russian word
to know how to, be able to in Russian: уметь
verbimperfectivelevel A2#657 by frequency
every form stress-marked · levels from the official TORFL lexical minimum
Моя сестра умеет играть на скрипке. My sister knows how to play the violin.
Он не умеет водить машину. He doesn't know how to drive a car.
Aspect pair
This verb is imperfective: ongoing or repeated action. Its perfective partner, for a completed one-time result, is
суметьto manage; to succeed in doing something, to be able toperfective
Conjugation of уметь
Stress marks show the stressed vowel; it moves between forms more often than learners expect.
| present | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| я / мы | умею | умеем |
| ты / вы | умеешь | умеете |
| он / они | умеет | умеют |
| past | |
|---|---|
| masc | умел |
| fem | умела |
| neut | умело |
| plural | умели |
| imperative | |
|---|---|
| ты | умей |
| вы | умейте |
Participles and gerunds
present activeумеющий
past activeумевший
gerund (imperfective)умея
gerund (imperfective)умеючи
gerund (perfective)умев
gerund (perfective)умевши