Infinitive: есть — "to eat" Aspect: imperfective Perfectives: съесть ("to eat up, eat all of") and пое́сть ("to have a bite, eat some / a bit")
есть is one of a tiny handful of athematic verbs in Russian — verbs whose endings attach directly to the root with no linking vowel, a pattern inherited from the oldest layer of the language. The result is a present tense that looks like nothing else (ем, ешь, ест…). It is also a perfect homonym of есть "there is / there are" — the surviving present form of быть — so context does all the disambiguating. This page is about есть = "to eat." Stress is marked on every form.
Present tense — athematic and irregular
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| я | ем |
| ты | ешь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | ест |
| мы | еди́м |
| вы | еди́те |
| они́ | едя́т |
This paradigm simply has to be memorised — there is no productive rule that generates it. The singular forms are tiny and athematic: ем, ешь, ест (root е- + bare endings, all stem-stressed). The plural switches to a -д- stem and goes end-stressed: еди́м, еди́те, едя́т. Only one other native verb behaves like this in the singular — its compound relatives (надое́сть "to bore," съесть) follow the same shape. Note that the singular forms are monosyllabic, so no stress mark is needed on them; the plural forms are end-stressed.
Я не ем мя́со.
I don't eat meat. — ем, the я form. The default way to state a dietary habit.
Ты ешь сли́шком бы́стро.
You eat too fast. — ешь, the ты form (identical in spelling to the imperative — context tells them apart).
Что они́ обы́чно едя́т на за́втрак?
What do they usually eat for breakfast? — едя́т, the они́ form, end-stressed plural.
Past tense
Regular in shape, built on the е- root, with the standard past endings. Watch the stress: the masculine is the bare monosyllable ел, while the others are stem-stressed (е́ла, е́ло, е́ли).
| Gender / number | Form |
|---|---|
| masculine | ел |
| feminine | е́ла |
| neuter | е́ло |
| plural | е́ли |
Ты сего́дня вообще́ ел?
Have you eaten anything at all today? — masculine ел addressed to a man; a caring, everyday question.
Мы е́ли в том рестора́не на про́шлой неде́ле.
We ate at that restaurant last week. — plural е́ли, stem-stressed.
Future tense
есть is imperfective. The compound future бу́ду есть is normal and common for "will be eating / will eat (over time)." For a completed single eating event, use a perfective future instead — see съесть / пое́сть below.
| Person | imperfective: бу́ду есть | perfective съесть (future) |
|---|---|---|
| я | бу́ду есть | съем |
| ты | бу́дешь есть | съешь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | бу́дет есть | съест |
| мы | бу́дем есть | съеди́м |
| вы | бу́дете есть | съеди́те |
| они́ | бу́дут есть | съедя́т |
The perfective съесть repeats the parent paradigm exactly with the prefix с- attached: съем / съешь / съест / съеди́м / съеди́те / съедя́т (past съел, съе́ла, съе́ло, съе́ли). It means "to eat up / eat all of" a specific thing.
За́втра на пра́зднике мы бу́дем мно́го есть.
At the party tomorrow we'll eat a lot. — бу́ду есть, the imperfective compound future.
Я съем э́тот бутербро́д, и пойдём.
I'll (just) eat this sandwich, and then let's go. — perfective съем: finish off one specific thing.
Imperative
| Addressee | есть (eat) | съесть (eat up) |
|---|---|---|
| ты (informal) | ешь | съешь |
| вы (formal / plural) | е́шьте | съе́шьте |
The imperative ешь / е́шьте is spelled identically to the ты present form ешь — but the вы form е́шьте disambiguates the plural. These are the standard words for "eat up, dig in," and they sound warm and hospitable, not bossy, at the dinner table.
Ешь, пока́ не осты́ло!
Eat (it) while it's still hot! — ешь, the friendly mealtime imperative. (Literally 'before it got cold'.)
Угоща́йтесь, е́шьте на здоро́вье!
Help yourselves, eat and enjoy! — е́шьте, the warm host's phrase. на здоро́вье = 'to your health / you're welcome'.
Participles and verbal adverbs
| Form | Russian | Note |
|---|---|---|
| present active participle | едя́щий | "(the one) eating" — (literary / rare) |
| verbal adverb (imperfective) | — | no common verbal adverb for the imperfective |
| verbal adverb (perfective) | съев | "having eaten" — usable, (literary / written) |
| past passive participle | съе́денный | "eaten (up)" — from съесть |
The imperfective есть has no everyday verbal adverb. The perfective gives съев ("having eaten") and the passive participle съе́денный ("eaten up"), both bookish.
