388A Reference Grammar of Russian

Grammatical tense in the subordinate clause is determined with respect to the time of speech.

6.3.3 Tense in argument clauses

The third group of subordinate clauses are those that fulfill the functions of nominal arguments. They can be subjects: {zcyj vyt rfpfkjcm vtyz djpvenbkj (nj) cnfkj bpdtcnyj} xnj ‘{it is clear it seemed to me it upset me it became known} that’. Or they can be objects: {pyf/ cxbnf/ ujdjh/ dth/ ljkj;bk}, xnj ‘I {know consider say believe reported} that’. In these instances the main verb reports speech in an extended sense: speech, thought, attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, perceptions, representations. Clauses of embedded speech (in this generous sense) can be said to have two layers of speech and speakers: the speech of the primary, or e x t e r n a l , speaker, as opposed to the speech of the secondary, or i n t e r n a l , speaker. In such situations of nested speech, the internal speaker is closer to the event reported; the external speaker has access to that information only by virtue of being the addressee of the internal speaker. This fact influences how tense is used in such clauses.9

The most general conjunction is xnj ‘that’. With xnj, there are five possibilities of tense-aspect forms in the subordinate clause. Assume that the main verb, which names the act of reporting internal speech, is in the past tense. (a) Then a P A S T P E R F E C T I V E refers to an event completed earlier than the time of internal speech ([81] gj[jhjy∫k):

[81]Tlbr hfccrfpfk<pf pst> , xnj gj[jhjybk<pf pst> ;tye, b pfgkfrfk. Edik told that he had buried his wife, and began to cry.

(b) A P A S T I M P E R F E C T I V E refers to a state or activity that occurred prior to the time of the internal speech (in [82], a prior conversation is discussed on the way home):

[82]Gj ljhjut jy hfccrfpfk vyt, xnj d rf,bytnt e Cfdbyrjdf htxm ikf<if pst> j rfrjq-nj nhtnmtq Hjccbb.

On the way he told me that the discussion at Savinkov’s had been about the so-called Third Russia.

(c) An event expressed as a P E R F E C T I V E P R E S E N T is future relative to the time of internal speech ([83]), (d) as is a F U T U R E I M P E R F E C T I V E ([84]):

9The variation has been recognized and documented by Boeck (1957, 1958, source of [94]) and more recently Barentsen (1996) (especially for clauses with rfr). For other (not identical) views, see Brecht 1975, Comrie 1986[b]. Declerck’s analysis of English tense (1991) can be adapted to Russian.

Mood, tense, and aspect 389

[83]Fcz ,skf edthtyf, xnj vjz vfvf yt cjukfcbncz<pf prs> . Asia was convinced my mother would not agree.

[84]Njulf z lfkf ct,t ckjdj, xnj ,jkmit cfkatnjr dsibdfnm yt ,ele<fut> .

At that time I promised myself that I would never embroider napkins again.

(e) The fifth tense-aspect form is the P R E S E N T - T E N S E I M P E R F E C T I V E , which refers to an event that holds on the occasion (time and world) of the internal speech:

[85]Dcrjht dct hf,jxbt gjyzkb, xnj hf,jnf/n<if prs> jyb, d ceoyjcnb, ,tcgkfnyj, njkmrj pf gftr.

Soon all the workers understood that they were working, in fact, for no pay, just for rations.

[86]Reghby lhtvfk gthtl gecnjq ,enskrjq, f vj;tn ,snm, ghbndjhzkcz, xnj lhtvktn<if prs> .

Kuprin dozed in front of an empty bottle, or possibly, pretended that he was dozing.

In [85], the work includes the time of understanding, and in [86], the dozing overlaps the secondary speech event (Kuprin’s dissimulation). It might be noted that, according to the “sequence of tense rule,” the embedded verb in English would have an additional mark of past tense, reflecting the fact that the internal speech is embedded under a past verb.

Indirect questions determine tense relative to the time of the matrix clause in a similar fashion. In [87] the present-tense question concerns a situation at the same time as the question was posed. In [88], the questions are localized relative to the time of imagination.

[87]K/,jdm Vb[fqkjdyf cghjcbkf, rfr tve ;bdtncz<if prs> d Njvcrt. Liubov Mikhailovna asked how he was getting along in Tomsk.

[88]Yt vjukb ghtlcnfdbnm ct,t -- rjuj jyb edblzn<pf prs> , rfrjq jy cnfk<pf pst> ? They could not imagine -- who would they see, how had he changed?

The same principle -- tense in the subordinate clause is determined with respect to the time of the internal speech event -- holds when the matrix verb is a subjunctive or future. In [89], the pin-swallowing is predicted to occur after the shouting begins, and this projected act is expressed by a perfective present referring to the future.

[89]Tckb , z dpzkf ,ekfdre d hjn, cj dct[ cnjhjy cnfkb ,s<irr> rhbxfnm, xnj ctqxfc z ghjukjxe<pf prs> tt b vyt ghbltncz<pf prs> ltkfnm jgthfwb/.

If I should put a pin in my mouth, they would cry out from all sides that I am just about to swallow it and I’ll have to have an operation.

