384A Reference Grammar of Russian

[61]Yt yflj ,skj tq etp;fnm pf uhfybwe. She shouldn’t have left the country.

[62]Jlby bp yb[ crfpfk, xnj lfkmit vyt t[fnm ytkmpz, z pfvthpye. One of them said that I could not travel further; I’d freeze.

[63]Yf nhfvdft yfv ,skj ytdjpvj;yj t[fnm. On the tram it was impossible for us to go.

Ytdjpvj´;yj serves as the negation for both djpvj´;yj and vj´;yj ([63]).

6.3 Tense

6.3.1 Predicates and times, in general

Predicate histories are ultimately anchored in the here and now of speech. Every predicate history has to be accessible to the addressee. As Augustine informed us, “there are three times, the present of things past, the present of things present, and the present of things future.”6 That is to say, Augustine believed that discussing the world in time presupposes an operation to get from the here and now of speech to the “present” we want to discuss. To do so, the speaker constructs a path (a vector, a linkage) from the speech moment to a contextual time-world, which can be in the present (accessible by intuition and observation) or the past (accessible by memory, says Augustine) or the future (accessible by anticipation).

Tense is the grammatical device for constructing a path from the present of the speech moment to the contextual occasions over which the histories take place.7

[64]Gbie<if prs> nt,t d vfktymrjq rjvyfnt c yfuke[j pfrhsnsvb cnfdyzvb.

Ujhbn<if prs> rfvby b cdbcnzn<if prs> gjtplf. Xfcf xtnsht yfpfl vs ghbt[fkb<pst> yfrjytw d Ym/rfcnk, gj ljhjut yf,hfkbcm<pst> cnhf[e, nfr rfr ytvws yfc hfpscrbdfkb<pst> yj rfgbnfy bpvtybk<pst> rehc. Pfdnhf d 4 ,eltv<fut> d Kjyljyt b pfdnhf ;t yfxyencz<pf prs> ,fyrtns b jcvjnhs, f xthtp ytltk/ gjtltv<pf prs> yf ahjyn. Yfv j,tof/n<if prs> gjrfpfnm ytvwtd ifuf[ d 50-nb. Pfntv gjdtpen<pf prs> jcvfnhbdfnm akjn. Ym/rfcnk ghjbpdtk yf vtyz jxtym cbkmyjt dgtxfnktybt, -- эnj ujhjl dthatq, rjhf,ktq b rfvtyyjuj eukz.

I’m writing you in a small room with shutters closed up tight. A fireplace is burning and trains whistle. Just four hours ago we finally arrived in Newcastle, on the journey we had a scare, because the Germans were searching for us, but the captain changed course. Tomorrow at four we’ll be in London and tomorrow the

6 Augustine 1960:XI.20.

7On Russian tense, see in general Bondarko 1971, additionally Comrie 1985. Gvozdanovi´c 1994 is a crisp presentation of the relationship between tense and aspect in Russian.

Mood, tense, and aspect 385

banquets and inspections begin, and then a week later we head for the front. They are promising to show us Germans at fifty paces. Then they’ll take us to inspect the Navy. Newcastle made a great impression on me -- this is a city of shipyards, ships, and coal.

When the speaker uses the present tense (here, gbié ‘I write’, ujh∫n ‘burns’, cdbcnz´n ‘whistle’, j,toƒ/n ‘they promise’), the speaker remains in the same world as the present of the moment of the speech. Past-tense forms of the verb construct a path to a contextual occasion in the past. In [64], there is more than one layer of past: the recent arrival (ghb†[fkb), from which the speaker leads the addressee to an earlier time during the prior journey (yƒc hfpßcrbdfkb; bpvty∫k); in context, the task of constructing linkages can be complex, recursive, even though there is only one morphological form of the verb expressing past tense. To guide the addressee to a world lying in the future from the present of speech, the speaker uses either the periphrastic future, if the verb is imperfective or anaspectual (in [64], ,éltv d Kj´yljyt) or the present-tense perfective form (yfxyéncz, gj†ltv).

The general picture for Russian is that there are three types of contextual occasions, as has long been assumed: past, present, future. By and large, these are signaled by the morphology of tense in straightforward ways, as in [64]. As far as the grammatical forms are concerned, the only complication is that perfective verbs have forms analogous to present-tense forms among imperfectives, but these forms are used for events that will be completed in the future. Interesting complications arise when the path from the speech moment to the history becomes more complex in one way or another. One complication is the use of tense in embedded (syntactically subordinate) clauses. The other is the historical present, the use of the present in narrating an event understood to have occurred in the past.

6.3.2 Tense in finite adjectival and adverbial clauses

Finite verbs in subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions are marked with tense, as befits finite verbs. Four types of clauses can be distinguished: adjectival, or relative, clauses (usually formed with rjnj´hsq ‘which’); adverbial clauses (introduced by rjulƒ ‘when’, rƒr ‘as’, †ckb ‘if’); argument clauses that express information -- speech or thought or belief or perception or regrets or hopes; and argument clauses that express modality. The last type uses the conjunction xnj,s ‘in order that’, and takes the past tense automatically (§6.2.4).

Adjectival and adverbial finite clauses treat tense in a similar fashion. Tense in such clauses is determined in relation to the here and now of speech rather than the time of the main clause. Consider a relative clause attached to a main

386A Reference Grammar of Russian

clause whose verb is a perfective past. A perfective event in the relative clause that occurs about the same time as the main event is expressed as past, because it is past relative to the time of speech:

[65]Z ckexfqyj gjlckeifk jlby hfpujdjh, rjnjhsq vtyz pfbynthtcjdfk<pf pst> xhtpdsxfqyj.

