Multidirectional Verbs of Motion

This is a lesson about the MULTIDIRECTIONAL verbs of motion. It is meant to help the student learn to recognize and use eight multidirectional verbs of motion. (That’s about half of the total.) For every multidirectional verb of motion, there is also a corresponding unidirectional verb of motion, and they will be the subject of the next lesson on verbs.

 

I have used the term “multidirectional”, but other terms have come into and out of fashion: potential, indefinite, indeterminate. They all apply to these very same verbs.

 

“Multidirectional” is meant to suggest motion which is not purposful in direction, such as jogging, or alternatively more than one instance of purposful motion, such as a round trip to and back.

 

First: Know these verbs,

along with their stresses and meanings. There are three from Conj. I, and the others are from Conj. II. Beneath that, are the key-forms needed to conjugate them.

бегать - to [multidirectionally] run or jog

плавать - to [multidirectionally] swim

летать - to [multidirectionally] fly

ходить - to [multidirectionally] go on foot

водить - to [multidirectionally] lead or drive (a car)

носить - to [multidirectionally] carry on foot; (secondary meaning – to wear)

возить - to [multidirectionally] carry in a vehicle; (hint: remember that -з-)

ездить - to [multidirectionally] go in a vehicle

 

Second: How to conjugate -- key forms

The Conj. I verbs present no difficulty. бегать and плавать are stressed on the first syllable of the stem, and летать is stressed on the final syllable of the stem.

бегать бегаю бегаешь, etc.

плавать плаваю плаваешь

летать летаю летаешь

 

The Conj. II verbs consonant-mutate. Four of them have shiftiing stress, while ездить has stem stress.

ходить хожу ходишь

водить вожу водишь

носить ношу носишь

возить вожу возишь

ездить езжу ездишь

 

On examining at these forms, you will see that водить and возить mutate to the very same first-person singular form!

 

After examining a dozen multidirectional verbs of motion, one may observe that there is no ending-stress pattern in the multidirectional verbs of motion. That is certainly true of the eight verbs shown here, which show either stem-stress or shifting-stress.

 

Third: How to use

1. Вы часто бегаете? -- Я бегаю каждое утро.
   Do you jog often? – I run every morning.
   
   Марк бегает в парке.
   Mark jogs in the park.
   
   
2. Вы всегда плаваете утром? -- Я обыяно плаваю до завтрака.
   Do you always swim in the morning? – I usually swim before breakfast.
   
   
3. Как любит Татяна Сергеевна летать? -- Чаще всего она летает на самолётах Аэрофлота.
   How does Tatyana like to fly? -- More often than not she flies with Aeroflot.

 

4. Весь человек должен ходить в школу.
   Every fellow should go to school.

 

5. Он водит машину с прошлого месяца.
   He has been driving a car since last month.

 

6. Они носят книги в другую комнату.
   They keep carrying books to another room.
   
   Я больше не ношу очки.
   I don't wear glasses anymore.
   
   
7. Знай умеет только возить фрукты на рынок!
   You (imperative, fam.) know only how to transport fruit to the market!
   (Знай умеет -- The angry wife gives an imperative to her husband : Know to know how to…)
   
   
8. Майор Ковалёв часто ездит по надобности.
   Major Kovalyóv often travels on business.
   
   Каждый день я езжу на работу.
   Every day I drive to work [and back].
   
   

 

 

 

6/04/2011

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