стать vs за+

[lexabear.livejournal.com]

Is there a semantic difference between стать + inf (meaning "begin to...") and verbs with a за- prefix? Is стать just used for verbs that don't have a regular за- form?

Comments

[lazyboa.livejournal.com]

Can't remember any useful combination of стать + inf. Would you give an example, pls.

[annyway.livejournal.com]

Стал (-а, -о) + inf.

[lazyboa.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I see. Yes, in this case it really means to begin doing smth (but not to complete doing).
While за prefix often means finished action similar to perfect tense in English.

[placidity.livejournal.com]

Often but not always. It more often changes the meaning of the verb

[constpd.livejournal.com]

I actually now tried to find a reason, why one can say стал ходить, but cannot say стал идти, but I couldn’t. Ходить, in fact, has the form заходить — to go inside (imp. a.), and идти has зайти (p. a.), both infinitives have almost the same semantics, except for the fact that ходить is “more continuous” than идти (sounds silly).

[placidity.livejournal.com]

They are different in meaning. If you say "стал идти на север" it'll mean he started moving in the northerly direction, and if you say "он стал ходить" it'll mean he started walking. Or "он стал ходить на север" that denotes a repeated action.

[constpd.livejournal.com]

I wanted to say that in Russian стал идти sound very innatural — you will rather say пошел than стал идти. But стал ходить is absolutely normal.
I just wanted to figure out the criterium by which you can or cannot use стал делать. The repeated action does not seem suitable as the 100% valid criterium because стал делать is usable but делать does not mean repeated action.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I would explain it this way: ходить is closer to "to walk", идти is closer ro "to go". Then, there really is this semantical difference: "я хожу" means "I walk, I perform steps :-)), I make this walking movement, I can walk... etc.". A baby learns to walk, not to go - and "ребёнок учится ходить, а не идти".
"Я иду" might also mean "I go, I come," which "я хожу" cannot mean.
"Я хожу|ходил (or прохожу|проходил) здесь каждый день" - every day I walk|ed past this place.
But if you try to construct something like
"Я иду здесь каждый день" - sounds quite strange, while "я шёл здесь каждый день" is already a complete nonsense.
When somebody rings at the door, you will answer "иду!" -- which is equal to English "coming!" -- but NOT "хожу!" (it's quite strange to answer "walking!" if somebody rigs at your door, isn't it?)
When Russians mock somebody's broken Russian, they would say "девушка, ходи сюда" (walk here, girl) instead of "девушка, иди сюда" (come here, girl.)
Etc.

[cema.livejournal.com]

Let's see. Стал петь versus запел: there is a (very) slight difference due to the aspect: inf. of запел is запеть, which is совершенный вид, whereas петь is несовершенный. Let's see further: стал напевать versus what: занапевал? There is no such word... Hmm. :-) OK, some more. Стал собираться versus засобирался: this is a completely different meaning, the former is neutral, the latter is ironic (куда засобирался в столь поздний час?).

I think the answer is "it depends". :-)

[welgar.livejournal.com]

Agreed: it depends. The consturction "cтал(-а, -о) +inf" often sounds unnatural if there is a special word (like "запел") or sometimes there are very slight differences in meanings. So, unfortunately, you'll have to remember when to use which option.

BTW, you may also use "начал(-а, -о) + imperfective infinitive" when somebody/something starts some continuous action (e.g., "он начал петь", "она начала собирать вещи").

[shiro-ki.livejournal.com]

The construction "стал (-а, -о) + inf often sounds unnatural accordingly to smb animated, it sounds a bit archaic: "стал петь" instead of "начал петь" (common usage now) - or one can speak about smth unanimated "цветок стал расти", "уровень концентрации стал снижаться", but about the toddler we'll use "стал расти, стал ходить", compare "начал читать, играть в шахматы, курить" :)