G.I. Kustova, 2011

Face- inflectional grammatical category of the verb, characteristic finite(see) forms present-future tense(see Time) (present). The face has features of both syntactic and nominative categories. In the Russian grammatical tradition, forms that have a personal-numerical indicator are called personal, or conjugated (see. Verb form system, Finiteness). The face paradigm includes first, second and third person forms. The shape of the face indicates what the role of the subject of the verb (subject) is in the speech act: whether the subject's referent is the speaker (1st person), the addressee (2nd person), or neither (3rd person).

1. Morphology

The person is morphologically expressed by the inflection of the present-future tense, in which the meaning of the person is combined with the meaning of the number (see Number of the verb).

In the indicative mood, the morphological indicator of the face is present in the forms of the present and future tenses (see). The past tense forms of the indicative mood and the forms of the subjunctive mood do not have the grammatical category of person, but they do have the grammatical category of gender. In the past tense and subjunctive mood, reference to a person is carried out in context - using a noun or personal pronoun: I'm here; you came; He/friend came.

1.1. Expression of facial category: indicative mood

In the present and future simple tense, verbs have the following inflections, which differ (except for the 1st person singular forms) depending on the type of conjugation:

Other archaic verb conjugations be (I am, you are) are also found in cult texts and high-style texts and, accordingly, in quotations from these texts:

(3) The Lord said to Peter, “You if you Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church” (Matthew 16:18) [John Meyendorff. Orthodox testimony in modern world (1992)]

(4) Establish, O Lord, my lost heart on the rock of Your commandments, for only one is holy. if you and the Lord... [L. Ulitskaya. Journey to the Seventh Side of the World (2000)]

Cohesive and locative be usually has the null form: You ø sick; He ø teacher; Children ø in the garden.

1.2. Expression of facial category: imperative mood

2. Usage: syntax and semantics

2.1. Deictic nature of the category of person

The category of person is associated not only with a certain morphological form (finite, or personal), but also with a certain syntactic position: the finite forms of the verb in a sentence are the predicate (for more details, see Finiteness).

The question of the status of the category of person does not have a clear solution in the domestic grammatical tradition. There is an approach in which a person is interpreted as a purely syntactic (concordant) category that does not have its own nominative meaning. The verb agrees in person with the subject [Melchuk 1998:280–281]. With this approach, even in impersonal and indefinitely personal sentences a zero subject is postulated. Within the framework of another approach, it is generally accepted that the person of a verb has its own semantics, and pronouns are analytical preverbal indicators of person, duplicating personal inflection in the present-future tense. Compare: “Combinations like I'm writing, you write, I wrote, you wrote etc. in Russian are not free syntactic phrases, but analytical-synthetic forms of the verb. This means that the elements I, You, He in combination with I'm writing, you write, writes act not as pronouns, but as (redundant) personal indicators of the verb form, which is expressed in their incomplete accentuation” [Isachenko 2003(2):410].

The variety of approaches is partly explained by the fact that in both semantic and syntactic aspects the category of person differs from “normal” nominative and syntactic categories (see article Grammatical categories).

As for the content of the category of person, then, in contrast to nominative categories such as the number of nouns, reflecting the properties of extra-linguistic reality, the category of person is focused on the speech act, i.e. The semantics of the face is deictic in nature. As for facial agreement, it does not correspond to canonical ideas about agreement. In the standard case, the agreeing element duplicates the grammeme of the agreement controller: for example, the agreeing adjective receives a gender gramme from the agreeing noun. The person category of the verb has too many deviations from this pattern to consider the choice of person as canonical agreement.

First, the agreement checker does not have a grammatical category for the person. For personal pronouns, the person has a lexical, not a grammatical meaning.

NOTE. There is a point of view (it is discussed, for example, in [Plungyan 2011: 310–312]) that personal pronouns are a closed class of “fully grammaticalized lexemes” that do not have lexical meaning, but are only grammatical - they indicate participants in a speech act. In the Russian grammatical tradition, this point of view is not widespread (cf., for example, [Vinogradov 1947:329–330], [Zaliznyak 1967:62], [Grammatika 1980(1):§§1270–1280], where personal pronouns are considered ordinary lexemes, although with some features in the behavior of grammatical categories).

