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OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC-RUSSIAN: THE VERB1
Classification of Slavic verbs according to Schleicher-Leskien (1852, 1905)
This concerns a traditional classification in five classes, known as Leskien’s verb classes
(August Leskien  DS 245). The classification is based on the way the present tense is formed.
Starting point is the non-terminal suffix in the present tense, being either a vowel (thematic
vowel) or a consonant plus a vowel. In athematic verbs this non-terminal suffix is missing.
The OCS forms are:
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Class I: non-terminal suffix -e-/-o-, e.g. nesti ‘carry’, 3sg.prs. nes-е-tъ  AS 233
Class II: non-terminal suffix -ne-/-no-, e.g. dvignǫti ‘move’, 3sg.prs. dvig-nе-tъ  AS 234
Class III: non-terminal suffix -je-/-jo-, e.g. znati ‘know’, 3sg.prs. zna-je-tъ  AS 235
Class IV: stem in -i-, e.g. xoditi ‘walk’, 3sg.prs. xod-i-tъ  AS 236
Class V: “athematic”, consisting of byti ‘be’ (3sg.prs. estъ), dati ‘give’ (3sg.prs. dastъ), jasti
‘eat’ (3sg.prs. jastъ), věděti ‘know’ (3sg.prs. věstъ) and iměti ‘have’ (3sg.prs. imatъ)  AS 237
What type of verbs do the various classes contain?
‒ Class I contains almost all infinitives in -Cti, viz. -sti (vesti ‘bring’, 3sg.prs. vedetъ; plesti
‘braid’, 3sg.prs. pletetъ; grysti ‘gnaw’, 3sg.prs. gryzetъ; nesti ‘carry’, 3sg.prs. nesetъ) or -šti
(mošti ‘be able’, prs. mogǫ, možetъ; pešti ‘bake’, prs. pekǫ, pečetъ), and a limited number of
verbs in -Vti, among which mrěti ‘die’, 3sg.prs. mьretъ; zъvati ‘call’, 3sg.prs. zovetъ; načęti
‘start’, 3sg.prs. načьnetъ; žiti ‘live’, 3sg.prs. živetъ.
‒ Class II contains only infinitives on -nǫti and the verb stati ‘stand up’ (3sg.prs. stanetъ).
‒ Class III contains infinitives in -ati (znati ‘know’, 3sg.prs. znajetъ), -ěti (razuměti
‘understand’, 3sg.prs. razumějetъ), -iti (biti ‘hit’, 3sg.prs. bijetъ), -yti (myti 3sg.prs. ‘wash’,
myjetъ), -uti (duti ‘blow’, 3sg.prs. dujetъ), and in some cases -ęti and -Cti. Infinitives in -ati
are also verbs of the type -ovati/-evati, prs. -uj- (věrovati ‘believe’, 3sg.prs. věrujetъ; vojevati
‘battle’ 3sg.prs. vojujetъ) and verbs in which original *j resulted in consonant alternation
throughout the present tense paradigm (plakati ‘cry’, prs. plačǫ, plačetъ, with č < *kj;
stradati ‘suffer’, prs. straždǫ, straždetъ, with žd < *dj; glagolati ‘speak’, prs. glagoľǫ, glagoľetъ, with ľ < *lj).
‒ Class IV contains infinitives in -iti (xoditi ‘walk’, 3sg.prs. xoditъ), -ěti (letěti ‘fly’, 3sg.prs.
letitъ) and -ati (sъpati ‘sleep’, 3sg.prs. sъpitъ). In the present tense, 1sg. shows consonant
alternation (caused by *j): xoždǫ (žd < *dj) , leštǫ (št < *tj), sъpľǫ (pľ < *pj). The stem of the
infinitives in -ati (except for sъpati) ends in a so-called ‘hushing sound’ or j (ležati ‘lie’,
mlъčati ‘keep silent’, slyšati ‘hear’, stojati ‘stand’). (Regarding the origin of -a- in -ati  DS
88.)
‒ Class V contains only the five verbs mentioned above (including prefixed formations).
