When speaking of actions which involve motion, either with or without some form of transport, Russian uses a system of verbs commonly referred to as the "verbs of motion". These verbs are grouped in a way unique from other verbs and, in many respects, follow their own logic and system in terms of usage. The following is a very brief and schematic explanation of these verbs. For more detailed information, you should consult any of the handbooks on Russian grammar available.
There are 3 verbs which convey the message of simply "going":
These are:
ходить
идти
пойти
To best understand how these are used, study the examples below:
ходить (multi-directional, indeterminate)
| Дети ходят в школу. | The children go to school. (They make regular trips there and back.) |
| Дети ходят по парку. | The children are strolling about the park. (random motion, no goal) |
| Дети ходили в кино. | The children went to the movies. (They made one round trip, there and back.) |
| Ребёнок уже ходит. | The child is already walking. (He/she can perform the action.) |
Идти (uni-directional, determinate)
| Он идёт по улице. | He's going along the street. (action in progress, directed toward a goal) |
| Когда он шёл в магазин, он встретил своего друга. | While on his way to the store, he met his friend. (goal-directed action in progress, "intersected" by a secondary action) |
Пойти (setting out; future intent to go)
| Где ваша сестра? Она пошла в библиотеку. | Where's your sister? She's left for the library. |
| Завтра мы пойдём в музей. | Tomorrow we'll go to the museum. |
All these verbs simply convey the meaning of "going" and say nothing about HOW that action will be accomplished. If it is necessary to emphasize that you will be "walking", you need to add пешком after the verb.
For example:
| Утром дети идут в школу пешком. | Thre children walk to school in the morning. |
| Я люблю ходить пешком. | I like to walk |
| Они хотят пойти в музей пешком. | They want to walk to the museum. |
If you are emphasizing that you are using a form of transportation, you will use the following verbs:
ездить (for ходить) ехать (for идти) поехать (for пойти) and indicate, if you wish, the form of transport in the following manner:
на машине, на автобусе, на трамвае, на метро, etc.
For example:
Мы ездили туда на машине. | We went there by car. |
| Он любит ездить на метро. | He likes to take the metro. |
| Мы поедем в Москву на поезде. | We'll take the train to Moscow. |
Note:
Автобус (троллейбус, трамвай, поезд) ходит/идёт.
Машина ездит/едет.
For example:
Вот идёт наш автобус.
There goes our bus.
Вы не знаете, какой трамвай идёт до библиотеки?
Would you happen to know which bus goes to the library?
Смотрите! Вот едет машина президента!
Look! There goes the President's car!