Nouns especially do not have a person category: nouns, by default, are equated to 3rd person pronouns, since they are combined only with the 3rd person form of the verb, however, there cannot be a grammatical category consisting of one grammeme, which is also detected only in the form of the nominative case in the subject position and only with a present-future verb.

In the 1st-2nd person indicative mood, the subject can usually be omitted, because the form of the verb clearly indicates it, and imperative constructions in standard literary speech are usually used without a subject. Moreover, with forms of joint action (see) the use of the subject is prohibited, and its introduction turns the imperative form of joint action into an indicative form of the future tense, cf.: Masha, let's go to the cinema!– motivation; Masha, we're going to the cinema- statement.

3rd person forms can also express their deictic meaning (‘not the speaker and not the addressee’) without a subject. Another thing is that by the form of the 3rd person, in contrast to the 1st-2nd person, it is impossible to determine the referent of the subject of the verb. In the 1-2 person subject pronoun, two meanings are glued together: it indicates both the participant in the speech act (since it is a personal pronoun) and the subject of the action (since it is the subject). In this sense, the 3rd person pronoun gives nothing to the 3rd person verb: sentence He'll come soon just like the sentence does not convey specific information about the referent of the subject Coming soon.

Thus, the choice of the person of the verb may not be oriented towards the subject, but appeal directly to the participants in the speech act, just like, for example, the gender of the verb in constructions like The doctor has come reflects not the gender of the subject, but the gender of its denotation (for more details, see the article Gender). Taking these facts into account, we can say that the person of the verb in the Russian language is not entirely consonantal and has features of the nominative category.

On the other hand, the category of person undoubtedly has a concordant aspect, which consists in the fact that both the subject and the predicate must refer to the same person. So, if the speaker talks about himself in the 3rd person, for example: Listen to what your mother tells you(when a mother addresses her child, i.e. in the meaning ‘listen to what I’m telling you’), the 1st person predicate is not allowed: * Listen to what mom is telling you.

It is significant that in the Russian grammatical tradition, in relation to the connection of the predicate with the subject, they speak not of agreement, but of coordination: in a speech act, a single indicator of a person is selected, which applies to both the subject and the predicate. Because of this, sentences in which the subject and predicate are uncoordinated are unacceptable in the Russian language, i.e. sentences of the form * Men let's go, which are found, for example, in the Adyghe language.

The relation of an action to a person can be expressed not only by forms of verbs ( I'll let you know for your information...) and not only personal pronouns (cf. To me be on duty – You be on duty – To him be on duty), but also by other means - lexical, constructive-syntactic, intonation, cf.: The author of these lines; Your humble servant– reference to the 1st person speaking; Get up!; Come to me!; Carriage!– reference to the 2nd person, the addressee. In theory functional grammar all these funds are considered within the category personalities, the core of which is the grammatical person of the verb and the system of personal pronouns [Bondarko 2002:543–567].

2.2. Categorical meanings of personal forms

The use and interpretation of personal-numeral forms of verbs is influenced by various semantic, syntactic and communicative factors.

In the indicative mood, the forms of the 1st and 2nd persons are opposed to the forms of the 3rd person, which is associated with the orientation of the category of person to the speech act. The meanings of the 1st and 2nd person in grammars are called personal, because they correspond to the speaker and the addressee, who are always persons.

In the sphere of the face itself, the 1st and 2nd persons are opposed. V.V. Vinogradov noted that in the 1st person forms “even with figurative use, the relation to the specific subject of speech is clearly preserved,” while the 2nd person forms, more abstract and vague, can lose their direct relation to a specific interlocutor and receive a generalized meaning [Vinogradov 1947 :459]. V.V. Vinogradov believed that only the context determines whether the 2nd person form “refers to a specific interlocutor, i.e. to a single You", to any person ( if you die, they will bury you) or to the speaker himself, i.e. to 1st person ( will you go, it happened...) [Vinogradov 1947:456].

