The concept behind prefixes & verbs in the Russian language?

Question

I recently finished the whole concept behind the verbs of motion in the Russian language. Putting a different prefix in front of the verb changes the meaning so to speak. по в / вы под / от при / у с / рас про / пере за / обо доSo in the past I learned of course other verbs like `read`, `drink` and `eat` for example. I hadn’t understood why they would have different prefixes and what this would mean. So I just wrote them in my textbook and used them.Now I’m aware of mostly all this prefixes I think yet I’m really doleful about the fact that I mostly have to learn every verb from the beginning right? Anyway, I’m struggling here right now. I notice more and more verbs from day to day which have the same stem but a different prefix.In the past I would only now `пить` for `to drink` and I have to learn the same verb with each of these prefixes. This fact really removes energy from me and I would like to know what is the best practice to learn all those other verbs, besides the verbs of motions, with all the prefixes?I learned that `to drink up` would be `выпивать / выпить`. From the prefix `вы-` I could conclude logically that is means something like `to go out / out`, so therefore it can be `drink something up`. попить впить / выпить подпить / отпить припить / упить спить / распить пропить / перепить запить / обопить допитьHow is one supposed to learn all the meanings?

Answer 1

Don't let yourself get overwhelmed with prefixes, they actually make life easier! Russian as a third as many words as English, those prefixes just provide the shades of meaning that English has separate words for.

First off, not every prefix goes with every verb. And, not every prefixed verb is in common use in the spoken language. Keep in mind that the essential meaning of any verb that has the root of "пить" is going to be "to drink." But, that the prefixes just change the meaning slightly. You see it as having to relearn the verbs from scratch, but really you are just recognizing that the prefix changes the meaning slightly.