Describing Simultaneous Actions
When you want to say that you are doing two things at once—like "listening to a podcast while working"—use an imperfective verbal adverb (деепричастие несовершенного вида).
In English, this usually translates to "while doing" or simply an "-ing" word (like "listening" or "reading"). These words act like adverbs because they never change their endings to match gender, number, or case.
Formation (-я and -а)
To form an imperfective verbal adverb, take the present tense "they" form of an imperfective verb, drop the final -ут / -ют or -ат / -ят, and add -я.
- слушать (to listen) -> они слуша-ют -> слушая (listening)
- работать (to work) -> они работа-ют -> работая (working)
- читать (to read) -> они чита-ют -> читая (reading)
(Note: if the stem ends in a sibilant consonant like *ж, ш, ч, or щ, you add -а instead).*
| Listening to this audio, I always read the subtitles. | Слушая это аудио, я всегда читаю субтитры. |
| My brother often listens to podcasts or audio while working. | Мой брат часто слушает подкасты или аудио, работая. |
The Same-Subject Rule
In Russian, the verbal adverb and the main verb of the sentence must have the same subject. The person doing the main action must also be the one doing the background action.
This rule applies to commands too, where the subject "you" is implied.
| While listening to the podcast, try not to get distracted. | Слушая подкаст, старайся не отвлекаться. |
Punctuation Matters
Unlike in English, verbal adverbs and the phrases attached to them are always separated by commas in Russian, no matter where they appear in the sentence—at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end.
| While reading the text, we write out unknown words into the notebook. | Читая текст, мы выписываем неизвестные слова в тетрадь. |
| While watching the film, the student (f) wrote out phrases and made notes. | Смотря фильм, студентка выписывала фразы и делала заметки. |
Impersonal Statements
You can also use verbal adverbs in general statements with impersonal words like полезно (it is useful) or нельзя (one must not), where the implied general subject applies to both actions.
| One must not get distracted while doing this exercise. | Нельзя отвлекаться, делая это упражнение. |
| While doing the exercise, pronounce all the words aloud. | Делая упражнение, произноси все слова вслух. |
| While studying a foreign language, it is useful to read aloud, pronouncing the phrases slowly. | Изучая иностранный язык, полезно читать вслух, произнося фразы медленно. |