The meaning of the 3rd person in grammars is called subject-personal, because The subject of the situation, denoted by the 3rd person form, can be either a person or an inanimate object. The 3rd person form does not contain information about the subject, except negative - 'is ​​neither the speaker nor the addressee', therefore, in the absence of a subject sentence with a predicate in the 3rd person form, they are considered semantically and structurally incomplete (about indefinite personal and impersonal meaning for 3rd person forms, see ).

In the imperative mood, the personal-numerical paradigm is structured significantly differently than in the indicative: as a form of the 2nd person ( Go!; Go!), and the form of joint action ( Let's go!; Let's go!) includes an indication of the addressee. Meaning of 3rd person construction ( Let him come in!) also appears to contain an implicit "address component" (something like 'tell him to come in').

Thus, if in the indicative the starting point of the personal system is the speaker, then in the imperative the starting point is the addressee.

2.3. Person and semantics of the verb. Personal and impersonal verbs

In the Russian grammatical tradition, personal verbs, which have a complete personal-numerical paradigm and express person meanings in a sentence (vary according to persons and numbers), are contrasted with impersonal verbs, which:

• do not change in persons and numbers and, therefore, do not express the corresponding grammatical meanings ( impersonal verbs are considered to be outside the category of persons);
• have a limited set of forms: they are used in the 3rd person singular form of the present and future tense ( It's getting dark), in the form of the neuter singular past tense and subjunctive mood ( It was getting dark) and in the infinitive form ( It's starting to get dark);
• are used as a predicate of an impersonal construction.

For many personal verbs it is also possible impersonal use: The paint smells strong – Smells strongly of paint.

The contrast between personal and impersonal verbs does not duplicate the contrast between situations related and not related to a person: an impersonal verb can describe a person’s state ( My brother can't sleep), and personal – a situation with a non-personal subject ( The dress looks good).

Among impersonal verbs there are those that cannot be attributed to a person, cf. it's getting dark, it's getting colder, but there are those that designate only and exclusively human processes and states, cf. be sick, chills, I want, itching. They represent these processes and states as having no source, but having a subject-carrier, expressed by the forms of the dative or accusative cases ( you're chilling; I want).

In finite verbs, i.e. verbs that formally have a complete personal paradigm, the usage of certain forms of person depends on lexical meaning verb.

Some verbs denote situations in which the subject cannot be a person ( rust, burn, flicker and so on). These verbs have direct meaning Only the 3rd person forms are normally used, but the 1st and 2nd person forms are not used. As noted by Yu.P. Knyazev, such verbs “could be called impersonal” [Knyazev 2008:371], but this term is not used in grammars.

In addition, there are classes of verbs in which, for semantic or pragmatic reasons, the 1st person form is not used. First of all, these are verbs of behavior and interpretation (see [Apresyan 2006:145–160]): to show off, to show off, to boast, to grovel, to puff up, to extol, to fawn, toady, to grimace, to break down, to be rude, to run into trouble, to climb[to smb.], shield and under. They present the situation through the eyes of an external observer and usually contain a negative evaluative component. It is unnatural for them to use the 1st person present tense: ? I break / grovel / shield myself. However, in many contexts the prohibition on reference to the speaker is lifted: No matter how I I'm shielding myself, he is always reprimanded; In the end, of course, I will agree, but for appearance’s sake a little I'll break down ; If I I'll climb to him with questions, he won’t like it. Wed. also examples from the Corpus:

(7) Firstly, people are still alive, and secondly, it’s me I'm bragging only, in fact, my will is no longer over you, but what awaits you is what you yourself prepare for yourself. [A. Slapovsky. Money Day (1998)]

(8) This is completely clear to me, but for some reason others don’t believe it, even my closest friends. They think that I I'm making faces. [AND. Grekova. Ladies' Master (1963)]

(9) My God, why am I I'm making faces, anyway, this letter will not reach not only you, but even the mail, so why not write the whole truth? [Yu. Hermann. My Dear Man (1961)]

(10) He owns a bicycle. And I I'm making faces, hypocrite. [Yu. K. Olesha. Chain (1929)]

(11) And add to this the most terrible thing, that every time, feeling real inspiration, I immediately painfully feel the consciousness that I I'm pretending And I'm making faces in front of people... [A. I. Kuprin. The Pit (1915)]

Interpretative verbs with a negative assessment are sometimes conventionally called “3rd person verbs” (for reasons of their incompatibility with the speaker), while the 2nd person form in the function of reproaching the addressee is also very characteristic of them: What you you're breaking down ! ; You are always his you're shielding yourself! ; Don't be rude seniors!

