Infinitive: пить — "to drink" Aspect: imperfective Perfective: вы́пить ("to drink up, finish a drink; to have a drink")
пить is a first-conjugation verb, but its tiny one-syllable infinitive hides a vanishing stem: the и of пить disappears in the present, leaving a bare consonant п- that takes a softening ь before the endings (пью, пьёшь…). This ь-stem pattern is shared by a small family of monosyllabic verbs — лить ("pour"), бить ("hit"), шить ("sew"), вить ("twist") — so learning пить teaches you the whole group. Two more things to get right: the end-stressed feminine past пила́, and the perfective вы́пить, whose вы́- prefix is always stressed, pulling the accent off everything else. Stress is marked on every multisyllabic form.
Present tense — the ь-stem
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| я | пью |
| ты | пьёшь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | пьёт |
| мы | пьём |
| вы | пьёте |
| они́ | пьют |
The infinitive's и is gone; what remains is пь- (the consonant п plus a soft sign) followed by ordinary first-conjugation endings. Because the ё is always stressed, the four middle forms (пьёшь, пьёт, пьём, пьёте) carry their accent on the ending automatically — you don't need a separate stress mark when ё is present, since ё is by definition stressed. The я пью and они́ пьют are single syllables. So this whole paradigm is end-stressed, and the soft sign is what makes it look exotic.
Я не пью ко́фе по вечера́м.
I don't drink coffee in the evenings. — пью, the я form. A common way to state a habit.
Что ты пьёшь — чай и́ли ко́фе?
What are you drinking — tea or coffee? — пьёшь, the ты form, with always-stressed ё.
Они́ пьют то́лько во́ду.
They only drink water. — пьют, the они́ form.
Past tense — watch the feminine
The past is built on the original пи- stem (the и comes back), with the standard endings. The trap is the stress: the masculine пил and neuter пи́ло / plural пи́ли are stem-stressed, but the feminine пила́ is end-stressed. This mobile feminine stress is shared across the ь-stem family (пила́, лила́, била́) and is a frequent error for learners.
| Gender / number | Form | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | пил | stem |
| feminine | пила́ | end (!) |
| neuter | пи́ло | stem |
| plural | пи́ли | stem |
Он сего́дня ничего́ не пил с утра́.
He hasn't drunk anything since morning today. — masculine пил, stem-stress.
Она́ пила́ чай и смотре́ла в окно́.
She was drinking tea and looking out of the window. — feminine пила́, end-stressed: the classic stress trap.
Мы пи́ли за твоё здоро́вье!
We drank to your health! — plural пи́ли, stem-stressed; пить за + accusative = 'to drink a toast to'.
Future tense
пить is imperfective, so "will be drinking / will drink (over time)" is the compound future бу́ду пить. For a single completed drink, use the perfective вы́пить (see below), which has its own simple future.
| Person | imperfective: бу́ду пить | perfective вы́пить (future) |
|---|---|---|
| я | бу́ду пить | вы́пью |
| ты | бу́дешь пить | вы́пьешь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | бу́дет пить | вы́пьет |
| мы | бу́дем пить | вы́пьем |
| вы | бу́дете пить | вы́пьете |
| они́ | бу́дут пить | вы́пьют |
Note the headline fact about вы́пить: the stressed prefix вы́- drags the accent forward in every form — вы́пью, вы́пьешь, вы́пьет, вы́пьем, вы́пьете, вы́пьют, and past вы́пил, вы́пила, вы́пило, вы́пили. So the feminine past вы́пила is not end-stressed (unlike plain пила́), precisely because вы́- claims the stress. This is a general rule of the prefix вы́- on perfectives: it is always stressed.
Ве́чером мы бу́дем пить вино́ и разгова́ривать.
In the evening we'll drink wine and chat. — бу́ду пить, the imperfective compound future.
Вы́пей воды́, тебе́ ста́нет ле́гче.
Drink some water, you'll feel better. — perfective вы́пей: one complete action. (Note partitive genitive воды́.)
Imperative
| Addressee | пить (drink) | вы́пить (drink up) |
|---|---|---|
| ты (informal) | пей | вы́пей |
| вы (formal / plural) | пе́йте | вы́пейте |
The imperative drops to the bare пей / пе́йте (the ь-stem appears as -ей here). The perfective вы́пей / вы́пейте keeps its stressed prefix. Both are the everyday "have a drink, drink up."
Пей не спеша́, ещё горячо́.
Drink slowly, it's still hot. — пей, the imperfective imperative for an ongoing manner.
Вы́пейте э́то лека́рство по́сле еды́.
Take (drink) this medicine after meals. — вы́пейте: a single complete action; пить also covers swallowing liquid medicine.
