46) Образовние
Run: there and back again
Russian verbs of motion come in two varieties:
- a one-way, specific verb (like идти́→). They're used for one-way trips strictly to/from some goal (usually a single instance)
- a multi-directional verb (like ходи́ть⇆)
Multi-directional verbs ⇆↝
They can express three different things:
- repeated trips: «Я хожу́ в школу»
- a round trip: «Где ты была?»—«Ходи́ла в магази́н».
- moving with no goal or referring the action/trip in general: «Моя́ до́чка уже́ хо́дит».
From a practical point of view, a one-way verb is virtually always a Continuous tense in English, while a multidirectional verb corresponds with a Simple tense or the Present Perfect (a trip happened→"I've been there - and come back"). Or to a Continuous tense when it is a random movement.
- Pay attention to бежа́ть (to run→), which is an irregular verb (though, only a little bit).
Pairs (→ / ⇆)
- идти́ / ходи́ть – movement on foot or within a city; also OK when talking about a public transportation route
- е́хать / е́здить – movement by vehicle on land, also a generic verb for travelling to other countries.
- лете́ть / лета́ть – "to fly", to move though air
- плы́ть / пла́вать – "to swim", to move by water
- нести́ / носи́ть – "to carry" an object, on foot
- везти́ / вози́ть – "to carry" a person/object, by some means of transportation
- вести́ / води́ть – to "lead" a person, on foot (also about roads and about "driving" a vehicle)
Up to 14 or 18 verbs of motion are found in Russian, though we only teach 3 to 5 common ones.
Waaait, what about perfectives?
To make a perfective (specific!) verb, add a prefix «по-» to a one-way verb (идти́→пойти́). It gives a perfective with an implied focus on the initial point ("setting out").
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other prefixes add their meaning; to get an imperfective verb, attach the same prefix to a multi-directional verb (уйти/уходи́ть, уе́хать/уезжа́ть, прилете́ть/прилета́ть etc.) Pay attention to «-езжать».
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With "по-" the imperfective meaning differs (a rather typical shade "to perform an action for some time")