Headword
Language Russian · aspect pair платить (imperfective) / заплатить (perfective) · уплатить and оплатить on this page, not separate entries
Payer, recipient, amount, consideration · shared inventory with English payGIVE · Russian cloth · working claim, revisable
Voice[PayerNOM] + ApplHAVE(RecipientDAT, MeasurePAmount) + за-AGAINSTConsideration
A payment has a payer, a recipient, an amount, and a thing the money is paid for. They are not four equal sisters of платить. Voice adds the payer, the nominative subject. The amount is the measuring object: accusative when it is a noun such as долги or взносы, and a numeral phrase when the dictionaries print a sum. Inside that phrase the unit is genitive (100 рублей, два миллиарда долларов). A low ApplHAVE is the working home of the recipient. Kuznetsov’s government of one sense is что (кому). Wiktionary’s Solzhenitsyn line has the dative ему. за selects the consideration, the thing paid for. Ushakov: Заплатить 100 рублей за книжный шкаф. English spells that role with for.
Where this frame leaves the English gloss pay. English pay Chris and pay him can put the person in the direct object. Russian puts that person in the dative. Kuznetsov prints кому beside что. Solzhenitsyn, as Wiktionary quotes him, has платили ему. There is no bare accusative of the person in the lines read, and there is no to-phrase. English pay the bill puts the bill in the direct object. That object is not the accusative of заплатить. The entries give заплатить an accusative of the money or the debt (100 рублей, долги, взносы), за plus accusative of the thing, or, on the imperfective and on уплатить, по plus dative of the account. Ozhegov’s match for the bill as object is a different lemma: оплатить счёт, government что, with no за in the examples О. работу, счёт and О. расходы по командировке. *заплатить счёт is the English bill-object with the wrong lemma. It is not in the entries opened.
The bill changes the lemma, and the account changes the preposition. On платить / заплатить the accusative is the money or the debt, and the thing paid for is за plus accusative. Ushakov also prints что или чем: наличными, золотом, Chekhov’s деньгами. That instrumental is the means, printed apart from the numeral. уплатить stays in this family. Ushakov: Уплатить долг. Уплатить за квартиру. По счету уплачено сполна. Ozhegov names уплатить as a perfective of sense 1 of платить, beside заплатить. оплатить does not. Its imperfective, in Ozhegov and in Wiktionary, is оплачивать. Its accusative is the work, the bill, the expenses, the losses, or the participation. A по-phrase inside расходы по командировке belongs to the noun, not to the account cloth по счету. A numeral unit price under по, such as по рублю, is unprinted.
Ozhegov, Ushakov, Kuznetsov, and Wiktionary do not put a named payer, a dative recipient, a numeral amount, and за plus the thing in one clause. Ushakov’s bookcase line has the amount and за книжный шкаф, and no recipient. Solzhenitsyn’s line has ему and the adverb меньше, and no за. The four-place string with Пат and Крис below is constructed from those pieces. It is not a dictionary line.
