Infinitive (imperfective): удава́ться — "to manage / be able to (as a process or repeatedly)" Infinitive (perfective): уда́ться — "to manage / succeed (one completed time)" Type: an impersonal reflexive verb — it has no personal subject and conjugates only in the third person
When you finally pull off something hard — land the job, fix the leak, learn the dance — Russian rarely says "I managed" with you as the grammatical subject. Instead it uses the impersonal удава́ться / уда́ться: literally "(it) succeeds to someone." The person who manages stands in the dative, the achievement is an infinitive, and the verb itself stays locked in the third person: Мне удало́сь найти́ рабо́ту — "I managed to find a job," literally "to-me it-succeeded to-find work." This construction is the everyday way to express success at a difficult task, and it sits in the same impersonal family as приходи́ться / прийти́сь "to have to" and the impersonal dative modals like мне на́до. Mastering the dative-experiencer pattern is what makes this verb click.
Why there are only third-person forms
Because the construction is impersonal, there is no я / ты / мы form. The thing that "succeeds" is the action itself (an infinitive), so the verb always agrees with that silent neuter "it." In the present this means a single form, удаётся; in the past it agrees in gender/number with whatever noun is the logical subject (most often the infinitive, hence neuter удало́сь); in the future, уда́стся. You will never need to conjugate this verb for a person — the person is always in the dative.
Present tense (удава́ться, imperfective)
Only the imperfective удава́ться has a present, and only the third-person forms exist. The stem belongs to the дава́ть family, so it keeps the -ва- suffix and end-stress: удаётся, plural удаю́тся.
| Person / number | удава́ться — PRESENT |
|---|---|
| 3rd singular (it) | удаётся |
| 3rd plural (they) | удаю́тся |
The singular удаётся is by far the more common — it pairs with an infinitive ("managing to do X"). The plural удаю́тся appears when the logical subject is a plural noun: Таки́е блю́да удаю́тся не всем "Not everyone succeeds with dishes like these." The imperfective present describes a recurring or general ability — what tends to work out.
Мне ре́дко удаётся вы́спаться в бу́дни.
I rarely manage to get enough sleep on weekdays. — present удаётся + dative мне + infinitive вы́спаться; a recurring pattern, imperfective.
Ему́ всегда́ удаётся всех рассмеши́ть.
He always manages to make everyone laugh. — habitual success, so imperfective удаётся.
Past tense
The past agrees in gender and number with the logical subject. When the subject is an infinitive (the usual case), the agreement is neuter: удало́сь. When a concrete noun is the subject, the past takes that noun's gender — masculine уда́лся, feminine удала́сь, plural удали́сь — and the stress shifts onto the ending in the feminine and plural.
| Gender / number | удава́ться (impf) | уда́ться (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | удава́лся | уда́лся |
| feminine | удава́лась | удала́сь |
| neuter (with infinitive) | удава́лось | удало́сь |
| plural | удава́лись | удали́сь |
The form you will use most is the perfective neuter удало́сь — "(it) succeeded," i.e. "I/you/he managed to…". For a single completed success, this is the default: Нам удало́сь договори́ться "We managed to come to an agreement." The bare Не удало́сь "It didn't work out / I couldn't" is an extremely common way to report failure. The non-neuter forms (уда́лся, удала́сь, удали́сь) are for when a noun, not an infinitive, succeeded: Пра́здник уда́лся "The party was a success."
Мне удало́сь найти́ рабо́ту за две неде́ли.
I managed to find a job in two weeks. — perfective neuter удало́сь, one completed success; subject is the infinitive найти́.
К сожале́нию, поговори́ть с ним так и не удало́сь.
Unfortunately, I never did manage to talk to him. — Не удало́сь reports a failure; the dative person is dropped but understood.
Фотогра́фия удала́сь на сла́ву.
The photo came out wonderfully. — a feminine noun (фотогра́фия) is the subject; удала́сь agrees in gender (end-stress).
Future tense
The pair forms its future the two standard ways, but again only in the third person.
- удава́ться (imperfective) → compound future: бу́дет удава́ться "(it) will keep working out" — relatively rare, for recurring future success.
- уда́ться (perfective) → simple future: уда́стся (sg) / удаду́тся (pl), one completed future success.
| Person / number | удава́ться → compound | уда́ться → simple future |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd singular (it) | бу́дет удава́ться | уда́стся |
| 3rd plural (they) | бу́дут удава́ться | удаду́тся |
The perfective уда́стся is built on the irregular дать-family stem (compare да́ст, уда́стся; plural удаду́тся, compare даду́т) — learn it as a block, because the infinitive уда́ться gives no hint of the -ст-/-дад- forms. The everyday "I'll manage to / I'll be able to" is уда́стся + dative + infinitive.
Наде́юсь, нам уда́стся попа́сть на э́тот конце́рт.
I hope we'll manage to get into this concert. — perfective future уда́стся + dative нам + infinitive попа́сть.
Если повезёт, мне уда́стся зако́нчить прое́кт к пя́тнице.
