How to Say GO in Russian

How to get the most out of this lesson

Russian verbs tend to have very specific meanings when compared to English verbs, that’s why there are multiple ways to say ‘go’ in the Russian language.

When we want to say that someone goes somewhere in Russian, the verb we use depends a lot on how the person goes to the place.

For example, if a person goes somewhere on foot, you have to use one verb, but if they go somewhere in a vehicle, you have to use another verb.

If a person goes somewhere only once, you have to use one verb, but if they go somewhere regularly or as part of their routine, you have to use another verb.

All these details can be overwhelming for Russian learners, especially if you’re a beginner. So, the question is:

What is the best way to learn how to say ‘go’ in Russian?

When studying this topic, you shouldn’t try to memorize all the verbs and rules. Instead, try to learn and practice as much as possible the situations in which the verbs are used.

In this lesson, I explain in detail how to use each verb in different situations and give various examples.

Study the explanation and examples until you understand how and when to use the verb. After that, make your own sentences to practice what you have learned.

Making your own sentences shouldn’t be very difficult since the conjugation of all the verbs is included in the lesson. Also, you can always look up words that you don’t know in our dictionary.

After that, you can test your knowledge by doing our interactive exercises. While doing the exercises, if you realize that you don’t remember a certain verb, make sure to go back to the lesson and review it.

If you follow this approach, I am sure that you will be able to master this subject!

Verb ходить

The verb ходить is commonly used to say that someone goes to a place habitually or as part of their routine.

Although ходить literally means ‘to go’, its meaning is often similar to that of the English verbs ‘to attend’ or ‘to frequent’.

When talking about going somewhere habitually, ходить can be used in all verb tenses. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Present Tense:

• Я хожу в супермаркет по пятницам.
• (I go to the supermarket on Fridays)
• Он ходит в спортзал каждый день.
• (He goes to the gym every day)
• Дети ходят в школу.
• (Kids go to school)

Past Tense:

• Раньше я ходил в школу утром.
• (I used to go to school in the morning)
• Она ходила на работу даже в выходные.
• (She went to work even on weekends)
• Они ходили в спортзал два года.
• (They went to the gym for two years)

Future Tense:

• Он будет ходить в школу один.
• (He will go to school alone)
• Я буду ходить в спортзал в следующем году.
• (I will go to the gym next year)

In the past tense, ходить is also commonly used to say that someone went to a place once and is already back. For example:

• Вчера я ходил в магазин.
• (Yesterday I went to the store)
• Мы ходили в кафе в прошлые выходные.
• (We went to the cafe last weekend)
• Она ходила в парк.
• (She went to the park)

It’s also important to remember that ходить is usually used to say that someone goes to a place on foot. To talk about going somewhere in a vehicle, you can use the verb ездить, which is the verb we are going to learn next.

Verb ездить

The verb ездить is used in the same situations as the verb ходить. The only difference is that ездить implies going somewhere in a vehicle while ходить doesn’t have this connotation. Let’s take a look at some examples:

• Я езжу в супермаркет по пятницам.
• (I go to the supermarket on Fridays)
• Она ездила на работу даже в выходные.
• (She went to work even on weekends)
• Он будет ездить в школу один.
• (He will go to school alone)
• Вчера мы ездили в магазин.
• (Yesterday we went to the store)

Note that in all the above examples, it is implied that the person goes to the place in a vehicle.

Ездить can also be used to say that someone drives to a place. For example:

• Он ездит на работу каждый день.
• (He drives to work every day)
• Я часто ездил в город.
• (I often drove to the city)

Now, keep in mind that when someone goes somewhere in a vehicle, but that is not relevant, we often use the verb ходить.

For example, even if someone goes to work by car, they could say ‘я хожу на работу’, as long as the fact that the person goes to work by car is not relevant. If it is relevant, however, they would say ‘я езжу на работу’.

There is one exception, though. If Russian speakers are talking about going to a place that is far away, they wouldn’t use ходить. For example, if someone goes from Moscow to Vladivostok, we would use the verb ездить, unless the person actually goes there on foot, which is quite unlikely.

Verb идти

The verb идти is commonly used to say that someone is or was going somewhere on foot at a specific moment.

In other words, идти is used when the action of going is or was in progress at some point in time.

In this meaning, идти can be used in all verb tenses, although it is mostly used in the present and past tenses. For example:

Present Tense:

• Я иду в супермаркет.
• (I am going to the supermarket)
• Куда ты идёшь?
• (Where are you going?)

Past Tense:

• Я шёл в школу.
• (I was going to school)
• Они шли в парк.
• (They were going to the park)

Идти is also commonly used to say that someone goes or went somewhere habitually or as part of their routine, similarly to the verb ходить.

The difference between these two verbs is that ходить implies that the person goes to a place and comes back. For example:

• Он ходит в школу каждый день.
• (He goes to school every day)

Идти, on the other hand, does not imply that the person comes baсk from the place. In this meaning, идти is very similar to the English verb ‘to head’. For example:

• Каждое утро я завтракаю и иду на работу.
• (Every morning, I have breakfast and head to work)

This use of идти is common when describing someone’s routine or a sequence of actions. For example:

• Я встаю.
• (I get up)
• Потом я иду в ванную.
• (Then I head to the bathroom)
• Я чищу зубы.
• (I brush my teeth)
• Потом я иду на кухню.
• (Then I head to the kitchen)
• Я завтракаю.
• (I have breakfast)
• А потом я иду в школу.
• (And then I head to school)

Verb ехать

The verb ехать is used in the same situations as the verb идти. But unlike идти, it implies going to a place in a vehicle. For example:

• Он едет в супермаркет.
• (He is going to the supermarket)
• Она ехала в школу на автобусе.
• (She was going to school by bus)
• Каждый день я встаю и еду на работу.
• (Every day, I get up and go to work)
• Она вставала и ехала на работу.
• (She got up and headed to work)

Verb пойти

The verb пойти is perfective, which means it can be used only in the past and future tenses. It cannot be used in the present tense.

