Infinitive (imperfective): покупа́ть — "to buy (as a process / habitually / to be buying)" Infinitive (perfective): купи́ть — "to buy (one completed purchase)" Type: an everyday aspect pair: regular first-conjugation покупа́ть against perfective купи́ть, which shows the п → пл labial mutation in the 1sg (куплю́)
покупа́ть / купи́ть is the verb you reach for every time you shop, and it is worth a dedicated page for one feature: the 1sg of the perfective купи́ть inserts an л after the п, giving куплю́ "I'll buy." This is the labial mutation — whenever a stem ends in a labial consonant (б, п, в, ф, м) and meets the second-conjugation endings, an -л- pops in, but only in the я-form. You'll meet it again in люблю́ (люби́ть) and куплю́. Everything else about this pair is regular: it takes a plain accusative object, builds its future the standard way, and follows a simple stress pattern. Stress is marked on every form below.
Present tense — покупа́ть only
Only the imperfective покупа́ть has a present tense (the perfective купи́ть has none; its corresponding forms are the future, below). покупа́ть is a fully regular first-conjugation verb — no mutations, stress fixed on the -а́-.
| Person | покупа́ть (imperfective present) |
|---|---|
| я | покупа́ю |
| ты | покупа́ешь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | покупа́ет |
| мы | покупа́ем |
| вы | покупа́ете |
| они́ | покупа́ют |
These are the textbook first-conjugation endings (-ю, -ешь, -ет, -ем, -ете, -ют). As the imperfective, покупа́ть describes buying as a habit, a process, or a repeated event — "buys regularly, usually buys, is buying, goes shopping for."
Я покупа́ю хлеб в той же бу́лочной ка́ждое у́тро.
I buy bread at the same bakery every morning. — покупа́ю, a daily habit (imperfective).
Где ты обы́чно покупа́ешь о́вощи?
Where do you usually buy vegetables? — покупа́ешь, asking about a habit.
Они́ никогда́ не покупа́ют гото́вую еду́.
They never buy ready-made food. — покупа́ют, a standing habit (negated).
Past tense
Both verbs build a regular gender-marked past on the infinitive stem, with fixed stress — no end-stressed feminine here. покупа́ть keeps stress on -а́-, купи́ть on -и́-.
| Gender / number | покупа́ть (impf) | купи́ть (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | покупа́л | купи́л |
| feminine | покупа́ла | купи́ла |
| neuter | покупа́ло | купи́ло |
| plural | покупа́ли | купи́ли |
The aspect contrast: покупа́л views buying as a process, a habit, or repeated shopping ("used to buy / was buying / would buy"); купи́л views it as one completed purchase with a result ("bought [and now have it]"). A single finished "I bought it" is almost always купи́л.
Я купи́л но́вый телефо́н, ста́рый совсе́м слома́лся.
I bought a new phone, the old one broke completely. — perfective купи́л: one completed purchase, and I have it now.
Она́ купи́ла биле́ты ещё неде́лю наза́д.
She bought the tickets a week ago already. — feminine купи́ла; one completed act.
В де́тстве ба́бушка ча́сто покупа́ла нам моро́женое.
When we were little, Grandma often bought us ice cream. — покупа́ла, a repeated past habit (imperfective).
Future tense
The pair forms its future the two standard ways.
- покупа́ть (imperfective) → compound future: бу́ду покупа́ть "I'll be buying / will keep buying."
- купи́ть (perfective) → simple future, with the п → пл mutation in the 1sg: куплю́ "I'll buy (it)."
| Person | покупа́ть → бу́ду покупа́ть | купи́ть → simple future |
|---|---|---|
| я | бу́ду покупа́ть | куплю́ |
| ты | бу́дешь покупа́ть | ку́пишь |
| он / она́ / оно́ | бу́дет покупа́ть | ку́пит |
| мы | бу́дем покупа́ть | ку́пим |
| вы | бу́дете покупа́ть | ку́пите |
| они́ | бу́дут покупа́ть | ку́пят |
Study the perfective column. The 1sg куплю́ shows the labial п → пл (the inserted -л-) and is end-stressed; then the stress retreats to the stem for the rest — ку́пишь, ку́пит, ку́пим, ку́пите, ку́пят. These forms look like a present tense but mean the future, since купи́ть is perfective. The everyday "I'll buy / I'll get it" is the perfective куплю́ — one planned purchase. Reserve бу́ду покупа́ть for "I'll keep buying / I'll be buying [regularly]."
Я куплю́ молоко́ по доро́ге домо́й.
