In Russian there are two words that can be used to express “I am going”. The first indicates you are going on foot, the second indicates that you are going by some form of transport. Both these words are verbs of motion, and are grammatically quite complex, but as these words are so important for basic Russian, we will introduce them now in a simple way. A more detailed lesson on verbs of motion will follow at a later stage

Each of these 2 verbs (and all verbs of motion) come in pairs. The first indicates ‘to go in one direction’, the second indicates ‘to go in more than one direction’ or to ‘go somewher repetitively’. You will notice from the examples that this often relates to when you use 'going' or 'go' in English. So to express ‘to go’ in Russian, there are actually four ways:

Идти - To go on foot, in one direction.

(Я иду, Ты идёшь, Он идёт, Мы идём, Вы идёте, Они идут)

 

Я иду в школу - I am going to school.

Я иду в кино - I am going to the cinema.

Ты идёшь в кино? - Are you going to the cinema?

Он идёт в гостиницу - He is going to the hotel.

Мы идём в кафе - We are going to the cafe.

я иду в университет - I am going to the university

 

Ходить - To go on foot, in more than one direction, or repetitively.

(Я хожу, Ты ходишь, Он ходит, Мы ходим, Вы ходите, Они ходят )

 

Я хожу в школу - I go to school.

Я часто хожу в кино - I often go to the cinema

Мы ходим в кафе каждый день - We go to the cafe every day.

 

Ехать - To go by transport, in one direction.

(Я еду, Ты едешь, Он едет, Мы едем, Вы едете, Они едут )

 

Я еду в школу - I am going to school. (by transport)

Я еду в кино на метро - I am going to the cinema on the metro.

Он едет в гостиницу на такси - He is going to the hotel by taxi.

Мы едем в кафе - We are going to the cafe. (by transport)

Он едет в Лондон - He is going to London

 

Ездить - To go by transport, in more than one direction, or repetitively

(Я езжу, Ты ездишь , Он ездит , Мы ездим, Вы ездите, Они ездят)

 

Он часто ездит в Лондон - He often goes to London

Я езжу в театр каждый день - I go to the theatre every day.

Они часто ездят в Амстердам - They often go to Amsterdam