With a bit of luck, I'll manage to finish the project by Friday. — single planned success, perfective уда́стся.
Imperative
This verb has no imperative. Because it is impersonal — there is no second-person subject to command — you cannot tell someone to "succeed!" in this construction. To express a wish for someone's success you switch to a different verb, e.g. Пусть всё полу́чится! "May it all work out!" or Жела́ю уда́чи! "Good luck!" (using the noun уда́ча, a relative of this verb).
Participles and verbal adverbs
The impersonal construction restricts these forms heavily; in practice only the past active participles are encountered, and chiefly the perfective one.
| Form | удава́ться (impf) | уда́ться (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| past active participle | удава́вшийся | уда́вшийся "(that) succeeded" |
| verbal adverb | удава́ясь (rare) | уда́вшись (rare) |
The useful one is the perfective уда́вшийся "successful, (that) turned out well": уда́вшийся экспериме́нт "a successful experiment," уда́вшийся ве́чер "an evening that went well." It functions as an ordinary adjective and is (literary / written) in tone. The verbal adverbs are vanishingly rare.
Э́то был на ре́дкость уда́вшийся о́тпуск.
It was an exceptionally successful holiday. — perfective participle уда́вшийся used adjectivally.
Key uses & collocations
1. Dative experiencer + удаётся/удало́сь/уда́стся + infinitive
This is the core pattern and the reason for the whole page. The person who manages is in the dative, never the nominative; the verb stays third-person neuter; the achievement is an infinitive — and to express a single completed success you reach for the perfective удало́сь / уда́стся. See the dative subject page for the broader logic of dative experiencers.
Врача́м удало́сь спасти́ пацие́нта.
The doctors managed to save the patient. — dative врача́м (the experiencers) + perfective удало́сь + infinitive спасти́.
2. Bare "Не удало́сь" — reporting failure
Dropping both the person and the infinitive, Не удало́сь stands alone as "It didn't work out / No luck." It is one of the most natural ways to admit a plan fell through, neutral in register.
Хоте́л дозвони́ться, но не удало́сь.
I tried to get through on the phone, but no luck. — Не удало́сь reports the failure; the experiment is understood from context.
3. A noun succeeds: «уда́лся / удала́сь / удали́сь»
When a concrete noun rather than an action is what came out well, удаться agrees with that noun in gender and number: Пра́здник уда́лся "The party was a hit," Фотогра́фии удали́сь "The photos came out great." This is (informal) and very common in praise.
Ну, по-мо́ему, вечери́нка удала́сь!
Well, I'd say the party was a success! — feminine subject вечери́нка → удала́сь (end-stress).
Common Mistakes
❌ Я удало́сь найти́ рабо́ту.
Case error — this verb is impersonal: the person is in the DATIVE, never the nominative. Use Мне удало́сь, not Я удало́сь.
✅ Мне удало́сь найти́ рабо́ту.
I managed to find a job.
❌ Мне удава́лось вчера́ закры́ть сде́лку.
Aspect error — a single completed success on one occasion needs the PERFECTIVE удало́сь, not the imperfective удава́лось (which means 'used to manage / kept managing').
✅ Мне удало́сь вчера́ закры́ть сде́лку.
I managed to close the deal yesterday.
❌ Нам удало́сь догова́риваться.
The infinitive should be PERFECTIVE for a completed result: договори́ться. The imperfective infinitive догова́риваться would mean 'kept managing to negotiate (over and over)'.
✅ Нам удало́сь договори́ться.
We managed to reach an agreement.
❌ За́втра мне бу́дет уда́ться отдохну́ть.
Aspect/future error — the perfective makes its own simple future уда́стся (no бу́дет). The бу́дет-compound takes only an imperfective infinitive.
✅ За́втра мне уда́стся отдохну́ть.
Tomorrow I'll manage to get some rest.
❌ Мне удало́сь рабо́ту.
Government error — удаться links a dative person to an INFINITIVE, not a direct object. You manage to DO something; you don't 'manage a thing' with this verb.
✅ Мне удало́сь получи́ть рабо́ту.
I managed to get the job.
Key Takeaways
- удава́ться / уда́ться is impersonal: no personal subject, only third-person forms. The person who manages is in the dative (мне, ему́, нам), never the nominative.
- The pattern is dative + verb + infinitive: Мне удало́сь найти́… "I managed to find…". For a single completed success use the perfective удало́сь / уда́стся.
- Present: удаётся (sg) / удаю́тся (pl) — recurring or general success.
- Past: neuter удало́сь with an infinitive subject; уда́лся / удала́сь / удали́сь when a noun succeeds (end-stressed feminine удала́сь, plural удали́сь).
- Future: perfective simple уда́стся / удаду́тся (irregular дать-family stem); imperfective compound бу́дет удава́ться (rare).
- No imperative — it is impersonal; wish success with Пусть полу́чится! or Жела́ю уда́чи!.
- Не удало́сь alone = "it didn't work out," the everyday way to report a plan that failed.
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