The l-form cannot be used just by itself, but is used to form other tenses, one of which is the l-past. To form the l-form of a verb that ends in -e in the dictionary, you need to know whether the verb is imperfective or perfective. Imperfective verbs do not undergo a change before adding one of the endings below to the dictionary form. Perfective verbs fall in several groups, the most numerous of which was shown in the L-form (E-verbs) tutorial. As you may recall, that group of verbs undergoes a change of the final vowel of the dictionary form (e) to a before the endings below are added.
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- if the subject is masculine, add -л,
- if the subject is feminine, add -ла,
- if the subject is neuter, add -ло,
- if the subject is plural, add -ле.
In this tutorial, you learn about 10 more groups of verbs that do not follow the above pattern. Some of these verbs are very frequently used, such as the verbs биде 'to be' and рече 'say,' for example. While it may seem daunting to learn this many different patterns of making l-forms at one time, rest assured that as you continue working with the l-forms in context, the repetition of the most frequently used ones will help you remember them. At this point, you should aim to just become familiar with them.