Printed · amount · за + the thing · no recipient
✓ Заплатить 100 рублей за книжный шкаф. Ushakov · заплатить sense 1
pay · 100 rubles · for a bookcase · рублей is genitive after 100
Printed · dative recipient · amount is the adverb меньше · no за
✓ где платили ему меньше Wiktionary · платить · Solzhenitsyn, «В круге первом» · the entry marks the quotation НКРЯ
where they paid · him.DAT · less
Printed · по + dative of the account · not the sum under the accusative
✓ Платить по счету. Ushakov · платить sense 2 · по governs счету
pay · on the account / the bill
Printed · other lemma · the bill is the accusative · no за
✓ О. работу, счёт. Ozhegov · оплатить · government что
pay · the work · the bill · accusative
| Place | Introduced by (working) | Russian marking | Case status | English marking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payer | Spec,Voice (outer) | nominative subject of платить / заплатить | structural · Ushakov prints Я заплатил · the bookcase line is an infinitive, with no nominative · Телекомпания NBC заплатила is a nominative in the Wiktionary quotation | subject of pay |
| Recipient | low ApplHAVE | dative (кому in Kuznetsov’s government; ему in Solzhenitsyn) | oblique dative · not the accusative object · optional: omitted in Заплатить 100 рублей за книжный шкаф and in П. долги · never a bare accusative of the person | direct object (pay Chris) · to |
| Amount | MeasureP, complement of the root (theme of eHAVE) | accusative noun (долги, взносы, налоги, зарплату) or a numeral phrase (100 рублей, 500 руб., два миллиарда долларов) | the measuring object of платить / заплатить / уплатить · рублей and долларов after the numeral are genitive of the unit inside the phrase, not a second case of the verb · Gogol’s денег не плотит is genitive of the money under не · instrumental чем is a different cloth | direct object of the money · pay twenty dollars |
| Consideration | за selects AGAINST on the same event | за + accusative (за книжный шкаф, за покупку, за квартиру, за право трансляции) | PP · one phrase · not a second object · not the bill-object of оплатить | for + DP |
Marking map. One letter can belong to several heads. Read the head, then the marker.
Each row lines up one English slot with its Russian slot. The alignment type says what happens to the slot: = (same status), or shift (a bare object or a preposition moves to a case or to another lemma). Printed dictionary lines come first. The four-place string, the bare accusative of the person, and the bare accusative of the bill are constructed. They show the working alignment. They are not a bilingual corpus.
| Slot | EN form | RU form | Align | EN example | RU example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payer | SUBJ of pay | nominative of платить / заплатить | = | I paid. | Я заплатил Ushakov · я заплатил Wiktionary · Khutornoy |
| Amount (noun) | OBJ of the money or the debt | accusative · что | = | pay the debts · pay the taxes | долги Ozhegov · налоги Ushakov · Aksenov |
| Amount (numeral) | OBJ MeasureP | numeral phrase · unit in the genitive | = one measure · the genitive is inside the phrase | 100 rubles · two billion dollars | 100 рублей Ushakov · два миллиарда долларов Wiktionary · НКРЯ |
| Recipient | OBJ of the person, or to | dative | shift · the person is not a direct object | pay him | ему Solzhenitsyn · Wiktionary · government кому Kuznetsov |
| Consideration | for + DP | за + accusative | = oblique · PP, not a second object | for a bookcase | за книжный шкаф Ushakov |
| Account | pay the bill / on the account | по + dative | shift · not the accusative of заплатить | pay on the account | по счету Ushakov |
| Bill | OBJ the bill | accusative of оплатить, not of заплатить | shift · another lemma · no за in Ozhegov’s examples | pay the bill | О. счёт Ozhegov · * заплатить счёт constructed |
| Four places | DOC or to, plus the sum, plus for | dative + numeral + за | shift on the person · the stack is unprinted | Pat paid Chris 100 rubles for a bookcase. | Пат заплатил Крису 100 рублей за книжный шкаф. constructed |
The strip below is a set of small multiples. Each card holds one frame, with English on top and Russian under it. A person on платить / заплатить sits in the dative. The amount is the measuring object. The thing paid for, when it is not the object of оплатить, sits in за.
EN · RU · printed за
Pay 100 rubles for a bookcase.
Заплатить 100 рублей за книжный шкаф.
RU · Ushakov · amount · за+accusative · no recipient · рублей is genitive after 100
Agree English for → за · the recipient is omitted, and the omission is printed
EN · RU · printed dative
where they paid him less
где платили ему меньше
RU · Wiktionary · Solzhenitsyn · НКРЯ · dative recipient · no numeral · no за · the English line is a gloss of that clause
Move English him as object → dative · not a second accusative
EN · RU · printed по
Pay on the account.
Платить по счету.