I'll buy milk on the way home. — perfective future куплю́ (п→пл, end-stress): one planned purchase.
Ты ку́пишь биле́ты и́ли мне купи́ть?
Will you buy the tickets, or should I? — ку́пишь, stress retreated to the stem.
Тепе́рь мы бу́дем покупа́ть проду́кты то́лько онла́йн.
From now on we'll buy groceries only online. — бу́ду покупа́ть: an ongoing future habit (imperfective compound future).
Imperative
| Addressee | покупа́ть (impf) | купи́ть (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| ты (informal) | покупа́й | купи́ |
| вы (formal / plural) | покупа́йте | купи́те |
The perfective купи́ / купи́те asks for one specific purchase ("buy X / get me Y") and is the everyday shopping-list imperative. The imperfective покупа́й / покупа́йте is more general or habitual ("buy / go ahead and buy"), and is the form for negated commands ("don't buy"). Note the perfective imperative is end-stressed — купи́ — unlike the stem-stressed present/future ку́пишь.
Купи́, пожа́луйста, хле́ба и молока́.
Please buy some bread and milk. — perfective купи́: a specific shopping-list request.
Не покупа́й э́то, оно́ того́ не сто́ит.
Don't buy that, it's not worth it. — negated command takes the imperfective покупа́й.
Participles and verbal adverbs
| Form | покупа́ть (impf) | купи́ть (pf) |
|---|---|---|
| present active participle | покупа́ющий "(one) buying" | — (perfectives have none) |
| past active participle | покупа́вший | купи́вший |
| past passive participle | — | ку́пленный "bought" |
| verbal adverb | покупа́я "while buying" | купи́в "having bought" |
The perfective passive participle ку́пленный ("bought") shows the same п → пл mutation in its stem — ку́пленные биле́ты "tickets that have been bought." The verbal adverb купи́в ("having bought") turns up in writing. These are largely (literary / written).
Купи́в пода́рок, она́ сра́зу пошла́ домо́й.
Having bought the present, she went straight home. — verbal adverb купи́в (literary), 'having bought'.
Key uses & collocations
1. Core frame: buy a THING (accusative)
The thing bought is a plain direct object in the accusative: купи́ть кни́гу, маши́ну, биле́ты. With inanimate nouns the accusative looks like the nominative, so it's mostly visible on feminine -а nouns (кни́га → кни́гу) and animates. This is the basic accusative direct object construction.
Мы купи́ли но́вую маши́ну в про́шлом ме́сяце.
We bought a new car last month. — маши́ну (accusative), the thing bought.
2. The recipient (dative) and the price (за + accusative)
You can name who you're buying for with the dative (no preposition) — купи́ть жене́ цветы́ "buy flowers for one's wife" — and the price you pay with за + accusative — купи́ть за ты́сячу "buy for a thousand." The dative recipient is the same construction as on the dative indirect object page.
Он купи́л до́чери велосипе́д за пять ты́сяч.
He bought his daughter a bike for five thousand. — до́чери (dative recipient) + за пять ты́сяч (price).
3. Buying FROM someone: у + genitive
To say you bought something from a person or place, use у + genitive: купи́ть у сосе́да "buy from the neighbour," у фе́рмера "from a farmer." This is the same possessive/source у you know from у меня́ есть — the seller is the "source." The mechanics of у + genitive are on the genitive after prepositions page.
Мы купи́ли мёд пря́мо у па́сечника.
We bought honey straight from the beekeeper. — у + genitive (у па́сечника), 'from someone'.
Common Mistakes
❌ Я ку́пю молоко́. / Я купю́ молоко́.
Wrong 1sg — the я-form takes the labial mutation п → пл: куплю́. There is no *ку́пю or *купю́.
✅ Я куплю́ молоко́.
I'll buy milk.
❌ Вчера́ я покупа́л пальто́. (meaning: I bought a coat, one completed purchase)
Aspect slip — a single completed 'I bought a coat' wants the perfective купи́л. The imperfective покупа́л suggests a habit or stresses the process, not the result.
✅ Вчера́ я купи́л пальто́.
Yesterday I bought a coat.
❌ За́втра я бу́ду купи́ть биле́ты.
Aspect error — the бу́ду future needs an imperfective infinitive. The perfective купи́ть makes its own future: куплю́ (no бу́ду).
✅ За́втра я куплю́ биле́ты.
Tomorrow I'll buy the tickets.
❌ Я купи́л пода́рок для мое́й ма́мы. (intending 'I bought my mum a present', recipient)
Where you mean 'bought [her] as recipient', the natural form is the bare dative: купи́л ма́ме пода́рок. для + genitive is fine but emphasises 'for the benefit of', not the recipient.
