Questions & Answers about Я тёр это пятно долго, но оно не исчезло полностью.
Why is тёр used here, and what verb is it from?
тёр is the masculine past tense form of тереть (to rub).
Past tense in Russian agrees with the subject’s gender/number:
- я тёр (male speaker)
- я тёрла (female speaker)
- я тёрло (rare; neuter speaker/role)
- мы тёрли (we)
Why is there ё in тёр? Can it be written as тер?
The correct spelling is тёр with ё (stress is on that vowel). In many texts, ё is often printed as е, so you might see тер, but it’s still pronounced тёр. Writing ё helps avoid ambiguity and shows stress clearly.
What aspect is тёр (from тереть), and what does it imply?
Тереть is imperfective. Using the imperfective past (я тёр … долго) highlights the process/duration: you were rubbing for a long time, focusing on the effort rather than a completed result.
A perfective alternative would emphasize the outcome (if it fully worked), e.g. я вытер пятно (I wiped the stain off / got it out).