390 A Reference Grammar of Russian

[90]Rjulf ,kbpytws epyf/n<pf prst> , xnj gjzdbkcz<pf pst> rfrjq-nj <j,br, jyb ,elen hsxfnm.

When the twins find out that some Bobik has appeared, they’ll growl.

In [90], Bobik’s appearance is past tense because it occurs before the future awareness of it.

Thus, as a rule, clauses conveying speech (intelligence, speech, knowledge, etc.) -- those introduced by xnj or indirect questions with no conjunction -- determine tense in the embedded clause in relation to the time at which the internal speech occurs rather than in relation to the here and now of the primary speech.

In addition to xnj, Russian also uses the interrogative rfr ‘how’ as a conjunction specifically with verbs of perception: yf,k/lfnm, rfr ‘observe how’; dbltnm, rfr ‘see how’. Verbs of perception are also verbs of speech, in the broad sense: the external speaker has access to information about the world only through the observations and perceptions of the internal speaker. But with rfr, unlike with xnj, the time of the secondary speech is tightly constrained; whatever is observed must hold at the time of observation. Thus a past perfective event is encompassed by the interval of observation:

[91]Z dbltkf, rfr jy d rjhbljht eobgyek<pf pst> d jlyj vtcnj ukege/ Rfn/. I saw how he pinched stupid Katia in a certain place.

The interesting fact is that imperfectives in the subordinate clause introduced by rfr can be either past or present. The present tense reports an activity that is viewed from the perspective of the internal speaker (the observer), as it is in progress; what is of interest is how the activity proceeds, such as how the horse moved ([92]):

[92]B jyf edbltkf, rfr gj ljhjut jn ktcf ljdjkmyj [jlrj tltn<if prs> kjiflm. She saw how a horse was going at a good clip on the road out of the forest.

In contrast, the past imperfective with rfr focuses on the fact that the event occurs at all. It is appropriate if the interval of observation encompasses the event ([93] -- they kiss for a while but stop) or if the event of observation is displaced to the distant past ([94]).

[93]Z dbltkf, rfr jyb wtkjdfkbcm<if pst> . I saw how they kissed.

[94]Jyb pyfkb, xnj gktyysq [jhjij gjybvftn heccrbq zpsr, vyjubt cksifkb, rfr tuj ljghfibdfk<if pst> rjvfylbh gjkrf.

They knew that the prisoner understood Russian well, many of them had heard how the regiment commander had interrogated him.

Mood, tense, and aspect 391

With rfr embedded under verbs of observation, the past imperfective is quite frequent, as much as half of the tokens for some authors.

In fact, the past imperfective can also be used with the conjunction xnj. Although the present tense is usual, a past imperfective is possible if the event is localized to a specific moment in the past ([95]) or the whole situation lies in the remote past ([96]):10

[95]Jy gjyzk, xnj d эnjn vjvtyn Gtnhjd yt ckeifk<if pst> tuj.

He understood that at that moment Petrov wasn’t listening to him.

[96]Vjukf kb z pyfnm, xnj rfr hfp d nt lyb ,sk<pst> ghtlfy cele b j;blfk<if pst> cvthnyjuj ghbujdjhf j,dbytyysq d gjlujnjdrt gjreitybz yf ;bpym Ybrjkfz

ÈÈ by;tyth Pbkm,th,thu, hjlyjq ,hfn vjtq uthjbyb?

Could I possibly have known that exactly in those days an engineer named Zilberberg (the brother of my heroine) was in the hands of the court and was awaiting the death sentence in connection with the attempt on the life of Nicholas II?

In [96], the narrator takes two steps into the past: from the present (when she writes) to her memories of †migr† life in Paris in the twenties, and from there back further in time to the turbulent life of 1906; the memory is buried deep in the past.

The past imperfective is usual when the internal speech (observation) repeats ([97--98]):

[97]Byjulf pf[jlbk Cfif. Jy c djc[botybtv gjcvfnhbdfk yf Yfnfkre, b Cthtuf pfvtxfk, xnj jyf ghb эnjv jgecrfkf<if pst> ukfpf.

Sometimes Sasha would drop in. He would look with admiration at Natalka, and Serega would notice that she would lower her eyes at this.

Iterative contexts presuppose that there is a series of discrete sub-events. Each sub-event involves a definitive change and, as a single event, would be expressed as the past perfective (Cthtuf pfvtnbk, rfr jyf jgecnbkf<pf pst> ukfpf ‘Serega noticed how she lowered her eyes’).11 This past is carried over when the situation is iterated.

Table 6.1 summarizes the conditions for using the present imperfective as opposed to past imperfective for events understood to be simultaneous with past-tense verbs of speech. Generalizing, we can say that the past is possible (with rfr, likely) when the external speaker presents a past situation as limited in validity to a time and world that is anterior to -- and more than that, is distinct from -- the time and world of the external speaker. Using the past imperfective

10Boeck’s observation (1957, 1958), labeled “synchronization” in Timberlake 1982.

11Boeck (1957), Timberlake (1982).