How do Leskien’s verb classes relate to Russian verbs?
‒ Class I  types: inf. not in a vowel + -ть: ( е т ‘carry’, prs. е , е т; грызть ‘gnaw’,
prs. грыз , грыз т; печь ‘bake’, prs. пе , печ т); type мереть ‘die’ (inf. -ереть;
1
Old Church Slavonic based on: Jos Schaeken & Henrik Birnbaum, Die altkirchenslavische Schriftkultur:
Geschichte – Laute und Schriftzeichen – Sprachdenkmäler. München, 1999, pp. 233-240 [abbreviated: AS]. – See
also Alexander Schenker, The dawn of Slavic. New Haven-London, 1995, 129-148 [abbreviated: DS].
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prs. -р , -р т); type звать ‘call’ (prs. з в , з в т; ачать ‘start’: prs. ач , ач т;
ж ть ‘live’, prs. ж в , ж в т) and some other types.
Class II  type ма ть (‘wave’ inf. - ть; prs. - , - ет).
Class III  types: ч тать ‘read’ (inf. -ать/-ять; prs. -аю/-яю, -ает/-яет); type
р вать ‘draw’ (inf. - вать/-евать; prs. - ю/-юю, - ет/-юет); type п а ать ‘cry’ (inf.
-ать/-ять; prs. - /-ю, -ет/- т); type авать ‘give’ (inf. -авать; prs. -а , -а т); type
ра еть ‘become red’ (inf. -еть; prs. -ею, -еет); type б ть ‘hit’ (prs. бью, бь т) and
some other types.
Class IV  Types: г в р ть ‘talk’ (inf. - ть; prs. - /-ю, - т); type г реть ‘burn’ (inf.
‑еть; prs. - /-ю, - т); and type р чать ‘yell’ (inf. -ать/-ять; prs. - /-ю, - т).
Class V  быть ‘be’, ать ‘give’, е ть ‘eat’ , меть ‘have’ and ве ать ‘know’.
Note: inf. - ть (prs. -ю, -ет) vs. OCS (Class III):
ть ‘stab’: prs.
,
ет – klati:
prs. koľǫ, koľetъ; б р ть я ‘fight’: prs. б р ь, б рет я – brati: prs. boŕǫ, boŕetъ; м ть
‘grind’: prs. ме , ме ет (!) – mlěti: prs. meľǫ, meľetъ. (Regarding Russ. -olo- vs. OCS -laand Russ. -olo- vs. OCS -lě-  DS 94-95.)
Present tense endings Old Church Slavonic – Russian
1sg
е-present
OCS
-ǫ
Russ.
- /-ю
i-present
OCS
-ǫ
Russ.
- /-ю
2sg
3sg
1pl
2pl
3pl
1du
2du
3du
-eši
-ешь3
-etъ2
-ет
-emъ
-ем
-ete
-ете
-ǫtъ2
- т/-ют
-evě
–
-eta
–
-ete
–
-iši
- шь
-itъ2
- т
-imъ
- м
-ite
- те
-ętъ2
-ат/-ят
-ivě
–
-ita
–
-ite
–
According to Leskien’s classification the e-present occurs in classes I, II and III and the
i-present in class IV.
The athematic class V has deviating endings compared to e-present and i-present: 1sg. -mь en
2sg. -si (except for iměti ‘have’: 2sg. imaši). In 3pl. we find both -ętъ (like in the i-present) and
‑ǫtъ (like in the e-present). See below for a contrastive OCS - Russian table with the present
tense paradigm of byti ‘be’, dati ‘give’ en jasti ‘eat’:
2
On the basis of language reconstruction one would expect 3sg. and 3pl. -tь for Proto-Slavic and not -tъ as in
OCS. In Old Russian we find the expected ending -tь ( DS 139).
3
In stressed position, of course, - шь (and - т, - м, - те).
Old Church Slavonic - Russian byti, dati and jasti
byti – быть
OCS
Russ.
dati – ать
OCS
Russ.
jasti – е ть
OCS
Russ.
