Learn Hardcore Russian: Мой друг не осуждает людей за ошибки. - My friend does not judge people for mistakes.

осуждать – to condemn, to disapprove morally:
- Он осужда́ет ложь. – He condemns lying.
судить – to judge, to form a judgment (can be neutral or legal):
- Не суди людей по одежде. – Don’t judge people by their clothes.
- Суд суди́т преступника. – The court judges the criminal.
критиковать – to criticize (point out faults, not necessarily moral condemnation).

In your sentence, не осуждает implies he doesn’t condemn / doesn’t morally judge people for their mistakes – it’s about being non‑judgmental on a moral level.

What tense and aspect is не осуждает, and why is that form used here?

Осуждает is:

Present tense
3rd person singular (he/she/it)
Imperfective aspect

Imperfective aspect (осуждать) is used for:

Habitual or repeated actions
General truths / characteristics

So Мой друг не осуждает людей за ошибки means My friend (generally) doesn’t judge people for mistakes – describing a stable trait or usual behavior.

The perfective counterpart is осудить:

Он осуди́л его за ошибку. – He condemned him for the mistake (once, a completed act).

Here we are not talking about a single act of condemnation, but about his general attitude, so the imperfective не осуждает is correct.

Why is the negative particle не placed directly before осуждает? Can it go somewhere else?

In Russian, не normally comes right before the word it negates, especially a verb.

So:

Мой друг не осуждает людей за ошибки. – standard and natural.

You cannot freely move не away from the verb like in English. You don’t say:

✗ Мой друг осуждает не людей за ошибки – this means something very different: He judges not people for mistakes (but something/someone else).

You can put other words before не for emphasis or detail:

Мой друг никогда не осуждает людей за ошибки. – My friend never judges people for mistakes.

But не itself stays in front of осуждает when you want to just say “does not judge.”

Why is it людей and not люди in this sentence?

Людей is used because of case and animacy.

The base forms:

Nominative plural (dictionary plural): люди – people (subject form)
Genitive plural: люде́й

For animate nouns (people, animals), the accusative plural form looks like the genitive plural:

Nominative plural: люди
Accusative plural (object): люде́й

In your sentence:

осуждает (кого?) людей – judges (whom?) people

This is a direct object in the accusative case, but because люди is animate, the form is люде́й (same as genitive plural).

So:

Subject: Люди ошибаются. – People make mistakes. (nominative)
Object: Он не осуждает людей. – He doesn’t judge people. (accusative = genitive form for animate)

What does за mean in за ошибки, and why is за used here?

In за ошибки, the preposition за (with the accusative) expresses the reason for blame, punishment, or praise: for (because of) something, in the sense of evaluating it.

Common pattern:

осуждать / наказывать / хвалить кого-то за что-то

Examples:

Его осудили за преступление. – He was condemned for the crime.
Её похвалили за работу. – She was praised for her work.

Contrast with similar prepositions:

из-за ошибок – because of the mistakes (neutral cause, usually of a negative result, not about blame)
- Мы проиграли из-за ошибок. – We lost because of (the) mistakes.
по ошибке – by mistake / accidentally
- Он сделал это по ошибке. – He did it by mistake.

So за ошибки here means for mistakes (as grounds for moral judgment), which is why за is the right choice.

What case and number is ошибки here, and what is the base form?

The base (dictionary) form is:

оши́бка – a mistake (feminine, singular, nominative)

In the sentence за ошибки, ошибки is:

Accusative plural (after за, in this meaning)
Form: оши́бки (same as nominative plural)

For most inanimate feminine nouns like ошибка, nominative plural and accusative plural look the same:

Nominative plural: оши́бки – mistakes
Accusative plural: оши́бки – (for / see / make) mistakes

So:

Я часто де́лаю оши́бки. – I often make mistakes.
Его не осуждают за оши́бки. – He is not judged for (his) mistakes.

Could I say Мой друг не судит людей за ошибки instead? What’s the difference between судить and осуждать here?

You can say Мой друг не судит людей за ошибки, and it is grammatically correct and understandable.

Nuance:

не судит – does not judge (more neutral, can mean “doesn’t form critical judgments”)
не осуждает – does not condemn (stronger idea of moral disapproval)

Roughly:

не судит людей за ошибки – he doesn’t judge people for their mistakes (doesn’t critically evaluate them)
не осуждает людей за ошибки – he doesn’t morally condemn them for their mistakes (doesn’t see them as bad or guilty because of their mistakes)

In everyday speech they overlap a lot, but осуждать usually sounds a bit stronger and more moral/ethical.

Is the word order fixed, or can I move людей or за ошибки to other positions?

Russian word order is fairly flexible, though some versions sound more natural than others.

The most neutral version is:

Мой друг не осуждает людей за ошибки.

Other possible orders and their feel:

Мой друг людей не осуждает за ошибки.
– Emphasis on людей (It’s people he doesn’t judge for mistakes; but possibly he might judge something else).
Мой друг не осуждает за ошибки людей.
– Grammatically possible, but less natural; can sound slightly awkward or as if you’re stressing за ошибки.
Людей за ошибки мой друг не осуждает.
– Strong emphasis at the beginning; something like: As for people, my friend doesn’t judge them for mistakes.

For a learner, it’s best to stick with the original neutral order:

Subject – (не) Verb – Object – за + Object
Мой друг не осуждает людей за ошибки.

Can I drop людей and just say Мой друг не осуждает за ошибки?

You can omit людей in context, but as a standalone sentence it sounds incomplete.

Мой друг не осуждает за ошибки.
On its own, this makes the listener think: Doesn’t judge whom/what for mistakes? They will expect the object to be understood from the previous sentence.

Natural use with context:

Люди часто делают ошибки.
Мой друг не осуждает за ошибки.
People often make mistakes. My friend doesn’t judge (them) for mistakes.

If you want a complete, clear sentence without context, keep людей:

Мой друг не осуждает людей за ошибки.

How do you conjugate осуждать in the present tense?

Осужда́ть is a regular -ать verb (first conjugation). Present tense:

я осужда́ю – I judge / condemn
ты осужда́ешь – you (sing., informal) judge / condemn
он / она / оно осужда́ет – he / she / it judges / condemns
мы осужда́ем – we judge / condemn
вы осужда́ете – you (pl. or formal) judge / condemn
они осужда́ют – they judge / condemn

In your sentence, осуждает is 3rd person singular (он implied: мой друг).