Present Tense II: Speak, Live, Love
You know the -ешь melody (знать, работать, читать). Russian's second and last verb family sings in -ишь — and it happens to contain the three verbs every learner needs most: speak, live, love.
The Second Melody
Same architecture, one vowel swapped: и where the first family has е. Two melodies cover nearly every verb in the language.
Speaking Languages
Я говорю по-русски. Вы говорите по-английски?
I speak Russian. Do you speak English?
Note: по-русски, по-английски — the по-…ски shape answers «как?» (how), not 'what'.
жить — To Live
Жить technically belongs to the first family, but the stress pulls its endings into ё:
Я живу в Москве.
I live in Moscow.
Note: The single most useful sentence for introducing yourself — and a preview of the prepositional case.
любить — To Love
Любить is an и-verb with one twist: the first person grows an л — я люблю́.
Я люблю читать.
I love reading.
Note: любить + infinitive covers hobbies, food, people: Я люблю чай. Я люблю тебя.
Common Mistakes
- Mixing the melodies. Ты говоре́шь doesn't exist — и-verbs keep и: говоришь.
- Говорить + language name. Not «я говорю русский» — it's по-русски.
- Skipping the л. Я любю is the classic slip. Люблю, always.
What You Can Do Now
You can say what languages you speak, where you live, and what you love doing — the three sentences every new acquaintance asks for, in either verb family.