Jessica
Russian Verbs of Motion Help

Привет всем!

Я готовлюсь к экзамену по русскому языку.

I am preparing for a Russian exam in a few days and need help with verbs of motion.

Can anyone help me understand this better?

Вы когда-нибудь eздили в Сибирь? - When did you go to Siberia? 

Я знаю.... ездить, ехать. Why is it not ехать?


Thank you for your time.


Jess


May 7, 2019 12:43 AM
Comments · 4
3

Actually, there are quite a lot of comprehensive basic explanations on the web, for example, these ones: <a href="http://learnrussian.rt.com/grammar-tables/verbs-of-motion/">http://learnrussian.rt.com/grammar-tables/verbs-of-motion/</a> or <a href="http://www.russianlessons.net/grammar/verbs_motion.php">http://www.russianlessons.net/grammar/verbs_motion.php</a>;

As for the sentence, you've provided as an example, it contains an error — see Denis's comment.

When did you go to Siberia?  Когда вы ездили в Сибирь? "Ездили" is used because of "where to" —  "в Сибирь" = one-way action.



May 7, 2019
3
<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link { }</style>Some corrections first:

Вы когда-нибудь eздили в Сибирь? -- Have you ever been to Siberia
When did you go to Siberia? -- Когда вы ездили в Сибирь?
Мы ездили в Сибирь -- We went to Siberia / We have been to Siberia
Мы ехали в Сибирь -- We were on your way to Siberia

Those are called unidirectional and multidirectional verbs of motion. There's a lot written on this subject, google it and check out these videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVqdzA__9mQ&list=PLrIkLgUgjNHfT0WWIRfvoGuhxicyyqFGc
May 7, 2019
2

Jessica, "ехать" is close to "to be going/driving".
It means heading to your destination in a particular moment or over a time span.

It can confuse you in "we drove six hours" because in such cases we use "ехать" as well (because over many moments of those six hours we were headed to our destination, sort of, "kept driving").

One of meanings of our imperfective is "experiencial": we use it when speaking of having experienced something.
It doesn't matter how many times, it only matter that you have this experience. E.g.:

Ты читала Властелин колец"? - have you [ever] read Lord of the Rings?  You may add "ever" if you like, "ever" is a clear sign of this meaning:)

With verbs of motions we use the "multidictional" one for this meaning.

May 7, 2019
Hi Jessica, id be happy to help you. Could you please clarify your question? Are you confused about the words ехать, идти, where to use them and whars the difference between them? Or is tgere something else you are asking about?
May 7, 2019