1sg
2sg
3sg
1pl
2pl
3pl
esmь
–
esi
–
estъ
е ть4
esmъ
–
este
–
sǫtъ
† ть4
damь
ам
dasi
ашь5
dastъ
ат
damъ
а м6
daste
а те6
dadętъ
а т7
jamь
ем
jasi
ешь5
jastъ
ет
jamъ
е м6
jaste
е те6
jadętъ
е ят
Old Church Slavonic tenses and moods compared with Russian
‒ In OCS, there are three non-composed tenses: one present tense and two past tenses,
aorist and imperfect. Schenker describes the difference between aorist and imperfect as
follows: “The aorist designated a completed action without affirming either its duration or
resultative value. As such, it served as the narrative preterite tense” (DS 140); “The
imperfect […] indicated noncompletion of a past action and stressed its duration or
repetition” (DS 143). Both non-composed past tenses have disappeared from Russian
(probably in an early stage).
‒ Besides non-composed tenses, there are composed tenses in OCS as well, usually
composed of the so-called l-participle (for a treatment of the participles, see below), or an
infinitive and an auxiliary (mostly byti ‘be’). Two important composed tenses are
additional past tenses: the perfect (DS 148: “[…] indicated a connection between the past
and the moment of speech”) and the pluperfect (DS 148: “[…] indicated the earlier of two
past actions”). Examples are neslъ estъ ‘he has carried’, nesla estъ ‘they have carried’, nesli
esmъ ‘we (masc.) have carried’, nesly esmъ ‘we (fem.) have carried’, nesla sǫtъ ‘they (neut.)
have carried’; neslъ bě(aše) ‘he had carried’ (bě or běaše are both imperfects of byti  AS
237). The perfect is the only past tense that has survived in Russian, although (nowadays)
without the auxiliary byti.
‒ In OCS, there is no special future tense (except for the verb byti). Like in Russian, future
reference is expressed by means of perfective present tense forms or composed forms.
Several composed forms with an l-participle or infinitive coexist in OCS (mostly with
slightly different meanings), among which a form that we know from Russian: the future
form of byti (bǫdǫ, bǫdeši, bǫdetъ etc.  AS 240 = Russ. б , б ешь, б ет etc.)
combined with an infinitive.
‒ There are two moods in OCS: imperative and conditional. The latter is composed of a
special form of byti (1sg. bimь, 23sg. bi etc.  AS 240) or the aorist of byti (1sg. byxъ 23sg.
by etc.  AS 237) combined with an l-participle: ašte bi věděla darъ bozii … “If you knew
the gift of God …” (John 4:10). The Russian form бы originates from the aorist by in
conditional function.
‒ Four of the five OCS participles are found in Russian as well: pres.act.part.  AS 227
(tables VIa-c, suffix -št- = Russ. -щ-); past.act.part.  AS 227-228 (tables VIIa-c,
suffix -(vъ)š- = Russ. -(в)ш-); pres.pass.part.  AS 228 (table IX, suffix ‑m- = Russ. -м-);
4
Continuing the Proto-Slavic ending -tь (see above, note 2).
Replacing the athematic -s- by thematic -š-.
6
Replaced by corresponding imperative suffixes ( AS 237).
7
The - - does not correspond to OCS -ę- (like -я- in 3pl. е ят does).
5
past.pass.part.  AS 228-229 (table X, suffix -n-/-t- = Russ. ‑ ( )-/-т-). The fifth participle
is the l-participle  AS 228 (table VIII), that only occurs in composed forms (perfect,
pluperfect, future, conditional). The l-participle corresponds to the Russian past tense
form.
‒ Finally there is an infinitive in OCS, always ending in -ti. In Russian this ending can only
be found in stressed position (type е т ); when not stressed only -ть and occasionally
‑чь (= OCS -šti) occur. A second infinitive form has disappeared in Russian: the supine,
ending in -tъ. In OCS, the supine expresses a goal after motion verbs: idǫ lovitъ rybъ ‘I am
going fishing’ (John 21:3).