Wed. corpus data on the frequency of 1/2/3 person forms in verbs boast And make faces:

Table 1. Person forms of interpretation verbs according to the Corpus data

In addition, the independent position does not allow the 1st person of verbs that include in their semantics an observer - a syntactically inexpressible subject of perception: appear, to be seen, turn white, loom and so on: ? I I'll show myself on the road in a few minutes; ? I looming in the window. Within the scope of certain predicates or operators, some of them allow reference to the speaker: As soon as I I'll show myself around the corner, turn on the camera(at the same time, there are verbs that both include an observer and require an inanimate subject, i.e. they never allow the 1st person: * The neighbors saw me I'm turning white at the entrance, cf.: At the entrance turns white some kind of box).

Finally, for some internal verbs there is a prohibition on using the 1st person present tense form in independent negative sentences: ? I don't I know that you have arrived, cf.: I didn't know you came; They thought I didn't know about his arrival.

It is also believed that some verbs denoting internal processes and states of a person (such as see, want and so on), the forms of the 1st person, on the contrary, are more common than the forms of other persons. Wed. corpus data on verbs want And see:

Table 2. Facial forms of verbs of internal processes and states of a person according to the Corpus data

It is not difficult for anyone to speak without errors. When pronouncing words in the Russian language, no one even thinks about their composition and pronunciation. However, in writing compliance with certain rules is required. Sometimes in Russian language lessons, schoolchildren are asked to determine the person of the verb. In order to cope with this task, you must adhere to necessary recommendations. And first of all, you need to understand what this category is?

Definition

The person of a verb is a grammatical group that modifies the word and expresses the comparability of the action, indicated by this word in relation to the interlocutor. In other words, it denotes the one who performs this action. This category is characteristic of forms in the present and future tenses in the indicative and imperative moods and is considered one of the features subject to frequent changes. Therefore, it is very important to know the rules for determining it.

To correctly define this category of words, follow the tips below.

Put a question to the correct word:

• For 1st person: what am I doing? what are we doing? (reading, reading).
• For 2: what are you doing? what are you doing? (read, read).
• For 3: what does it do? what are they doing? (reads, read).

It becomes clear that a question is posed to all words as if they were the only one, and for the plural.

It is very easy to establish this category using a pronoun that fits the meaning. To do this you need to do the following:

• For 1st person: I, we. – I’m sitting, we’re sitting.
• For 2: you, you. - You sit, you sit.
• For 3: he she, it, they. - She sits, they sit.

Pay attention to personal endings:

• The 1st person singular verb has the endings -ayu (I run, I fall), -uyu (I draw, dance), -yaya (I walk, shoot). In the plural: -im, -eat (we eat, write).
• In the 2nd person singular it has the endings -ish, -eat (you hear, write), and the plural: -ite, -ete (you sit, write).
• In the 3rd person singular it has the endings -it, -et (he sits, she writes), and the plural: -ut, -yut, -at, -yat (they walk, walk, hurry, sit).

It would be a good idea to use a special table containing examples. You can compose it yourself filling in with example words with each type of ending. This method will help you easily learn to recognize the correct spelling by memorizing the endings.

Remember: it is impossible to determine this category of words for past tense verbs. This also applies to the infinitive.

Let's give examples: sang (you, she, me), sing (to you, to him, to me). Impersonal (it froze, it got dark) are also not subject to change in this form. Using a stand of the necessary pronouns we can conclude that such forms do not have this category!

