Use идти́ or е́хать for one trip in one direction, happening now or at a specific time. Use ходи́ть or е́здить for habits, round trips, and movement in general. The first pair is on foot, the second by transport.
1. Answer two questions, get the verb
Tap your answers. The right verb appears with an example sentence. This is exactly the decision a Russian speaker makes, instantly, every time they say “go”.
2. All the forms you need
The present tense of all four verbs, plus the past. Notice that идти́ has an irregular past (шёл), and е́хать changes its stem to е́д- in the present.
| Person | идти́ · walk, one way | ходи́ть · walk, round trip | е́хать · ride, one way | е́здить · ride, round trip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| яI | ||||
| тыyou | ||||
| он / она́he / she | ||||
| мыwe | ||||
| выyou (pl.) | ||||
| они́they | ||||
| past · он / она́he / she went |
3. One way or round trip: four situations each
Grammar books call the first group unidirectional (one direction) and the second multidirectional (many directions). Here’s what that means in practice.
4. Where to: в, на and к
After a verb of motion, the destination goes into the accusative with в or на. Going to a person uses к plus the dative.
5. Prefixes add a direction
Add a prefix to a motion verb and it gains a direction: in, out, across, away. With идти́ it becomes -йти: при- + идти́ = прийти́, “to arrive”. These prefixed verbs are perfective. All 13 prefixes, their prepositions and figurative meanings are in the full guide: verbs of motion with prefixes.
6. More motion pairs: run, fly, swim, carry
The same one-way / round-trip split works for many verbs. In each pair, the first verb is one-way (now), the second is round-trip or habitual.
7. Where from: из, с, от
Every “to” has a matching “from”: в ↔ из, на ↔ с, к ↔ от. All three take the genitive.
8. Choose the right verb
Ask the two questions: on foot or by transport? One way now, or round trip and habit?