RU · Ushakov · по+dative of the account · not за книжный шкаф · not оплатить счёт
Move по+dative is the account · the bill is not the accusative of this verb
EN · RU · printed оплатить
Pay the bill.
О. работу, счёт.
RU · Ozhegov · оплатить · accusative of the work and the bill · no за · imperfective оплачивать
Move another lemma · English pay the bill → accusative of оплатить · not *заплатить счёт
EN · RU · four places
Pat paid Chris 100 rubles for a bookcase.
Пат заплатил Крису 100 рублей за книжный шкаф.
constructed · dative of Kuznetsov’s кому and Solzhenitsyn’s ему · 100 рублей за книжный шкаф from Ushakov · the names are not a dictionary line · no printed clause stacks the three
Move dative recipient · one measure · за on the thing · no English double object
EN · RU · no accusative of the bill
Pat paid the bill.
* Пат заплатил счёт.
constructed · English bill-object on заплатить · the printed bill-object is оплатить счёт · the printed account is по счету
Move the bill does not sit as the accusative of заплатить
Argument difference. English can put the person in the direct object (pay Chris) and can put the bill in the direct object (pay the bill). The money is also a direct object (pay 100 rubles), and the thing is for. Russian платить / заплатить prints the money or the debt as the accusative, the person as a dative when a line names one, and the thing in за. The bill as a bare accusative is оплатить счёт. The account is по счету. Polish płacić / zapłacić keeps one accusative for the money and za for the leftover goods, on that one pair. It does not file a second lemma whose accusative is the bill. Russian does: оплатить takes работу and счёт, and Ozhegov prints no за on those examples. See payGIVE and pay · Polish.
Dictionary frames and lines · checked · quoted as printed
несов. 1. что. Отдавать деньги в возмещение чего-н. П. за покупку. П. долги. · сов. заплатить … и уплатить … (к 1 знач.) Ozhegov · платить sense 1 · за and the accusative are separate examples · no dative · no numeral
что или чем за кого-что. · Платить за квартиру. Платить долги. Платить по счету. Ushakov · платить · the numeral за-line is on the perfective article: Заплатить 100 рублей за книжный шкаф
что (кому). · П. зарплату. П. пенсию. · З. взносы. З. долг. · Платиться, -ится; страд. Kuznetsov · the dative is the government label · the passive label has no money sentence
где платили ему меньше Wiktionary · Solzhenitsyn · НКРЯ · dative · no за
Процентов с этой суммы ему не платят, а если и заплатят кое-когда, то с большими церемониями. Он готов был уплатить любые деньги, чтобы только узнать правду. Babenko · Большой толковый словарь русских глаголов · Gramota · dative ему · genitive процентов under не · с+genitive of the sum · then accusative любые деньги of уплатить · no за
денег не плотит Wiktionary · Gogol, «Ревизор», 1835 · genitive of the money under не · no recipient
За предварительную консультацию я заплатил 500 руб. Wiktionary · заплатить · Khutornoy · НКРЯ · за · amount · nominative я · no dative
О. работу, счёт. О. расходы по командировке. Ozhegov · оплатить · accusative · no за
Уплатить долг. Уплатить за квартиру. По счету уплачено сполна. Ushakov · уплатить · accusative, or за, or по+dative
The strings in the stack are constructed, except where a tag says the line is printed. Пат / Крис continue the names on English payGIVE. 100 рублей за книжный шкаф are Ushakov’s words. Крису is the dative shape of Kuznetsov’s кому and of Solzhenitsyn’s ему. No dictionary line contains the three together. заплатить за счёт applies the printed за+accusative government to счёт. That string is not in the entries opened. It is not the preposition за счёт plus genitive, which Efremova files as its own headword (“at the expense of”). счёта would be that genitive. счёт after за is accusative.
✓ Пат заплатил Крису 100 рублей за книжный шкаф.
constructed · nominative payer · dative recipient · one measure · за on the thing · not a dictionary line
✓ Заплатить 100 рублей за книжный шкаф.
