Ways to say it
| Russian | Romanization (Wiktionary) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| купи́ть | kupítʹ | perfective |
| покупа́ть | pokupátʹ | imperfective |
The verb is used to describe the act of obtaining something with money.
Which one should you use?
Russian uses two different forms depending on the nature of the action. Use the imperfective form покупа́ть for habitual actions or ongoing processes of buying. Use the perfective form купи́ть for a single, completed purchase or a specific result.
How does it change in a sentence?
The perfective form купи́ть changes according to tense and gender. In the past tense, the masculine singular is купи́л and the feminine singular is купи́ла. In the future tense, the third person singular is купи́т.
How do you pronounce it?
kupítʹ
What mistakes should you avoid?
Avoid using the imperfective покупа́ть when you want to express that a specific purchase was completed. In those cases, you must use the perfective купи́ть.
Did you know?
- A common Russian idiom involves the phrase купи́ть кота в мешке, which literally means 'to buy a cat in a bag' and is the equivalent of the English 'buying a pig in a poke'.
- The Russian language distinguishes between 'buying' купи́ть and 'acquiring' приобрести́, with the latter used for more significant or permanent assets like real estate.
- While купи́ть means 'to buy', the root куп- appears in the word ку́пец, which refers to a traditional merchant or trader from the pre-revolutionary era.
Example sentences for Russian are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “buy” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