✅ Я купи́л ма́ме пода́рок.
I bought my mum a present.
❌ Я купи́л э́то от сосе́да.
Wrong preposition — 'buy from someone' is у + genitive, not 'от': купи́л у сосе́да. (от is for departure/distance, not source of a purchase.)
✅ Я купи́л э́то у сосе́да.
I bought it from the neighbour.
Key Takeaways
- покупа́ть is a fully regular first-conjugation verb: покупа́ю / покупа́ешь / покупа́ет / покупа́ем / покупа́ете / покупа́ют.
- купи́ть shows the labial п → пл mutation in the 1sg only: куплю́ (end-stressed), then ку́пишь / ку́пит / ку́пим / ку́пите / ку́пят (stress retreats). Same mutation as люблю́.
- No perfective present. куплю́ looks like a present but is the future (perfective купи́ть).
- Past: покупа́л (habit/process) vs купи́л (one completed purchase) — fixed stress, no end-stressed feminine.
- Future: imperfective compound бу́ду покупа́ть; perfective simple куплю́ (the everyday "I'll buy / I'll get it").
- Imperative: end-stressed купи́ / купи́те (one purchase) vs покупа́й / покупа́йте (habitual; and the form for negation).
- Government: buy a THING (accusative), for a PERSON (dative), from a SELLER (у + genitive), at a PRICE (за + accusative): купи́ть ма́ме цветы́ у фе́рмера за сто рубле́й.
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- Accusative: The Direct ObjectA1 — The accusative marks the direct object — the thing a transitive verb acts on directly. Verbs like чита́ть, смотре́ть, люби́ть, ви́деть, знать all take an accusative object (чита́ть кни́гу, люби́ть му́зыку). Because Russian word order is free, the case ending — not position — tells you which noun is being acted upon, so every direct object must be marked. Object pronouns (меня́, тебя́, его́, её, нас, вас, их) are accusative too.
- Forming Aspect Pairs: Suffixation and Secondary ImperfectivesB1 — The other direction of pair formation: deriving an imperfective from a perfective by suffix. The 'secondary imperfective' process (-ыва-/-ива-, -ва-, -а́-) rebalances the system after a prefix has perfectivized a verb, giving triplets like писа́ть → записа́ть → запи́сывать. Master the suffixes and you can predict the imperfective partner of most prefixed perfectives.
- Продать / Продавать (to sell)B1 — Complete conjugation-and-usage reference for the aspect pair продава́ть (imperfective) / прода́ть (perfective) 'to sell'. The present прода́ю/продаёшь drops -ва-; the perfective прода́ть conjugates athematically like дать (прода́м/прода́шь/прода́ст/продади́м/продади́те/продаду́т); the past про́дал/продала́/про́дало/про́дали; the short passive participle про́дан/про́дана/про́даны ('Биле́ты про́даны'); government — sell a thing (accusative) to someone (dative) for a price (за + accusative).
- Dative: The Indirect ObjectA2 — The dative's core job is the indirect object — the recipient or beneficiary, answering кому? (to whom?). The frame is subject (nom) + verb + thing (acc) + recipient (dat): Я дал дру́гу кни́гу (I gave my friend a book), Она́ написа́ла письмо́ ма́ме. The trap for English speakers is a closed list of verbs that take the dative where English uses a plain direct object — помога́ть (help), звони́ть (phone), сове́товать (advise), ве́рить (believe), меша́ть (bother), ра́доваться (be glad about) — so 'I help my brother' is Я помога́ю бра́ту (dat), not *брата.
- Genitive After Prepositions (без, для, до, из, от, у, около, после)A2 — Most of the genitive you'll ever use is triggered by prepositions: без са́хара (without sugar), для тебя́ (for you), до конца́ (until the end), из го́рода (from the city), от врача́ (from the doctor), у окна́ (by the window), о́коло до́ма (near the house), по́сле уро́ка (after the lesson), plus про́тив, вокру́г, кро́ме, среди́, ра́ди, ми́мо. Practising the genitive THROUGH its prepositions builds the form and the construction at once — and the из↔в, от↔к, с↔на 'from/to' symmetry ties them together.
- Verbal Aspect: The Big PictureA2 — Aspect is the spine of the Russian verb: nearly every verb belongs to a pair — imperfective (process, repetition, general fact) and perfective (a single completed whole with a result). This page explains the pair, the consequences for the tense system (perfectives have no present), and why you must decide 'process or result?' before you even pick a tense.