Ushakov · the dative is absent · the absence is printed · рублей stays inside the measure
✓ где платили ему меньше
Wiktionary · Solzhenitsyn · dative · no numeral · no за
✓ О. работу, счёт.
Ozhegov · оплатить · accusative of the thing paid for · no за
✓ Платить по счету.
Ushakov · по+dative · Wiktionary’s phrase is платить по счёту · not a bare accusative счёт
* Пат заплатил счёт.
constructed · English pay the bill on заплатить · the bill is оплатить счёт or по счету
* Пат заплатил Криса.
constructed · English pay Chris · the person is Крису / ему
The dative, за, по, and the accusative of оплатить are markings on participants the dictionaries already name. They do not add a fifth place. Nothing in заплатить separates. The prefix за- stays on the verb. It is not the preposition за. There is no preverbal Focus host of the Hungarian kind on this verb.
The recipient is dative, and the dative is optional. Kuznetsov prints кому in the government что (кому). Solzhenitsyn prints ему. Заплатить 100 рублей за книжный шкаф and П. долги omit the recipient, and those omissions are printed. A question for the recipient, and a question for the amount, are unprinted. No сколько is added.
100 рублей is one measure phrase. 100 and рублей compose inside the object. рублей is the genitive of the unit after the numeral. Orthography is not extra arity. There is no further argument “currency name.” The same point is on продать, where за сто рублей is one phrase and рублей is genitive after the numeral. Here the measure is the amount, not a price under за. за holds the bookcase. по счету does not contain that numeral. It names the account, in the dative, under по. A numeral unit price under по is unprinted, so this page does not invent по рублю as a citation.
оплатить takes the thing English puts in pay the bill. Ozhegov’s счёт and работу are accusative, and the entry does not print за. Wiktionary’s убытки and участие are the same object type. уплатить does not join that lemma. It prints долг, за квартиру, and по счету. English pay the bill therefore matches оплатить счёт, or the account cloth платить по счету / По счету уплачено. It does not match a bare accusative счёт on заплатить.
The amount under не is genitive in the lines that negate it. Gogol’s денег не плотит has the genitive and no recipient. Babenko’s Процентов с этой суммы ему не платят has the genitive and keeps ему in the dative. The recipient is not the phrase that changes case. Polish zapłacić rewrites the money to the genitive under nie in constructed frames, because that page has no printed płacić clause. The Russian genitives are the Gogol quotation and the Babenko quotation. An accusative under не is not rejected here. Aksenov’s платил налоги is affirmative. No negative accusative of налоги was in the entries opened.
Платиться does not promote the recipient. Kuznetsov’s label leaves the passive as a form note, with no sum and no person-subject. По счету уплачено сполна promotes nothing but the account phrase. English Chris was paid twenty dollars makes the recipient the subject. That promotion is unprinted.
Aspect labels. платить / заплатить, and Ozhegov’s уплатить beside them, and оплачивать / оплатить, are the pairs the dictionaries print. These are the dictionaries’ aspect labels. They are not a claim about an endpoint.
A causative is a separate outer event. It is not a place of платить. The revisable note is Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note. No causative sentence is constructed here.
Each sketch is a working drawing, not a locked analysis. The point is one measuring object, the money, a dative recipient that several printed lines omit, a consideration inside за, and a different preposition по for the account. On оплатить the accusative is the bill or the work, and за is unprinted. Which theta role is the object in this low ApplHAVE domain is the revisable note Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note.
Printed nominative · the bookcase line leaves this nominative unprinted
[VoiceP я Voice ← Payer = Spec,Voice · nominative … inner layers … заплатил ]
✓ Я заплатил все долги своего брата. Ushakov · nominative я · accusative долги
✓ Телекомпания NBC заплатила два миллиарда долларов за право трансляции. Wiktionary · НКРЯ · nominative · measure · за · no dative
The payer of заплатить is the external argument. По счету уплачено сполна does not print one. Платиться, on the passive label, does not print a recipient-subject.
