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### The Annulled Result

You already know that the perfective past tense describes a completed action with a lasting result. For example, if you use a perfective verb to say that someone "opened" a window, it implies the window is still open right now.

But what if an action was completed, but its result was later reversed or "annulled"? If someone opened a window, but it is now closed again, Russian uses the **imperfective** past tense. This signals that the action happened, but the state has since reverted to normal.

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### Investigating Household Mysteries

Because the past imperfective implies a temporary change of state, it is the go-to aspect for everyday detective work. Use it to point out that someone touched your things, borrowed an item and returned it, or turned something on and off again.

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You will frequently use imperfective verbs like **перекладывать** (to rearrange) or **зажигать** (to light) in the past tense to figure out exactly what happened when you weren't looking.

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Annulled results in the past (imperfective)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

predicative

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Presentative (это)

Noun gender

Soft-sign nouns (-ь)

Subject pronouns (я, ты, он...)

Yes/no questions (да / нет)

Basic interrogatives (кто / что)

Basic negation (не)

Coordinating conjunctions (и / а)

Possessive pronouns (мой, твой, наш, ваш)

Demonstrative pronouns (этот, эта, это)

Adjective agreement

Which and whose (какой, чей)

First conjugation verbs, singular (-ать)

First conjugation verbs, plural (-ать)

Second conjugation verbs (-ить)

Irregular present tense verbs

Adverbs of manner (как, очень)

Locations in prepositional case (в / на)

Prepositional case modifiers (-ом, -ой)

Topics of speech (о, об)

Direct objects (-у, -ю)

Direct object pronouns (меня, тебя)

Verbs of motion (идти, ехать)

Destination (куда, в, на)

Plural nouns (-ы, -и, -а, -я)

Irregular plural nouns (друзья, дети)

Plural adjectives and pronouns (-ые, -ие)

Numbers 1 to 10 (один, два, три)

Possession with pronouns (у меня есть)

Possession with nouns (-а, -я, -ы, -и)

Genitive of negation (нет)

Numbers 2, 3, and 4

Quantities with mass nouns (сколько, много, мало)

Animate direct objects

The past tense of to be (был, была, было, были)

Regular past tense verbs

Time sequence expressions (вчера, завтра, раньше, потом)

Verb aspect in the past tense

Dative personal pronouns (мне, тебе, ему)

Expressing likes (нравится, нравятся)

Absence (нет)

Expressing age (год, года, лет)

Indirect objects (-у, -ю, -е)

Modal verbs (хотеть, мочь)

Reason and contrast (поэтому, но)

Double negation (ничего, никогда)

Reflexive verbs (-ся, -сь)

Polite requests and instructions (-ите, -йте)

Days of the week (в + Accusative)

Compound future tense (буду...)

Simple future tense

Accompaniment (с)

Multidirectional verbs of motion (ходить, ездить)

Greetings and goodbyes (здравствуйте, привет)

Thank you and sorry (спасибо, извините)

Countries and languages (русский, английский)

Meeting people (меня зовут, как дела)

Public transport (трамвай, остановка)

Left, right and the compass (слева, справа)

Places in the city (цирк, зоопарк)

Fruit and vegetables (помидор, огурец)

Post and travel (открытка, чемодан)

Family and relatives (внук, родственник)

Jobs and professions (инженер, продавец)

Sport and games (футбол, теннис)

Describing people (умный, сильный)

Health and the body (болен, здоровье)

The months of the year (январь, февраль)

Accusative feminine and inanimate adjectives (-ую, -юю)

Accusative animate masculine adjectives (-ого, -его)

Short-form adjectives (готов, занят)

Personal obligation (должен, должна)

Professions in the instrumental case

Genitive singular adjectives and possessives

Prepositions of absence and purpose (без, для)

Dative singular adjectives and possessives

Impersonal states (мне холодно)

Impersonal obligation (надо, нужно)

Impersonal permission (можно / нельзя)

Instrumental adjectives and pronouns

Reciprocal verbs (с + Instrumental)

Reflexive possessive pronouns (свой)

Reflexive pronouns (себя)

Specific indefinite pronouns (-то)

Non-specific indefinite pronouns (-нибудь)

Negative pronouns (никто / ничто)

Numbers 11 to 20

Question	Answer
suspicious	подозрительный
clearly (obviously)	явно
This incident is suspicious: someone clearly took my key.	Этот случай подозрительный: кто-то явно брал мой ключ.
intentionally	намеренно
to rearrange	перекладывать
My things are in place, but someone intentionally rearranged them.	Мои вещи на месте, но кто-то намеренно перекладывал их.
to unlock	отпирать
The safe is currently closed, but did anyone unlock it today?	Сейф сейчас закрыт, но кто-нибудь отпирал его сегодня?
to lock (imperfective)	запирать
This safe is empty, but I intentionally locked it in the morning.	Этот сейф пустой, но я намеренно запирал его утром.
candle	свеча
to light	зажигать
This candle was new. Someone clearly lit it.	Эта свеча была новая. Кто-то явно зажигал её.
to extinguish	гасить
The light in the dining room is on, but someone turned it off at night.	Свет в столовой горит, но кто-то гасил его ночью.
Did anyone light this candle and then put it out?	Кто-нибудь зажигал эту свечу и потом гасил её?
This is a suspicious story. Did you rearrange my documents?	Это подозрительная история. Ты перекладывал мои документы?
This safe is closed. Did you unlock it?	Этот сейф закрыт. Вы отпирали его?
I never locked this door intentionally.	Я никогда не запирал эту дверь намеренно.
Someone clearly came here and touched the things.	Кто-то явно приходил сюда и трогал вещи.
iron (for clothes)	утюг
Did you take my new iron yesterday?	Ты вчера брал мой новый утюг?
stove	плита
Mom turned on the stove and the iron, but now they are cold.	Мама включала плиту и утюг, но сейчас они холодные.
vacuum cleaner	пылесос
Who put the vacuum cleaner in front of the stove?	Кто ставил пылесос перед плитой?
Who opened the window above the stove?	Кто открывал окно над плитой?
Did someone turn on the computer in the bedroom?	Кто-то включал компьютер в спальне?
Did you turn on the vacuum cleaner? I heard a noise.	Ты включал пылесос? Я слышал шум.