Russian Motion Verbs — Unidirectional vs Multidirectional

Russian motion verbs come in pairs that distinguish unidirectional motion (one direction, one trip) from multidirectional motion (round trips, habitual movement, or no specific direction). The most important pairs are идти́/ходи́ть ("to go on foot"), е́хать/е́здить ("to go by vehicle"), нести́/носи́ть ("to carry"), везти́/вози́ть ("to transport"), and лете́ть/лета́ть ("to fly").

Use the unidirectional verb when you mean "I am going right now to one specific place" and the multidirectional verb when you mean "I go regularly", "I went and came back", or "I'm walking around". Once these distinctions click, an entire layer of nuance in everyday Russian opens up.

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