One recipient · morphological dative · not a second object · optional
[VoiceP Пат Voice
[ApplP_LOW Крису Appl_HAVE ← Recipient · dative · HAS the amount
[VP √плат-
[ MeasureP 100 рублей ] ] ← Amount · accusative object or numeral phrase
[PP за [ книжный шкаф ]]]] ← Consideration · за+accusative · AGAINST · outside that object
Solzhenitsyn prints ему and no price-like за. Ushakov prints 100 рублей за книжный шкаф and no recipient. The tree that holds all four is the constructed packaging. *Пат заплатил Криса puts the person in the English bare-object slot. That slot is empty here. The recipient comes to have the amount. The bookcase is not what the recipient comes to have. That have-the-goods reading is продать, where за is the price and the accusative is the goods.
✓ где платили ему меньше Wiktionary · Solzhenitsyn · dative under the imperfective · no за
* Пат заплатил Криса. constructed · no accusative of the person
One amount · two oblique cloths beside it · neither oblique is a second object
[ MeasureP [ Amount 100 ] [ N рублей ] ] ← Ushakov · заплатить … за книжный шкаф
рублей = genitive of the unit after 100 · inside the phrase
за [ DP книжный шкаф ] ← accusative · consideration · not the measure
по [ DP счету ] ← dative · the account · Ushakov
a numeral по рублю is unprinted
чем [ наличными / золотом / деньгами ] ← instrumental means · printed apart from 100 рублей
✓ Заплатить 100 рублей за книжный шкаф. Ushakov · the measure is the object · за is on the bookcase
✓ Платить по счету. Ushakov · по+dative · not the sum
✓ деньгами платить Ushakov · Chekhov · instrumental · not stacked with a numeral
100 рублей = one MeasureP. n and the unit compose inside that phrase. The verb takes the phrase as its measuring object. Composition is not a second object “rubles” beside “100”. за книжный шкаф is not a second MeasureP. It is the consideration. по счету is not a second MeasureP either. The two oblique cloths are printed apart from each other. Polish za on zapłacić is the same consideration preposition. Russian adds по plus dative for the account, which that Polish page does not file.
Related lemma · the thing paid for is the object · printed
[VoiceP дирекция Voice ← payer = subject of оплатить
[VP √оплат-
[ Theme счёт / работу / участие ]]] ← accusative · Ozhegov, Wiktionary
no за in those lines
по командировке sits inside расходы, not as по счету
✓ О. работу, счёт. О. расходы по командировке. Ozhegov · no за
✓ моё участие … оплатила дирекция института Wiktionary · НКРЯ · accusative участие · nominative дирекция
✓ оплатить убытки Wiktionary · accusative · no за
The accusative of заплатить is the money or the debt. The accusative of оплатить can be the bill. English uses one verb pay for both objects. Russian changes the lemma. уплатить does not make that change: Ushakov still prints за квартиру and по счету beside an accusative долг.
Pat paid Chris 100 rubles for a bookcase · working, parallel to English payGIVE
[VoiceP Pat Voice ← Payer
[ApplP_LOW Chris Appl_HAVE ← Recipient = bare object
[VP √PAY
[ MeasureP 100 rubles ] ← Amount
[PP for [ a bookcase ]]]] ← Consideration
English can also leave the person out and put the bill in the object: Pat paid the bill. That packaging is payBILL when the document is the accusative and the money is an instrument. Russian does not give заплатить that bill-object. It gives the bill-object to оплатить, with no instrumental sum in Ozhegov’s examples, and it gives the account to по plus dative. The person stays dative on платить. Polish uses a dative and za, and the accusative on that page is the money. Bulgarian плащам spells the recipient with на, and a full noun has no dative ending. German bezahlen spells a morphological dative and für.