Participles and verbal adverbs
| Form | Russian | Note |
|---|---|---|
| present active participle | пью́щий | "(the one) drinking" — also a noun "a drinker / heavy drinker" — (literary) |
| verbal adverb (imperfective) | — | no common imperfective verbal adverb |
| verbal adverb (perfective) | вы́пив | "having drunk" — usable, (literary / written) |
| past passive participle | вы́питый | "drunk up / finished" — from вы́пить |
Plain пить has no everyday verbal adverb. The active participle пью́щий doubles as a noun for "a (heavy) drinker." The perfective gives вы́пив ("having drunk") and the passive вы́питый, both bookish.
Вы́пив ча́шку ко́фе, он сра́зу взбодри́лся.
Having drunk a cup of coffee, he perked up at once. — вы́пив, perfective verbal adverb, written register.
Key uses & collocations
1. The object: accusative, or partitive genitive for "some"
What you drink is normally a direct object in the accusative: пить во́ду, пить сок. As with есть and хоте́ть, a mass liquid takes the partitive genitive to mean "some / a bit of": вы́пить воды́ ("have some water") vs вы́пить во́ду ("drink the (specific) water"). The partitive is especially natural with вы́пить.
Я пью два ли́тра воды́ в день.
I drink two litres of water a day. — accusative measure phrase; воды́ here is genitive after the quantity 'two litres'.
Хо́чешь, я налью́ тебе́ ча́ю?
Want me to pour you some tea? — partitive genitive ча́ю = 'some tea'. See the partitive page.
2. пить vs вы́пить — the aspect pair
Pure aspect logic. пить (imperfective) = the activity / habit / in-progress drinking. вы́пить (perfective) = a single, completed drink — finish the glass, down it, have one.
Он ме́дленно пил ко́фе и чита́л газе́ту.
He was slowly drinking coffee and reading the paper. — imperfective пил: ongoing, durative.
Дава́й вы́пьем за встре́чу!
Let's drink to our meeting / reunion! — perfective вы́пьем: one complete toast. за + accusative = the toast's target.
3. The "drink (alcohol)" idiom
Used absolutely, with no object, пить strongly implies drinking alcohol — and habitually so. Он пьёт rarely means "he's drinking (water)"; it means "he drinks / he's a drinker." To make alcohol explicit there's the perfective вы́пить ("to have a drink") and the noun пью́щий ("a drinker"). Be aware of this — an innocent-looking Он не пьёт means "he doesn't drink (alcohol)," i.e. he's a teetotaller.
Он совсе́м не пьёт — да́же по пра́здникам.
He doesn't drink at all — not even on holidays. — absolute пить = 'drink alcohol'; here, a teetotaller.
За руль я не сажу́сь, е́сли вы́пил.
I don't get behind the wheel if I've had a drink. — вы́пил used absolutely = 'had (an alcoholic) drink'.
Compare this verb closely with its mealtime partner есть "to eat", which shares the accusative/partitive-genitive object behaviour and the same aspect logic.
Common Mistakes
❌ Я пию́. / Ты пиёшь.
Incorrect — the present drops the и and softens to пь-: пью, пьёшь. There is no *пию / *пиёшь.
✅ Я пью, ты пьёшь.
I drink, you drink.
❌ Она́ пи́ла чай. (stem stress)
Stress error — the feminine past is end-stressed: пила́. (Masculine пил and plural пи́ли are stem-stressed.)
✅ Она́ пила́ чай.
She was drinking tea.
❌ Я вы́пил воду́ (meaning 'some water'). / выпи́л
Two issues: the prefix вы́- is always stressed (вы́пил, never *выпи́л); and for 'some water' use the partitive genitive воды́.
✅ Я вы́пил воды́.
I drank / had some water.
❌ За́втра я бу́ду вы́пить ко́фе.
Incorrect — бу́ду takes an imperfective infinitive. With perfective вы́пить, use its own future: Я вы́пью ко́фе.
✅ Я вы́пью ко́фе.
I'll have a coffee.
❌ Мой брат пьёт. (meaning he's just having water now)
Misleading — absolute пить implies drinking alcohol / being a drinker. Add an object: Мой брат пьёт во́ду.
✅ Мой брат пьёт во́ду.
My brother is drinking water.
Key Takeaways
- ь-stem present, all end-stressed: пью, пьёшь, пьёт, пьём, пьёте, пьют (the infinitive's и vanishes; пь- + first-conjugation endings; ё is always stressed). Same pattern as лить, бить, шить.
- Past stress trap: пил / пила́ (end-stress!) / пи́ло / пи́ли.
- Imperative: пей / пе́йте.
- Perfective вы́пить with the always-stressed вы́-: вы́пью … вы́пьют, past вы́пил / вы́пила (so the feminine here is not end-stressed). вы́пить = drink up / have a (single) drink.
- Future: imperfective бу́ду пить; perfective вы́пью for a completed drink.
- Object: accusative for the drink, partitive genitive for "some."
- Idiom: пить used absolutely (no object) means drink alcohol / be a drinker — Он не пьёт = "he's a teetotaller."
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