The mood is one of a set of distinctive verb forms that are used to express modality. There are 3 moods in Russian: the Indicative, Subjunctive and Imperative.

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Indicative	Subjunctive	Imperative
The verb expresses real actions in the present, past or future tense.	The verb names a conditional action that could have happened (could happen) under certain circumstances.	The verb expresses an order, incentive, request,warning or advice.

 

The Indicative mood

 

Russian verbs have 3 tenses. In the present and future tense they're modified by person and number categories, in the past tense by number and gender. There are singular and plural verb forms. This simple explanation basically summerizes the description of the indicative mood. So you use the indicative mood (in Russian изъявительное наклонение) to name actions that happened in the past, are going on now or will happen in the future. Let's look at some examples: говорить (to say):

 

Tense	Singular	Plural
Present	я говорю, ты говоришь, он/она/оно говорит	мы говорим, они говорят, вы говорите	changes by number and person
Future	я буду,ты будешь, он/она/оно будет говорить	мы будем, они будут, вы будете говорить
Past	я/ты/он говорил, она говорила, оно говорило	мы/они/вы говорили	changes by number and gender

 

Let's take a few examples and see how russian verbs are modified by tense and person. Verb endings help you indicate person, number and gender of the verb depending on the tense:

Present Tense:

Мужчина читает газету. The man is reading a newspaper. (singular, 3rd person)

Past Tense:

Мужчина читал газету. The man was reading a newspaper. (singular, masculine, 3rd person)

Future Tense:

Мужчина будет читать газету. The man will be reading a newspaper. (singular, 3rd person)

Let's take a few examples and see how russian verbs are modified by person:

The 1st person (normally the speaker):

Я работаю на заводе. В выходные я с друзьями езжу на дачу и устраиваю пикник.

I work at a factory. On weekends I and my friens go to my dacha (summer house) and have picnics.

The 2nd person:

Ты приходишь с работы и готовишь ужин каждый день.

You come from work and make dinner every day.

The 3rd person:

Он играет в соседней комнате. He pays in the next room.

Spelling rules

Singular verbs in the 2nd person spell with Ь : ты говоришь(you talk), ты работаешь (you work), ты одеваешься (you get dressed)