rabotat

Rabotat is the transliteration often used in English-language text for the Russian infinitive работа́ть, meaning “to work.” The verb is central in Russian, used to express performing work, labor, or activity in a wide range of contexts from everyday routines to professional tasks.

In Russian,работать is imperfective, while its perfective pair is поработать. The present tense forms (imperfective) are: я работаю, ты работаешь, он работает, мы работаем, вы работаете, они работают. The past tense forms agree with gender and number: я работал/работала/работало/работали. The future tense of the imperfective is formed with auxiliary быть: буду работать, будешь работать, будет работать, будем работать, будете работать, будут работать. The perfective forms convey a completed amount of work: поработать → я поработаю, ты поработаешь, он поработает, мы поработаем, вы поработаете, они поработают. Imperatives are: работай (ты) и работайте (вы). Adverbial participles are: работая (present) and поработав (past).

Usage notes and common collocations include: работать над чем-то (to work on something), работать на кого/чего (to work as something or at a workplace), работать в команде, работать по контракту. The verb also appears in expressions like работать без перерыва or работать как часы. Related words include работа (the noun “work, job”) and рабочий/работник (worker).

Etymology traces the word to the Proto-Slavic root rabotъ meaning labor; cognates appear in other Slavic languages (for example, Ukrainian робота, Czech robot meaning labor). The root also underlies terms in many languages, contributing to the common semantic field of work and labor across the Cyrillic and Slavic lexicon.