Съев весь торт, ребёнок почу́вствовал себя́ пло́хо.
Having eaten the whole cake, the child felt sick. — съев, perfective verbal adverb, written register.
Key uses & collocations
1. The object: accusative, or partitive genitive for "some"
What you eat is normally a direct object in the accusative: есть суп, есть я́блоко. As with хоте́ть and пить, a mass/countable food can take the partitive genitive to mean "some / a bit of": съешь су́пу ("have some soup") alongside съешь суп ("eat the soup").
На обе́д я обы́чно ем суп и сала́т.
For lunch I usually eat soup and a salad. — accusative objects суп, сала́т.
Возьми́ хле́ба и съешь немно́го сы́ру.
Take some bread and have a bit of cheese. — partitive genitive хле́ба / сы́ру = 'some'. See the partitive page.
2. есть vs пое́сть vs съесть — the aspect trio
Three verbs, three jobs. есть (imperfective) = the activity of eating, habits, in-progress. пое́сть (perfective) = "to have a bite, eat some" (a moderate, self-contained meal). съесть (perfective) = "to eat up / finish" a specific portion. The choice is pure aspect logic.
Дава́й сна́чала пое́шь, а пото́м пойдём гуля́ть.
Eat something first, then let's go for a walk. — пое́шь (from пое́сть): have a bite, a self-contained meal.
Кто съел после́дний кусо́к пи́ццы?
Who ate the last slice of pizza? — съел: a specific portion eaten up completely.
3. The homonym: есть = "there is" (быть)
The very same string есть is also the surviving present-tense form of быть, meaning "there is / there are," central to the "have" construction у меня́ есть…. The two are unrelated in meaning; only context distinguishes them — and they almost never collide, because "eat" есть needs a subject and an eater, while "there is" есть sits in the у + genitive possession frame.
— У тебя́ есть что-нибудь пое́сть? — Да, есть суп.
'Do you have anything to eat?' 'Yes, there's soup.' — first есть = 'there is' (быть); пое́сть = the infinitive 'to eat'; second есть = 'there is' again. Same word, two jobs in one exchange.
Common Mistakes
❌ Мы е́мем. / Они́ е́ют.
Incorrect — the plural is еди́м / едя́т (with the -д- stem), not regularised *е́мем / *е́ют. The whole paradigm is irregular.
✅ Мы еди́м. Они́ едя́т.
We eat. They eat.
❌ Я ем суп. (then in past) Я ел суп… (woman speaking)
Gender error in the past — a woman says е́ла: Я е́ла суп. The masculine is ел.
✅ Я е́ла суп.
I ate / was eating soup. (female speaker)
❌ Я бу́ду съесть весь торт.
Incorrect — the бу́ду future takes an imperfective infinitive. With the perfective съесть, use its own simple future: Я съем весь торт.
✅ Я съем весь торт.
I'll eat the whole cake.
❌ Ешьте суп. (written for the ты form 'you eat')
Spelling/number slip — the ты present and imperative are both ешь (no -те); е́шьте is the вы/plural form only.
✅ Ты ешь суп. / Е́шьте, пожа́луйста.
You're eating soup. / Eat, please (plural/formal).
❌ Я ку́шаю мя́со. (as the neutral default)
Not wrong, but куша́ть is felt as over-polite or childish for one's own eating; the neutral verb is есть: Я ем мя́со.
✅ Я ем мя́со.
I eat meat.
Key Takeaways
- Athematic, fully irregular present: ем, ешь, ест (singular, stem-stressed) / еди́м, еди́те, едя́т (plural, -д- stem, end-stressed). Memorise it whole.
- Past: ел / е́ла / е́ло / е́ли — masculine ел, the others stem-stressed.
- Imperative: ешь / е́шьте — warm "dig in," spelled like the ты present.
- Aspect trio: есть (eat, ongoing) → пое́сть (have a bite) / съесть (eat up, finish). съесть copies the paradigm: съем … съедя́т, past съел.
- Future: imperfective бу́ду есть; perfective съем / пое́м for a completed eating.
- Object: accusative for the food, partitive genitive for "some."
- Homonym alert: есть is also "there is" (the быть form in у меня́ есть…) — same spelling, unrelated meaning, sorted out by context.
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