In the future tense, пойти is usually used to say that someone will go to a certain place once.

If you want to say that someone will go somewhere multiple times, you cannot use пойти. You should use ходить instead.

For example:

• Завтра я пойду к врачу.
• (Tomorrow I will go to the doctor’s)
• В эту пятницу мы не пойдём на работу.
• (This Friday we won't go to work)
• Когда ты пойдёшь в супермаркет?
• (When will you go to the supermarket?)

In the past tense, пойти can be used in two situations.

Firstly, пойти is used to talk about a sequence of actions that happened once in the past. For example:

• Вчера я встал и пошёл на работу.
• (Yesterday I got up and went to work)
• Я закончил работу и пошёл домой.
• (I finished my work and went home)

Secondly, пойти is used to say that someone started going to a place or is about to leave. In this meaning, пойти is very similar to the English expression ‘be off’. For example:

• Я пошла в школу.
• (I am off to school)
• Мы пошли в магазин.
• (We are off to the store)

Verb поехать

The verb поехать is used in the same situations as the verb пойти. But unlike пойти, it implies going to a place in a vehicle. For example:

• Завтра я поеду в Москву.
• (Tomorrow I will go to Moscow)
• Они поедут в Турцию через месяц.
• (They will go to Turkey in a month)
• Мы вызвали такси и поехали в аэропорт.
• (We called the taxi and went to the airport)
• Мы поехали в деревню.
• (We are off to the countryside)

Verb сходить

The verb сходить is also perfective, which means it can be used only in the past and future tenses.

Сходить is commonly used to say that someone goes to a certain place in order to do something there and then comes back. For example:

• Мы сходили в банк вчера.
• (We went to the bank yesterday)
• Я схожу в магазин.
• (I will go to the store)
• Он сходил на кухню за стулом.
• (He went to the kitchen to get a chair)
• Он сходит в посольство за визой.
• (He will go to the embassy to get his visa)

Note that, in all the above sentences, it’s implied that the person goes to the place, does something there and then comes back.

Verb съездить

The verb съездить is used in the same situations as the verb сходить. The only difference is that съездить implies going somewhere in a vehicle while сходить doesn’t have this connotation. Here are some examples:

• Я съезжу за пиццей.
• (I will go and get the pizza)
• Нам нужно съездить в Москву.
• (We need to go to Moscow)
• Давайте съездим на море.
• (Let's go to the sea)

Note that, in all the above sentences, it’s implied that the person goes to a place in a vehicle, does something there and then comes back.

Comparing the verbs that mean ‘go’

To make sure you understand the difference between all the verbs you’ve learnt in this lesson, let’s compare them.

Let’s take the following English sentence as an example:

• He goes to the supermarket.

I will translate this sentence into Russian using all the verbs that we’ve learnt and explain what each Russian sentence means.

Let’s start with the verbs ходить and ездить:

• Он ходит в супермаркет.
• Он ездит в супермаркет.

Both of the above sentences mean ‘He goes to the supermarket’. As we are using the verbs ходить and ездить, it is implied that the action takes place regularly, probably as part of his routine.

In the second sentence, as we have the verb ездить, it is also implied that he goes there in a vehicle.

Next, we have the verbs идти and ехать.

• Он идёт в супермаркет.
• Он едет в супермаркет.

The above sentences both mean ‘He is going to the supermarket’. As we are using the verbs идти and ехать, we know that the action is taking place at the moment.

In the first sentence, as we have the verb идти, it is implied that he is going there on foot.

In the second sentence, as we have the verb ехать, it is implied that he is going there in a vehicle.

Next, we have the verbs пойти and поехать:

• Он пойдёт в супермаркет.
• Он поедет в супермаркет.

The above sentences both mean ‘He will go to the supermarket’.

As we are using the verbs пойти and поехать, which are both perfective, we know that the action will take place in the future and that it will happen only once.

In the second sentence, as we have the verb поехать, it is also implied that he will go there in a vehicle.

Now let’s take a look at the verbs сходить and съездить:

• Он сходит в супермаркет.
• Он съездит в супермаркет.

The above sentences also mean ‘He will go to the supermarket’.

As we are using the verbs сходить and съездить, which are also perfective, we know that the action will take place in the future and that it will happen only once.

In the second sentence, as we have the verb съездить, it is also implied that he will go there in a vehicle.

So far, сходить and съездить look very similar to пойти and поехать. So what’s the difference between them?

The difference is that сходить and съездить have an additional component of meaning. Not only do they mean that you will go to a place in order to do something there, but also that you will come back after that.

Пойти and поехать, on the other hand, don’t imply that you will come back from that place.

I hope that this comparison helped you better understand the main differences between the different ways of saying ‘go’ in Russian.