| Layer | pay GIVE (EN) | платить / заплатить | оплатить |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spec,Voice | Payer | Payer · nominative | Payer · nominative · дирекция in the Wiktionary line |
| Recipient | bare object, or to | dative · optional · кому / ему | unprinted in the lines read |
| Case object | the money | the money or the debt · accusative, or a numeral phrase | the bill, the work, the expenses, the losses, the participation |
| Consideration | for | за + accusative | unprinted · Ozhegov’s gloss says за что-н. and the examples have no за |
| Account | pay the bill can be the object | по + dative · по счету | the bill itself is the accusative счёт |
On заплатить, the recipient comes to have the amount, and за книжный шкаф names what the money is paid for. On оплатить, the object is that thing, or the bill for it, and the amount is not in Ozhegov’s examples. English keeps both nearer one verb pay. Russian changes the lemma and the case together.
Working paper · October 2026 · Russian micro-entry · Beyond Index 2
Give-geometry pay in Russian: payer (Voice, nominative), recipient (dative; optional in the printed lines), amount (accusative, or a numeral phrase whose unit is genitive), and consideration (за plus accusative). по plus dative is the account, по счету, not that sum. A numeral unit price under по is unprinted. оплатить takes the bill or the work as a bare accusative and prints no за. уплатить keeps the debt, за, or по счету. платить and заплатить are an aspect pair. These are the dictionaries’ aspect labels. They are not a claim about an endpoint.
Same inventory as English payGIVE and Polish płacić: a payer, a recipient who has the amount, the amount, and a consideration. Not five places. Not four sisters of one V. A flat grid would predict two bare objects, or a person inside the accusative, or a bill as the accusative of заплатить, or one marker shared by the recipient and the account. Russian shows one measuring object, a dative the numeral lines omit, a consideration in за, an account in по, and a different lemma for the bill-object.
100 рублей = one MeasureP. See the MeasureP sketch. по счету is not that phrase with the preposition swapped. за книжный шкаф is not the measure.
What Russian changes, against the English gloss pay, is the cloth of the person and the lemma of the bill. The person is dative, not a direct object. The bill is оплатить счёт or по счету, not *заплатить счёт. The sum on заплатить is the measuring object, and the thing is за plus accusative, not a second bare object. What it does not change is the inventory. The amount is still one measure when it is 100 рублей. The recipient, when a line names one, still comes to have that amount. платить / заплатить are an aspect pair. That pair is not a fifth place. These are the dictionaries’ aspect labels. They are not a claim about an endpoint.
In the constructed Пат заплатил Крису 100 рублей за книжный шкаф, Chris comes to have the hundred rubles. That is give-geometry. The bookcase is the consideration. It is not the object that is transferred.
Dictionary frame: Ozhegov, Ushakov, and Kuznetsov’s Большой толковый словарь, headwords платить and заплатить, as Gufo prints them; Ozhegov, headword оплатить; Ushakov, headword уплатить; Russian Wiktionary, headwords платить, заплатить, and оплатить; Babenko’s Большой толковый словарь русских глаголов, as Gramota prints the article платить. Efremova’s article за счёт, as Gufo prints it, is the preposition plus genitive, kept apart from a constructed за+accusative счёт. Those entries print the aspect pair, accusative money or debt, кому / ему, Заплатить 100 рублей за книжный шкаф, Платить по счету, О. работу, счёт, Уплатить за квартиру, and Процентов с этой суммы ему не платят. They do not print a stacked dative-plus-numeral-plus-за clause, a numeral under по, or *заплатить счёт. Index 2 does not list платить. The Wiktionary quotations marked НКРЯ are Gogol, Grossman, Solzhenitsyn, Aksenov, Khutornoy, and the NBC line, as that entry prints them.
Series placement: Russian sense×language twin of English payGIVE, Polish płacić, and Bulgarian плащам. Records the dative recipient, the amount as the measuring object, за as the consideration, по as the account, and оплатить as the lemma that takes the bill. Does not reopen the causative-templates note.