-ёшь). This -д- is exactly why the "wrong" perfective people invent — *покла́сть — never forms; the real perfective comes from the other root entirely.
Я всегда́ кладу́ ключи́ в оди́н и тот же карма́н.
I always put my keys in the same pocket. — habitual present кладу́, imperfective; карма́н is masculine → оди́н и тот же.
Ты кладёшь са́хар в чай?
Do you put sugar in your tea? — кладёшь, a general habit, imperfective.
Не понима́ю, куда́ они́ кладу́т инструме́нты.
I don't get where they put the tools. — кладу́т, the -у́т first-conjugation ending.
Past tense
Both members build a regular past, but the stress patterns differ. класть is stem-stressed throughout (клал, кла́ла), with no end-stressed feminine. положи́ть keeps the stress on the -и́- of the suffix in the masculine (положи́л) and on the same syllable across the board.
| Gender / number | класть (impf) | положи́ть (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | клал | положи́л |
| feminine | кла́ла | положи́ла |
| neuter | кла́ло | положи́ло |
| plural | кла́ли | положи́ли |
The aspect contrast is the usual one. клал views the putting as a process or habit ("I was putting / I used to put"); положи́л views it as one completed act with a result ("I put it [there], and there it is"). Because "put" is almost always a single, instantaneous, result-producing act, the perfective положи́л is the more frequent past form in everyday speech.
Я положи́л твои́ докуме́нты на стол.
I put your documents on the table. — положи́л: one completed act, the result is that they're now there. Perfective.
Она́ положи́ла телефо́н в су́мку и вы́шла.
She put her phone in her bag and went out. — feminine положи́ла; a sequence of completed acts, perfective.
Ра́ньше он клал зарпла́ту на счёт ка́ждый ме́сяц.
He used to put his salary into the account every month. — клал: a repeated habit, imperfective.
Future tense
The two members form the future in the two standard ways.
- класть (imperfective) → compound future: бу́ду класть "I'll be putting / will keep putting."
- положи́ть (perfective) → simple future (полож- forms): положу́ "I'll put (it)." Note the stress shift: in the 1sg положу́ the stress is on the ending, but from the 2sg onward it retracts to the stem — поло́жишь, поло́жит, поло́жим, поло́жите, поло́жат.
| Person | класть → бу́ду класть | положи́ть → simple future |
|---|---|---|
| я | бу́ду класть | положу́ |
| ты | бу́дешь класть | поло́жишь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | бу́дет класть | поло́жит |
| мы | бу́дем класть | поло́жим |
| вы | бу́дете класть | поло́жите |
| они́ | бу́дут класть | поло́жат |
положи́ть is a second-conjugation verb (endings -ишь, -ит, -ат), which is why the future endings differ from the first-conjugation set of класть. The mobile stress (положу́ but поло́жишь) is the same shift you see in many second-conjugation verbs: end-stress in the 1sg, stem-stress everywhere else.
Положу́ э́то в холоди́льник, а то испо́ртится.
I'll put this in the fridge, or it'll go off. — положу́ = perfective simple future, one act.
Поло́жишь сюда́ свои́ ве́щи, и пойдём.
Put your things here (you will), and let's go. — поло́жишь, stem-stress in the 2sg.
Imperative
| Addressee | класть (impf) | положи́ть (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| ты (informal) | клади́ | положи́ |
| вы (formal / plural) | клади́те | положи́те |
положи́ asks for one specific thing to be put somewhere now ("put this here"); it is the default request. клади́ is the imperfective — used for a repeated/general instruction and, crucially, for negated commands. The aspect-of-the-imperative logic is on the aspect in the imperative page.
Положи́ нож на ме́сто, пожа́луйста.
Put the knife back where it belongs, please. — положи́: one specific act, perfective.
Не клади́ телефо́н на край стола́ — упадёт.
Don't put your phone on the edge of the table — it'll fall. — negated command takes the imperfective клади́.
Participles and verbal adverbs
| Form | класть (impf) | положи́ть (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| present active participle | кладу́щий "putting" | — (perfectives have none) |
| past active participle | кла́вший | положи́вший |
| past passive participle | — | поло́женный "put, laid" |
| verbal adverb | кладя́ "while putting" (rare) | положи́в "having put" |
The useful form here is the perfective verbal adverb положи́в "having put," common in writing. Note the stress retraction in the participle: положи́ть is end-stressed, but the past passive participle pulls back to поло́женный (по-ло́-жен-ный) — the same retraction you saw in поло́жишь.
Положи́в де́ньги на счёт, она́ почу́вствовала облегче́ние.
Having put the money into the account, she felt relieved. — verbal adverb положи́в (having put).
Key uses & collocations
1. класть / положи́ть + accusative + a "куда́" goal
The pattern is: verb + accusative (the thing) + a directional phrase answering куда́? ("to where?"). That goal takes в / на + accusative (motion into / onto), not the prepositional — because you are describing movement to a destination, not static location. See accusative with prepositions.
Положи́ кни́гу на по́лку, а не на пол.
Put the book on the shelf, not on the floor. — на по́лку (accusative, motion to a goal), not на по́лке (prepositional, location).
2. The "lying" half of the put-class
Use класть / положи́ть when the object ends up flat / lying; use ставить / поставить when it ends up upright / standing. A plate laid flat → положи́ть; a glass set upright → поста́вить. The whole posture system is on the put-class: ставить vs класть page.
Таре́лки положи́, а ча́шки поста́вь.
Lay the plates down (flat), and stand the cups up. — положи́ for flat objects, поста́вь for upright ones.
