Verbs of Going: Unidirectional and Multidirectional (идти vs ходить). Present Tense forms of идти, ходить, ехать, ездить). Past Tense of Going Verbs. Introduction

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Grammar Lesson 33

Verbs of Going: Unidirectional and Multidirectional (идти vs ходить). Present Tense forms of идти, ходить, ехать, ездить). Past Tense of Going Verbs. Introduction

Russian grammar and vocabulary. Unit 8
Grammar Lesson 33 Verbs of Going: Unidirectional and Multidirectional (идти vs ходить). Present Tense forms of идти, ходить, ехать, ездить). Past Tense of Going Verbs. Introduction
Grammar Lesson 34 Uses of the Dative Case: Subjectless Expressions with Dative. Expressing Necessity, possibility and permission. Expressing Age
Grammar Lesson 35 Expressing Likes and Dislikes: verbs нравиться and любить
Phrasebook Topic 18 Shopping for Gifts

Грамматика Verbs of Going: идти vs ходить

Unidirectional and Multidirectional Verbs of Motion: идти vs ходить

In in addition to going by foot vs vehicle distinction, Russian distinguishes between going in one direction or setting out (я иду; я еду) and making trips back and forth (я хожу; я езжу).

Verbs идти and ехать are called unidirectional. Verbs ходить and ездить are called multidirectional. With adverbs telling how often trips are made (часто - often, редко - rarely, обычно - usually, каждый день - every day, etc.) the multidirectional verbs (ходить, ездить) are used.

verbs идти, ехать are used for: going in one direction setting out (often with time indicated)
Он идёт в библиотеку.	Он едет в библиотеку.
He is going (by foot) to the library (he is on his way).	He is going (driving) to the library (he is on his way).
Он идёт в библиотеку сегодня вечером.	Он едет в библиотеку завтра в 11 часов.
He is going (by foot) to the library (he is on his way).	He is going (driving) to the library tomorrow at 11.

verbs ходить, ездить are used for: making return trips; going back and forth walking/driving around (without particular direction)
Он ходит в библиотеку каждый день.	Он ездит в библиотеку каждый день.
He goes (by foot) to the library every day.	He goes (drives) to the library every day.
Утром мы ходили по музею.	Вчера мы ездили по городу.
In the morning we were walking around the museum.	Yesterday we were driving around the town.

Key Words

With the adverbs and expressions telling how often trips are made only ходить (for walking) and ездить (for travelling by vehicle) verbs are used. The most common such adverbs and expressions are listed below:

часто - often

редко - rarely

обычно - usually

иногда - sometimes

всегда - always

каждый день - every day

Examples:

Я каждый день хожу на работу. - I walk to work every day.

Мой друг редко ездит на работу на автобусе, обычно он ездит на машине. - My friend rarely takes a bus to get to work, usually he drives.

Обычно мы ездим в магазин на машине, но иногда ходим пешком. - Usually we drive to the store, but sometimes walk.

Forms of Going Verbs (Present Tense)

You have learned earlier the present tense forms of unidirectional verbs идти and ехать. These forms are provided below for review. The verbs of multidirectional verbs ходить and ездить are new for you. Memorize them:

	Unidirectional verbs		Multidirectional verbs
Infinitive	идти	ехать	ходить	ездить
я - I ты - you он, она - he,she мы - we вы - you они - they	ид-у ид-ёшь ид-ёт ид-ём ид-ёте ид-ут	ед-у ед-ешь ед-ет ед-ем ед-ете ед-ут	хож-у ход-ишь ход-ит ход-им ход-ите ход-ят	езж-у езд-ишь езд-ит езд-им езд-ите езд-ят

Notes

Note that идти and ехать are first conjugation verbs, but ходить and ездить are second conjugation verbs.
Also note how stem changes in the я-form of ходить and ездить (д -> ж).
The ходить verb has shifted stress. The stress in on the ending in the я-form, and on the stem in all other present tense forms.

Past Tense of Going Verbs. Introduction

The Russian concept of "going" in the past tense is complicated. For the time being, use ходил (m.), ходила (f.), ходили (pl.), which means to have made a round trip on foot and ездил (m.), ездила (f.), ездили (pl.) which means to have made a round trip by vehicle. Examples:

Утром мы ходили по музею. - In the morning we were walking around the museum.

Вчера мы ездили по городу. - Yesterday we were driving around the town.

Летом Таня ездила в Европу. - In the summer Tanya went to Europe.

Вчера Андрей ходил в кино. - Yesterday Andrew went to the movie theater.

There is more to saying "go" in Russian in terms of habitualness, which we discuss later.

Exercises Упражнения

Unidirectional or Multidirectional verb?
Choose between идти and ходить.
Choose between ехать and ездить.

Reading Чтение

Текст

I. Read the text and translate it into English.

Маша обычно ездит на работу на автобусе, а Иван ездит на машине.

Их дети Оля и Света ходят в школу пешком, потому что школа недалеко от дома. Каждую субботу они ездят в бассейн. В воскресенье они часто ходят гулять в парк. Вчера они вместе ездили в театр.

II. Write your translation on paper and check with the

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