I accidentally overheard a conversation that interested me tremendously.

If need be, adverbs can be added to localize a perfective event in relation to the main clause, as earlier ([66]) or later ([67]):

[66]Jlyf;ls zdbkcz r yfv d felbnjhb/ jlby frnbdbcn, e rjnjhjuj ytlfdyj dsikf njytymrfz gjdtcneirf ≤<tkst djkrb≥.

Once a certain activist came to talk to us in the auditorium, who not long ago had had a thin tale called “White Wolves” come out.

[67]Nfv, d Djkjult, z yfgbcfk gthdst cnhjas cnb[jndjhtybz, rjnjhjt ljgbcfk e;t gjp;t.

There, in Vologda, I wrote the first lines of a poem that I would finish only later.

If the embedded verb is imperfective past (e.g., buhƒk), it can have any temporal relation to the main predicate: prior ([68]), simultaneous ([69]), or subsequent ([70]), but will be expressed as past, if the event is past relative to the here and now of speech.

[68]Z dcnhtnbkf e Dfkb fhnbcnf, rjnjhsq rjulf-nj buhfk<if pst> Xfwrjuj. At Valia’s I met an actor who had once played Chatsky.

[69]Z dcnhtnbkf e Dfkb fhnbcnf, rjnjhsq buhfk<if pst> Xfwrjuj d vtcnyjv ntfnht. At Valia’s I met an actor who played Chatsky in the local theater.

[70]Jy yf;bk ,jktpym, rjnjhjq cnhflfk<if pst> dc/ gjcktle/oe/ ;bpym. He acquired a disease, from which he suffered all the rest of his life.

If the situation mentioned in the relative clause is simultaneous with the here and now of speech, the present tense is used ([71]). If the situation is future, it is expressed by the imperfective future tense ([72]) or the morphological present of perfectives.

[71]Tuj ,kb;fqibv yfxfkmybrjv ,sk by;tyth Rfvpjkrby, j rjnjhjv vjq jntw egjvbyftn<if prs> d cdjb[ djcgjvbyfybz[.

His immediate supervisor was an engineer named Kamzolkin, whom my father mentions in his memoirs.

[72]Jy cnfk lbhtrnjhjv dyjdm cjplfdftvjq abhvs, rjnjhfz d Rfhtkbb ,eltn<fut> dshf,fnsdfnm uhfybnysq rfvtym.

He became the director of a newly formed company that will extract granite in Karelia.

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The behavior of tense with adverbial clauses, specifically embedded clauses introduced by rjulƒ ‘when’, is similar. With rjulƒ, the events of the embedded clauses as a rule occur in the temporal vicinity of the event of the main clause, whether it is a perfective ([73]) or an imperfective ([74]):

[73]Z jxtym j,hfljdfkcz, rjulf edbltk<pf pst> cjcys gj cnjhjyfv ljhjub. I was thrilled when I saw the pines along the side of the road.

[74]Ght;lt, rjulf jyf pf vyjq e[f;bdfkf<if pst> , jyf yjcbkf gkfnmz, gj[j;bt yf bycnbnencrbt.

Earlier, when she used to take care of me, she wore dresses like school uniforms.

If the event of the main clause is present, the event of the rjulƒ clause will also be present ([75]); and if the main verb is future, the rjulƒ event will be as well ([76]):

[75]B ntgthm, rjulf z cksie<if prs> gj hflbj эne cthtyfle, nj dctulf dcgjvbyf/<if prs> Fhntvbz.

And nowadays, when I hear that song on the radio, I always recall Artemy.

[76]Djdf e dtkjcbgtlyjq ltdjxrb b rjluf jy dthytncz<pf prs> , jy ,eltn<fut> jxtym ytljdjkty.

Vova is visiting the bicycle girl and when he comes back, he’ll be very displeased.

The conjunction gjrƒ ‘while, for so long as’ differs from rjulƒ.8 If the event of the gjrƒ clause is imperfective, it overlaps an imperfective ([77]) or frames a perfective event ([78]):

[77]Gjrf gjlybvfkbcm<if pst> gj ktcnybwt, lt;ehyst yfc njhjgbkb<if pst> : ≤Crjhtt, crjhtt!≥

While we were climbing, the dezhurnye were hurrying us along: “Faster, faster!”

[78]Gjrf jltdfkcz<if pst> , d ldthm gjcnexfkb<pf pst> . While I was getting dressed, they knocked at the door.

But if the verb of the gjrƒ clause is negated and perfective, gjrƒ sets limits: the state or activity of the main (imperfective) predicate continued or will continue only until the perfective event in the subordinate clause with gjrƒ occurs. The whole situation can be grounded in the past ([79]) or the future ([80]):

[79]Gjrf yt cntvytkj<pf pst> , dct k/,jdfkcz<if pst> Jrjq b tt ,thtufvb. Until it got dark, I admired the Oka and its banks.

[80]<eltv<fut> ifufnm, gjrf yt yfljtcn<pf prs> . We’ll keep walking until we get tired of it.

In summary, in finite subordinate relative clauses and adverbial clauses, embedded events often occur in the vicinity of the time-world of the main event.

8 The analysis here owes much to Barentsen (1979) (with simplifications).