3. Money and abstract "put": класть на счёт, положи́ть конец
The pair extends to money (положи́ть де́ньги на счёт "deposit money in an account," положи́ть на ка́рту "top up a card") and to fixed abstracts (положи́ть коне́ц чему́-то "put an end to something" — note the dative here).
На́до положи́ть коне́ц э́тим спо́рам.
We need to put an end to these arguments. — fixed idiom положи́ть коне́ц + dative.
Common Mistakes
❌ Я ло́жу кни́гу на стол. / Поло́жь сюда́.
Incorrect — *ло́жить (and the imperative *поло́жь) is non-standard, the classic 'uneducated speech' error. Use кладу́ (impf) or положи́ (pf).
✅ Я кладу́ кни́гу на стол. / Положи́ сюда́.
I'm putting the book on the table. / Put it here.
❌ За́втра я бу́ду положи́ть де́ньги на счёт.
Incorrect — the бу́ду future needs an IMPERFECTIVE infinitive. The perfective положи́ть makes its own future: положу́ (no бу́ду).
✅ За́втра я положу́ де́ньги на счёт.
Tomorrow I'll deposit money into the account.
❌ Положи́ кни́гу на по́лке.
Wrong case — 'put onto X' is direction, so на + ACCUSATIVE: на по́лку. The prepositional на по́лке is for static location ('lies on the shelf').
✅ Положи́ кни́гу на по́лку.
Put the book onto the shelf.
❌ Я поло́жу стака́н на стол. (a glass set upright)
Wrong posture verb — an upright glass ends up standing, so use поста́вь / поста́влю. Use положи́ for flat/lying objects.
✅ Я поста́влю стака́н на стол.
I'll set the glass on the table (standing).
❌ положу́ → *поло́жу (stress), or поло́жишь → *положи́шь.
Stress error — the future shifts: 1sg положу́ (end-stress) but 2sg–3pl поло́жишь / поло́жит / поло́жат (stem-stress). The participle is поло́женный.
✅ Я положу́ э́то здесь, а ты поло́жишь там.
I'll put this here, and you'll put yours there.
Key Takeaways
- класть / положи́ть is suppletive: imperfective класть (root клад-) and perfective положи́ть (root полож-) share no stem. There is no *покла́сть and, crucially, no *ло́жить — the bare unprefixed -лож- verb is non-standard.
- Present (класть only): кладу́ / кладёшь / кладёт / кладём / кладёте / кладу́т — first conjugation, end-stress, stem клад-.
- Past: клал / кла́ла / кла́ло / кла́ли (stem-stress) vs положи́л / положи́ла / положи́ло / положи́ли.
- Future: imperfective compound бу́ду класть; perfective simple положу́ / поло́жишь / поло́жат — note the stress shift after the 1sg.
- Imperative: клади́ / положи́ — положи́ for one act, клади́ for habit and negation. The imperative is положи́, never *поло́жь.
- Government:
- accusative (the thing) + в/на + accusative for the "куда́" goal. Use класть/положи́ть for things that end up lying/flat; use ставить/поставить for things that end up upright.
Now practice Russian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Russian→Related Topics
- Putting Things: Класть/Положить, Ставить/Поставить, Вешать/ПовеситьB1 — Russian splits the single English verb 'put' into three verbs chosen by the resulting orientation of the object: класть/положи́ть (put down flat/lying), ста́вить/поста́вить (put upright/standing), and ве́шать/пове́сить (hang). Covers the suppletive класть/положи́ть pair (never *ло́жить), the accusative-of-destination construction, and how each verb maps to its 'be located' counterpart.
- Suppletive and Irregular Aspect PairsB1 — Some aspect pairs are not built by adding a prefix or swapping a suffix — the two members come from completely different roots (говори́ть/сказа́ть, брать/взять, иска́ть/найти́) or change shape so drastically that you must memorize each pair as a unit; this page collects the high-frequency suppletive and irregular pairs and shows the contrast with one example each.
- Ставить / Поставить (to put, stand up)B1 — Complete conjugation-and-usage reference for the aspect pair ста́вить / поста́вить 'to put (into an upright, standing position)': a regular second-conjugation verb with the в→вл mutation in the 1sg (ста́влю, поста́влю), built into a prefixed pair by по-. Full tables, the imperative ставь/поста́вь, the participle поста́вленный, the accusative + куда́ government, and the three-way posture contrast with класть/положи́ть (lying) and вешать/повесить (hanging).
- Accusative After Prepositions (в, на, за, под, через, про)A2 — The accusative is the case of DESTINATION and DURATION after prepositions: в/на/за/под switch to the accusative the moment there is motion toward a place (иду́ в шко́лу, кладу́ под стол), paired against their prepositional/instrumental location forms (я в шко́ле); plus through/across/in-a-time че́рез + acc (че́рез мост, че́рез час), the barrier-piercing сквозь, the colloquial 'about' про, and о/об in the sense of 'against' (уда́риться о ка́мень).
- Aspect in the ImperativeB1 — Commands force an aspect choice too: perfective for a single concrete request expecting completion (Прочита́й э́то! Купи́ хлеб!), imperfective for process, habit, and — crucially — polite invitations and 'go ahead' permission (Сади́тесь! Входи́те!); and negative commands flip the default, with imperfective for a prohibition (Не открыва́й!) but perfective for a warning against an accidental result (Не упади́! Не забу́дь!).
- Брать / Взять (to take)A2 — Complete conjugation-and-usage reference for the suppletive pair брать / взять 'to take': imperfective брать (беру́, берёшь, беру́т; past брал/брала́) versus its perfective partner взять (возьму́, возьмёшь, возьму́т; past взял/взяла́), built on two completely different roots — one of the most frequent and most irregular pairs in the language — with the imperative бери́/возьми́, the accusative government, and the everyday uses 'take, grab, get, charge'.