In particularly difficult cases, use the determination methods you know. The 1st and 3rd person forms can be expressed in the imperative mood. In this case, their formation occurs with the participation of particles yes, let's, let, let.

Determination sequence

We'll tell you step by step how to define this category:

Definition of reflexive verbs, their person and number

A reflexive verb differs from a non-reflexive verb in the form of the suffixes -sya and -sya.

• The suffix -с follows vowels (it turned out, it went down, I liked it).
• The suffix -sya follows the endings of words (takes - taken, says - said) and after consonants (takes offense, makes sure).

To explain what this is, here are some examples:

Roman got dressed and got ready for work. Tatyana was offended by her friend. The sun set behind a cloud.

Behind words of this form nouns and pronouns are never used V accusative case.

Face reflexive verb in the singular is determined by the noun or pronoun that refers to the verb, as well as by the endings of the verbs.

For example: I laugh (1), you laugh (2), he laughs (3), the house is being built (3). In the plural, this category of words is defined in the same way. For example: they laugh, he laughs (3), you laugh, you laugh (2), I laugh, we laugh (1).

The person of the verb is one of its most important categories. In order to write correctly in Russian, you need to learn the correct definition of this category. Carefully study the rules and definition algorithm and strictly follow them when writing. This will make it possible to avoid mistakes.

Often we use words when speaking our native language without thinking. Rarely does anyone make mistakes. However, there are various cases and situations when it is simply necessary to update knowledge, clarify something, repeat or re-learn.

Verb person

The person of the verb tells us who is performing the action. It is inflectional grammatical category verbs, which expresses the action voiced by the verb relative to the participant in speech. This category of person is typical:

• imperative verb forms;
• verbs of the indicative mood of the future and present tense.

In Russian, the action called a verb is distinguished by quantity (singular (singular) and plural (plural)) and by persons, of which there are three:

• first: units “I” means that the speaker is the subject of speech and performs an action (I’m preparing a holiday, I’ll pick a berry);
  plural We are a group of people, together with the speaker, performing an action (we watch TV, we play sports);
• second: units You - indicates an action performed by the interlocutor (you plant eggplants, you read a magazine);
  plural You - means actions that relate simultaneously to the interlocutor and a group of people (you dream of the sea, you dig up potatoes);
• third: units He, she, it - indicates an action regarding a person or object not involved in speech (he shows a trick, she goes to the shooting range);
  plural They - indicates actions regarding persons or objects not involved in speech (they play with a ball).

How to determine the person of a verb

You can determine the person of a verb by asking a question, as well as highlighting the personal ending of the verb, determining its meaning, taking into account the content of the text:

Verb 1 l.: What will I do? What am I doing? What will we do? What are we doing?
Verb 2 l.: What will you do? What are you doing? What will you do? What are you doing?
Verb 3 l.: What will he do? What does it do? What will they do? What are they doing?

Let's look at examples of using verb persons in the table. Please note: with the help of particles yes, let, let, let, let the first and third person forms of imperative verbs are formed.

Exception: impersonal verbs (lit up, rained) and infinitive (sing, groan), past tense verb forms do not have a person category.

Determining the person of a verb in Russian will not be difficult for any person who knows the information described above. After all, speaking competently in our time is a sign of good manners!

The morphological category of person is the most important in the Russian verb system. Personal forms help determine who is acting: the speaker himself (the subject of communication), - walking, washing; speaking together with others: walking, washing; interlocutor (communication recipient) - walk, wash; interlocutor with others: walking, washing; not participating in the dialogue (object of communication) - walking, washing, walking, washing. The face is one of the most fickle signs. Therefore, the student often faces the question of how to determine

Leisurely analysis

The verb has three persons: 1. walking 2. walking 3. walking; 1. silent 2. silent 3. silent.

They differ not only from each other, but also in the plural: ( read, read, read; build, build, build). is not correlative in meaning to the singular number: I'm writing- the speaker acts, we write- someone else joined the speaker. It is not yet entirely clear how to determine the person of the verb? And we're not in a hurry. For now, remember three well. Remember all the pronouns by person: 1st person: I, we; 2nd person: you, you; 3rd person: he, (she, it) they. Learn to find the appropriate meaning for a particular verb. For example: verb flying. The rest is up to your taste: if you don't like it" I'm flying" or " they are flying", look again!

