Verbs of motion: The Present
The main difficulty concerning the verbs of motion in Russian is that they exist in pairs: each verb has two forms, habitual and actual. Here are some examples of such verbs :
ездить / ехать (на машине, на автобусе и т.д.) = to go ( by car , by bus etc .)
ходить / идти ( пешком ) = to go (on foot)
летать / лететь (на самолете и т.д.) = to fly ( by plane etc .)
Look carefully at the following examples with ездить and ехать:
Каждое утро я езжу на работу. = Every morning I go to work.
Сейчас я еду на работу. = I’m going to work now.
As you can see, in the Present «ездить» is used for repeated (habitual) actions, while «ехать» is used for actions that are happening now.
Another example is ходить ( habitual ) / идти ( actual ):
Игорь ходит в бассейн два раза в неделю. = Igor goes to the swimming pool twice a week.
Куда идет Игорь ? = Where’s Igor going?
Actual verbs ( ехать , идти , лететь ) can also be used to talk about things that will definitely happen in the future (plans):
Завтра мы едем в Москву. = We’re going to Moscow tomorrow.
В понедельник я лечу на Аляску. = On Monday I’m flying to Alaska .
Вечером мы идем в кино. = This evening we’re going to the cinema.
Exercises: