Unprefixed Verbs of Motion overview
May. 2nd, 2003 10:44 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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learn_russianMy earlier post on comparatives seemed to go over well, so I thought I'd do another overview post on Russian verbs of motion (глаголы движения). The earlier caveats apply: I myself am only a student and, although having worked with these systems for some time now, may get things wrong myself. And again, if I am wrong, please correct!
To make use of this "lesson", you should already be able to: a) conjugate verbs, b) use the nominative, accusative, dative, and genetive cases, c) understand the aspect system of verbs.
Verbs of motion in Russian is a huge topic. This post will go over the mere basics, and will not attempt to explain everything fully - there are entire books that go over this topic alone. This post may give you a conceptual framework to help you understand when you go over it yourself in your own lessons/classes, but in of itself does not explain the entire system. Also, I was intending to talk about prefixed verbs a bit, but nearing the end I figured this was long enough, and will leave that to a different post.
Unprefixed verbs of motion
Unlike English, Russian has no catch-all equivalent of "to go" - instead, Russian verbs take into account your means of transportation:
The system идти/ходить/пойти covers motion under one's own power. For instance, trains and people walking will use this system. Бежать/бегать/побежать ("to run") is just like идти/ходить, but faster.
The system ехать/ездить/поехать is for motion by vehicle. For instance, riding in a car, on a bike, or on a bus uses these verbs.
лететь/летать/полететь covers motion through the air - when you're in a plane, you use this system.
плыть/плавать/поплыть is motion through water - swimming, sailing, etc.
There are many other systems (climbing, crawling, and so forth), but these listed above are some of the more common ones.
Aspectual aspects of verbs of motion
You will notice that instead of the normal two verbs - the perfective/imperfective pair - unprefixed verbs of motion (UVOM from now on) are given in triads. Instead of having merely a perfective and imperfective form, UVOM have two imperfective forms, because they're special.
The two imperfective forms of UVOM are the unidirectional and multidirectional forms. In all the above examples, I gave the uni first and the multi second, and then the perfective form (which is just по+uni form). The uni and multi forms are used differently. How I remember them is that the unidirectional form is the "more perfective" of them, and the multidirectional the "true imperfective" (that mneumonic is only a very, very rough guide. Grammatically, of course, they are both imperfective, and have a present tense).
The unidirectional form is for use with going one place, one time. It stresses the process and can often be translated as "on the way".
Когда я шлa домой, (что-то случилось) - While I was on the way home, (something happened).
Почему ты идёшь так медленно? - Why are you walking so slowly?
The multidirectional form is used for round trips, habitual actions, general action, and so forth.
Я ходила в магазин, покупала хлеб. - I went to the store and bought bread. (but now I'm back home)
Когда я хожу в магазин, обычно тебя вижу. - When I go to the store, I usually see you.
Destinations
Different types of destinations take different cases.
Motion towards an inanimate destination (a city, a building, a park, a street, etc) uses the preposition в/на + accusative.
в магазин - to the store
на почту - to the post office
Motion towards a person (or their house) is expressed with к + dative.
к иванy - to Ivan (or Ivan's place)
к нинe - to Nina (or Nina's house)
Motion away uses different prepositions and cases. I remember it like this:
виз-нас-кот
Where you go to using в, you return using из.
Where you go using на, you return with с.
Where you go using к, you return with от.
All motion away uses the genetive.
Some fun, exciting examples:
в магазин - из магазина
на почту - с почты
к Нине - от Нины
Aren't UVOM fun!
Prefixed verbs of motion add semantic nuances to the motion - for example, going around, crossing over, and stopping by a place would all more commonly use prefixed verbs. But prefixed verbs are an entirely different, complex topic that warrents its own long, verbose post. So I will end here.
To make use of this "lesson", you should already be able to: a) conjugate verbs, b) use the nominative, accusative, dative, and genetive cases, c) understand the aspect system of verbs.
Verbs of motion in Russian is a huge topic. This post will go over the mere basics, and will not attempt to explain everything fully - there are entire books that go over this topic alone. This post may give you a conceptual framework to help you understand when you go over it yourself in your own lessons/classes, but in of itself does not explain the entire system. Also, I was intending to talk about prefixed verbs a bit, but nearing the end I figured this was long enough, and will leave that to a different post.
Unprefixed verbs of motion
Unlike English, Russian has no catch-all equivalent of "to go" - instead, Russian verbs take into account your means of transportation:
The system идти/ходить/пойти covers motion under one's own power. For instance, trains and people walking will use this system. Бежать/бегать/побежать ("to run") is just like идти/ходить, but faster.
The system ехать/ездить/поехать is for motion by vehicle. For instance, riding in a car, on a bike, or on a bus uses these verbs.
лететь/летать/полететь covers motion through the air - when you're in a plane, you use this system.
плыть/плавать/поплыть is motion through water - swimming, sailing, etc.
There are many other systems (climbing, crawling, and so forth), but these listed above are some of the more common ones.
Aspectual aspects of verbs of motion
You will notice that instead of the normal two verbs - the perfective/imperfective pair - unprefixed verbs of motion (UVOM from now on) are given in triads. Instead of having merely a perfective and imperfective form, UVOM have two imperfective forms, because they're special.
The two imperfective forms of UVOM are the unidirectional and multidirectional forms. In all the above examples, I gave the uni first and the multi second, and then the perfective form (which is just по+uni form). The uni and multi forms are used differently. How I remember them is that the unidirectional form is the "more perfective" of them, and the multidirectional the "true imperfective" (that mneumonic is only a very, very rough guide. Grammatically, of course, they are both imperfective, and have a present tense).
The unidirectional form is for use with going one place, one time. It stresses the process and can often be translated as "on the way".
Когда я шлa домой, (что-то случилось) - While I was on the way home, (something happened).
Почему ты идёшь так медленно? - Why are you walking so slowly?
The multidirectional form is used for round trips, habitual actions, general action, and so forth.
Я ходила в магазин, покупала хлеб. - I went to the store and bought bread. (but now I'm back home)
Когда я хожу в магазин, обычно тебя вижу. - When I go to the store, I usually see you.
Destinations
Different types of destinations take different cases.
Motion towards an inanimate destination (a city, a building, a park, a street, etc) uses the preposition в/на + accusative.
в магазин - to the store
на почту - to the post office
Motion towards a person (or their house) is expressed with к + dative.
к иванy - to Ivan (or Ivan's place)
к нинe - to Nina (or Nina's house)
Motion away uses different prepositions and cases. I remember it like this:
виз-нас-кот
Where you go to using в, you return using из.
Where you go using на, you return with с.
Where you go using к, you return with от.
All motion away uses the genetive.
Some fun, exciting examples:
в магазин - из магазина
на почту - с почты
к Нине - от Нины
Aren't UVOM fun!
Prefixed verbs of motion add semantic nuances to the motion - for example, going around, crossing over, and stopping by a place would all more commonly use prefixed verbs. But prefixed verbs are an entirely different, complex topic that warrents its own long, verbose post. So I will end here.
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no subject
Date: 2003-05-02 09:56 am (UTC)- There's no 'd' in pojti
- I think the main clause of your first example needs a perfective: Kogda ja shla domoj, chto-to sluchilos'. That is, while I was in the process of going home (imperfective action), something occurred (once), (perfective action).
no subject
Date: 2003-05-02 10:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-05-02 11:11 am (UTC)One of the students in my class taught the rest of us the виз-нас-кот trick yesterday. I thought it was rather brilliant.
Спасибо!
no subject
Date: 2003-05-16 12:55 pm (UTC)