Other meanings

Personal forms of the verb, in addition to those indicated above, can have other meanings. For example, the 1st person plural form can become “the author’s we,” that is, imply the 1st person singular: We already touched verb tense definitions, now let's get started to the analysis of the characters. Although this clearly sounds different: I I'm still trying to explain to you... The 1st person plural form in emotionally charged speech is sometimes used in the meaning of the 2nd person singular: Oh, what We got big!(addressing the only child present). Verbs of the 2nd person singular appear in the meaning of the 1st person singular in generalizations: You you won't understand, seven Fridays a week. Everyone must use the 2nd person singular plural as a sign of respect: You Wonderful playing on the violin! Also, personal verbs can become indefinitely personal or generalized personal - with an unknown acting person or if the action applies to everyone at once and to no one in particular: Taking off the head, going through the hair don't cry (generalized-personal); Football on TV transmit (vaguely personal).

Determining the person of the verb

Let's get down to the most important thing - how to determine the person of the verb. The first step is to ask the verb a question that is appropriate in meaning.

1 person: what am I doing? And what are we doing? (pronouns I, We) walking, walking.

2nd person: What are you doing? and what are you doing?(pronouns you, you) walking, walking.

3rd person: what are they doing? and what are you doing?(pronouns he/she/it, they) walking, walking.

The table of verbs will help you remember even faster how to determine the person of a verb. Draw it and practice, sign the invented examples of verbs with a pencil, erase it, and start again.

About the richness of the Russian language

We have so many verbs that from time to time we will come across ones that are not suitable for this table. What is it, how to determine the person of a substandard verb? It's a matter of time. In the literal sense - time. Define it! And you will see that verbs in the past, as well as indefinite form, do not have a person! Here is the infinitive ( indefinite form): verb get treatment. Me (I) it's time to get treatment. But in the same way, invariably, it's time get treatment And you (you), And them (they) and so on. The same story happens. It is enough to substitute the correct pronouns and ask the appropriate questions, the verbs will be defined immediately and will be obedient in later life!

To determine the person, you need to understand who or what the action in the sentence refers to. Action may include:
- to the speaker himself (this is the first person);
- to the one to whom he addresses (second person);
- or to an outside person/object (third party).

Each person has a singular and a plural form.

First person

The first person singular form shows that the action is performed by the speaker himself (that is, the subject of speech): I’m going, . This form corresponds to the pronoun “I”.

The first person plural form indicates that the action is performed by several persons, including the speaker: we go, we talk, we are interested. Accordingly, the first person plural pronoun is “we”.

Second person

The second person form expresses an action relating to the interlocutor (singular) or a group of persons, including the interlocutor (plural). The second person pronouns will be “you” and “you”. For example: (you) say, are interested; (you) walk, talk, are interested.

Third party

The third person form indicates that the action refers to an extraneous person or thing not participating in speech - in the singular, and to a group of persons or objects - in the plural. The corresponding pronouns are: “he”, “she”, “it” - singular, “they” - plural. For example: (he/she/it) walks, talks, is interested; (they) walk, talk, and are interested.

It should also be remembered that not all verbs have a person.

The category of person is possessed by: verbs of the indicative mood in the present and future tense (smile - smile - - smile - - smile, smile - smile - - smile - smile - smile) and forms of the imperative mood (here the face is not defined in all cases).

The following persons do not have the category:
- verbs of the indicative mood in the past tense (the forms are the same: I walked = you walked = he walked, we walked = you walked = they walked);
- verbs of the conditional (subjunctive) mood (would like, would go);
- infinitive verbs (initial form of the verb, in -т/-ть: walk, sing, draw);
- impersonal verbs (it’s getting dark, I want, there’s enough, etc.);
- participles and gerunds (who came, rejoicing). According to some systems of grammar, these parts of speech are classified as verbs, according to others - not. In any case, these parts of speech do not have the category of person.