Formation of the verbs "болеть/заболеть" in the present, future and past tenses

Hello, dear student! Today we talk about grammar and such verbs, which are become popular in the winter period, especially in Russia:

Болеть [Balet'] - to be ill/sick
Заболеть [Zabalet']- to get sick/ill

Я ненавижу болеть весной [Ya ninavizhu balet' visnoj] - I hate to be ill/sick in spring
Я заболела и не смогу прийти [Ya zabalela i ne smagu priti] - I got sick and can't/not able to come

Let's look at the way how we change these verbs in the present tense, i.e. time that takes place now:

Я болею - Мы болеем [Ya baleyu - My baleem] - I am sick- We are sick
Ты болеешь - Вы болеете [Ty baleesh - Vy baleete] - You are sick
Он/она болеет - Они болеют [On/Ana baleet - Ani baleyut] - He/she is sick - They are sick

All these examples are applied to imperfective verbs; it's important - we do not use them in perfective aspect in the present tense because according to the rule on verbs' aspects, we can use perfective verbs only in the past and future tenses. If you want to say:

Я сейчас сболею - it will be a mistake, don't do it!

If we look at these verbs in the past tense, we will see that they are changed depending on a verb's aspect:

For imperfective aspect:

Я, ты, он болел [ya, ty, on balel] - I, you, he was ill
Я, ты, она болела [ ya, ty, ana balela] - I, you, she was ill
Мы, вы, они болели [my, vy, ani baleli] - we, you, they were ill

For perfective aspect:

Я, ты, он заболел [ya, ty, on zabalel] - I, you, he got sick
Я, ты, она заболела [ya, ty,ana zabalela] - I, you, she got sick
Мы, вы, они заболели [my, vy, ani zabaleli] - We, you, they got sick

Таня болела всего три дня [Tanya balela fsivo tri dnya] - Tanya was ill for only three days
Андрей заболел гриппом на прошлой неделе [Andrej zabalel gripam na proshlaj nidele] - Andrey got sick last week

Now let's look at the future tense:

For imperfective aspect:

Я буду болеть [ya budu balet'] - I will be ill
Ты будешь болеть [ty budish balet'] - you will be ill
Он/она будет болеть [on/ana budit balet'] - he/she will be ill
Мы будем болеть [my budim balet'] - we will be ill
Вы будете болеть [vy budite balet'] - you will be ill (plural)
Они будут болеть [ani budut balet'] - they will be ill

For perfective aspect:

Я заболею [ya zabaleyu] - I will be ill
Ты заболеешь [ty zabaleesh] - you will be ill
Он/она заболеет [on/ana zabaleet] - he/she will be ill
Мы заболеем [my zabaleem] - we will be ill
Вы заболеете [vy zabaleete] - you will be ill (plural)
Они заболеют [ani zabaleyut] - they will be ill

Along with tenses, our verbs "болеть/заболеть" change their form, when we use them in imperative mood of imperfective and perfective aspects, for example:

- Дорогая Лена, не болей! [Daragaya Lena, ni balej!] - Dear Lena, get well!
Сынок, не бегай по лужам, заболеешь! [Synok, ni begaj pa luzham, zabaleesh!] - Son, don't run on puddles, you will get sick/ill!