The Four Irregular Verbs

хотеть (irr.)

singular	plural
я хочу	мы хотим
ты хочешь	вы хотите
он хочет	они хотят

 

есть (irr.)

ем	едим
ешь	едите
ест	едят

 

бежать (irr.)

бегу	бежим
бежишь	бежите
бежит	бегут

 

дать (pf., irr.)

дам	дадим
дашь	дадите
даст	дадут

 

Comments about the four irregular verbs:

хотеть (to want); есть (to eat); бежать (to run); дать (pf.) (to give)

 

All four verbs make use of Conj. II forms, especially in the мы and вы inflections. хотеть and есть have Conj. II forms throughout the plural. бежать uses Conj. II forms in the four inner inflections (ты, он, мы and вы). дать uses them only for the мы and вы forms. All of these Conj. II forms are ending-stressed.

 

Here is how I characterize these four irregular verbs:

хотеть uses Conj. I endings with shifting stress in the singular, and Conj. II with ending-stress in the plural.

 

есть appears to be constructed out of е- + (-м, -шь, and –ст) in the singular, and Conj. II endings with ending-stress in the plural. This special group of three singular endings appears again in дать.

 

бежать is a 1-4-1 pattern, with Conj. II in the inner four, and гу - гут as bookends. Compare this pattern with the verb мочь (I). бежать uses ending-stress throughout.

 

дать appears to be constructed out of да- + (-м, -шь, and –ст) in the singular. In the plural, the stem дад- appears with the first two Conj. II endings, and finally a Conj. I ending is used for the они form. Ending-stress is used wherever possible.

 

Note that хотеть, есть and бежать are imperfective, while дать is perfective.

 

Derivatives of these four irregular verbs are conjugated similarly.

 

Using Verbs of Motion - бежать

бежать is a unidirectional verb of motion; that is, it means to be running in a single direction toward a destination. It would NOT be used to mean a round trip, there and back (two directions).

 

For an example, see “Unidirectional Verbs of Motion ”, which is a subsequent lesson.