Работать (to work)

Infinitive (imperfective): рабо́тать — "to work" Perfective (delimitative): порабо́тать — "to work for a while / put in some work" Type: the model regular first-conjugation -ай verb — completely predictable, with fixed root stress

рабо́тать is the verb you will use to say what you do for a living, where you work, and what you are working on — and mercifully it is one of the most regular verbs in the language. The stem is рабо́та-, the endings are the standard first-conjugation set, and the stress never moves off -бо́-. There are no mutations, no stress jumps, no surprises in any form. So the whole challenge of this verb is not its conjugation but its government — the cases it pulls. Russian says "work as a teacher" with the instrumental and no preposition (рабо́тать учи́телем), "work on a project" with над + instrumental (рабо́тать над прое́ктом), and "work at a place" with в/на + prepositional (рабо́тать в шко́ле). Master those three frames and you can talk about almost any job.

Present tense — fully regular first conjugation

рабо́тать is imperfective, so it has a present. The stem рабо́та- drops the -ть and takes the textbook first-conjugation endings (-ю, -ешь, -ет, -ем, -ете, -ют). Stress is fixed on -бо́- in every single form.

This is the cleanest model of the first-conjugation -ай pattern — the same endings you see in чита́ю, де́лаю, зна́ю. Because the stress is fixed and there are no mutations, рабо́тать is a verb you can conjugate with total confidence the moment you learn the pattern (see regular first conjugation). The Russian present covers both "I work" and "I am working."

Past tense

A perfectly regular gender-marked past on the stem рабо́та-, stress fixed on -бо́-.

There is no end-stress trap here: the feminine is рабо́тала, not "работала́". The imperfective рабо́тал describes work as an activity or a job held over a period ("I worked / used to work"); the perfective порабо́тал views a bounded stretch of work ("I did some work / put in a shift").

Future tense

рабо́тать (imperfective) → compound future with бу́ду + infinitive ("will work / will be working"). The perfective порабо́тать → simple future порабо́таю ("I'll work a while"). Most of the time you want the imperfective compound future here, because a job or an activity is usually open-ended.

The delimitative порабо́таю means "I'll work for a bit" — the prefix по- here adds the sense "do (the action) for a limited while." So Порабо́таю часо́к и отдохну́ = "I'll work for an hour or so and then rest." For a plain open-ended future ("I'll be working"), use бу́ду рабо́тать.

Imperative

рабо́тай(те) is the everyday "work / get to work / keep working." The perfective порабо́тай(те) suggests "do put in some work (for a while)" — often gentle advice. Both have the regular -й imperative of -ай verbs, stress on -бо́-.

Participles and verbal adverbs

The present active participle рабо́тающий ("working / employed") is very common as an adjective: рабо́тающая мать "a working mother", рабо́тающее реше́ние "a working solution." The verbal adverb рабо́тая ("while working") is everyday: Рабо́тая в Москве́, я мно́го путеше́ствовал "While working in Moscow, I travelled a lot."

Key uses & collocations

1. рабо́тать + instrumental — work AS a profession

To say what your job is, Russian uses the instrumental of the profession, with no preposition: рабо́тать врачо́м, инжене́ром, учи́телем, программи́стом. This is the predicate instrumental — the same construction as стать врачо́м "become a doctor" — covered on the predicate instrumental page. English's "work as a teacher" has no Russian как; the case alone carries the "as."

2. рабо́тать над + instrumental — work ON something

For working on a project, a book, oneself, use над + instrumental. (Don't reach for на here — that means a place; see below.)

3. рабо́тать в / на + prepositional — work AT a place

The place of work takes the prepositional — в for most enclosed places and institutions (в шко́ле, в о́фисе, в ба́нке) and на for a fixed set of "open" or activity-type places (на заво́де "at a factory", на по́чте "at the post office", на ста́нции). Which preposition each place takes is a memorised list, handled on the location: в vs на page.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• рабо́тать is the model regular -ай verb: рабо́таю / рабо́таешь / рабо́тает / рабо́таем / рабо́таете / рабо́тают — fixed stress on -бо́-, no mutations.
• Past: рабо́тал / рабо́тала / рабо́тало / рабо́тали (no end-stress). Future: imperfective compound бу́ду рабо́тать; delimitative perfective simple порабо́таю ("work a while").
• Profession = instrumental, no preposition: рабо́тать врачо́м, учи́телем, программи́стом. There is no как; the "as" lives in the case.
• Work ON something = над + instrumental: рабо́тать над прое́ктом, над собо́й.
• Place of work = в / на + prepositional: в шко́ле, в о́фисе, but на заво́де, на по́чте — each place memorises its preposition.
• рабо́тать also means "(a device) functions": телефо́н не рабо́тает "the phone isn't working."