Russian Dictionary

просить

verb [imperfective]

/prosit'/

1.

ask

They're asking for help.

She's asking us to help her.

Sometimes it's hard to ask for forgiveness.

No one asked you to give advice.

She has never asked us for anything.

2.

request

Они просят, чтобы мы перезвонили им.

They are requesting that we call them back.

They requested information about the product.

They didn't request permission to leave.

We request that everyone remain in their seats.

Present Tense

Япрошу
Тыпросишь
Он / Она / Онопросит
Мыпросим
Выпросите
Онипросят

Future Tense

Ябуду просить
Тыбудешь просить
Он / Она / Онобудет просить
Мыбудем просить
Выбудете просить
Онибудут просить

Past Tense

Masculineпросил
Feminineпросила
Neuterпросило
Pluralпросили

Real-life examples for просить

These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content that does not reflect our opinions or policies.

Он никогда ни у кого ничего не просил, не ходил по издательствам со своими текстами, не пытался «оставить след».

He never asked anyone for anything, did not go to publishers with his texts, did not try to "leave a mark."

Анализы не показывали никаких воспалительных процессов — вероятно, так накаленная до предела нервная система просила отдыха.

The tests did not show any inflammatory processes, probably because the nervous system, which was so tense to the limit, was asking for rest.

Английские послы просили права свободного прохода в Персию и Китай, но однозначного ответа от царя не получили.

The English ambassadors asked for the right of free passage to Persia and China, but they did not receive a clear answer from the tsar.

Wikipedia

"Мы просим генпрокурора принять участие в специальном заседании, чтобы представители прокуратуры могли представить отчет о результатах этих проверок", — сказал Федотов.

"We are asking the Prosecutor General to take part in a special meeting so that representatives of the prosecutor's office can submit a report on the results of these inspections," Fedotov said.

RIA Novosti

Summary

  • Просить is an imperfective Russian verb that can mean "ask" or "request".
  • It's followed by a person in the accusative + infinitive when asking someone to do something.
  • When asking someone to give you something, we use у + genitive for the person we're asking or requesting something from.
  • The thing we're asking for doesn't take a preposition — it's simply put in the accusative (for concrete objects) or genitive (for abstract things).
  • Sometimes просить is followed by a person in the accusative and о + prepositional, with the focus on the topic or type of help.