Talking about the weekend is one of the first real conversations a learner has, and it quietly drills the whole Russian future system in three lines. You'll see the present tense used for a planned near future (Что де́лаешь? "What are you doing?"), the perfective simple future of a motion verb (Пое́ду "I'll go / I'm off"), the preposition к + dative for going to someone's place (к роди́телям "to my parents'"), and the бу́ду + imperfective infinitive compound future (Бу́ду отдыха́ть "I'll be relaxing"). Read the dialogue first, then the commentary.
The dialogue
— Что де́лаешь в выходны́е?
— What are you doing this weekend?
— Пое́ду к роди́телям. А ты?
— I'm going to my parents'. And you?
— Бу́ду до́ма, отдыха́ть.
— I'll be at home, relaxing.
Line by line
— Что де́лаешь в выходны́е?
Что де́лаешь? is, on its face, a present-tense question — де́лаешь is the 2nd-person singular present of де́лать ("to do") — but here it asks about the future. Russian, like English, happily uses the present for planned or scheduled near-future events: "What are you doing this weekend?" is present in form, future in meaning, in both languages. The plan is treated as already on the calendar, so the present feels natural. (A learner who reaches for a future tense here — Что бу́дешь де́лать? — is not wrong; it just sounds a touch more "what will you get up to", less settled.)
The verb is also imperfective (де́лать), which is right for an open question about general activity — you're asking about the shape of someone's weekend, not whether they'll complete one specific task.
в выходны́е means "on / at the weekend", and it uses в + accusative. Выходны́е ("days off / the weekend") is a plural-form noun (literally "the days-off", an adjective used as a noun), and after в in a time expression it takes the accusative — which for this plural looks identical to the nominative, выходны́е. The pattern в + accusative for "on (a day / period)" is the same one behind в суббо́ту ("on Saturday"), в понеде́льник ("on Monday").
— Пое́ду к роди́телям. А ты?
Пое́ду is the perfective simple future of пое́хать ("to set off / go (by transport)") — its 1st-person singular is пое́ду ("I'll go / I'm off"). Two things make this form important:
- It is future even though it has present-tense endings. A perfective verb has no present tense at all; its present-shaped conjugation (пое́ду, пое́дешь, пое́дет…) automatically means the future. So пое́ду = "I will go", full stop. This is the simple, one-word future — no помощник verb needed.
- It is built on a motion verb. Е́хать ("to go by transport") is one of Russia's paired motion verbs; prefix it with по- and you get пое́хать, "to set off (there and, implicitly, back)". For a weekend trip to one's parents, пое́ду is exactly the idiomatic choice — it implies going and returning, the natural arc of a weekend visit.
к роди́телям is where you're going, and it shows the key construction for visiting people: к + dative. You don't go в роди́телей or на роди́телей — to go to a person (or to their home), you use к plus the dative. Роди́тели ("parents") becomes the dative plural роди́телям (the uniform -ам/-ям dative plural). So к роди́телям = "to (my) parents' (place)". Likewise к врачу́ ("to the doctor's"), к дру́гу ("to a friend's"), к ба́бушке ("to grandma's").
- dative: к роди́телям, к врачу́, к дру́гу, к нам ("to our place"). Use в/на
- accusative for places (в магази́н, на рабо́ту), but к for people. More on к and по + dative.
А ты? bounces the question back — "And you?" — with the contrastive а and the ты pronoun, here correctly in the nominative because it's the subject of the echoed (silent) "are doing".
— Бу́ду до́ма, отдыха́ть.
This line shows the other Russian future: the compound (imperfective) future with бу́ду + an imperfective infinitive.
Бу́ду is the 1st-person singular future of быть ("to be") — бу́ду, бу́дешь, бу́дет, бу́дем, бу́дете, бу́дут. On its own, Бу́ду до́ма means "I'll be at home" (бу́ду + the location до́ма "at home", an adverbial form). Then отдыха́ть ("to relax / rest", imperfective infinitive) is added to say what you'll be doing: Бу́ду… отдыха́ть = "I'll be resting / relaxing". The compound future is бу́ду + imperfective infinitive, and it describes an ongoing or unbounded future activity — perfect for "relaxing", which has no endpoint to reach.
Why imperfective here, when the previous speaker used the perfective пое́ду? Because the two are doing different jobs. Пое́ду is one bounded event (a trip, with a result: arriving). Отдыха́ть is an open-ended state with no result to complete — you don't "finish" relaxing, you just do it for a while. So one speaker's weekend is a perfective trip, the other's is an imperfective stretch of doing-nothing. The dialogue thus contrasts both futures side by side: the simple perfective (пое́ду) and the compound imperfective (бу́ду отдыха́ть).
- a perfective infinitive — that's a classic error. See the compound future.
Why ты, and why so short
Everything here is ты: де́лаешь, ты, the casual clipped replies. This is talk between friends or peers, and the register shows in more than the pronoun — the answers are elliptical, dropping the subject (Пое́ду with no я, Бу́ду with no я) the way relaxed spoken Russian does. The Russian verb ending already carries the person, so the pronoun is optional, and casual speech routinely leaves it out. With a stranger or in a formal setting you'd use вы and likely fuller sentences: Что вы де́лаете в выходны́е? — Я пое́ду к роди́телям. The bare, pronoun-dropping style here is itself a marker of friendly informality.
Vocabulary gloss
| Word / phrase | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|
| что де́лаешь | what are you doing | present-for-future; impf. де́лать |
| в выходны́е | on the weekend | в + accusative (plural-form noun) |
| пое́ду | I'll go (by transport) | perfective simple future of пое́хать |
| к роди́телям | to my parents' (place) | к + dative plural роди́телям |
| а ты? | and you? | nominative ты, subject of echoed question |
| бу́ду | I will be | future of быть; head of compound future |
| до́ма | at home | location adverb (vs. домо́й "homewards") |
| отдыха́ть | to relax / rest | imperfective infinitive |
Common Mistakes
❌ Бу́ду пое́хать к роди́телям.
Never бу́ду + a perfective infinitive. Either the simple perfective Пое́ду, or бу́ду + imperfective (бу́ду е́здить).
✅ Пое́ду к роди́телям.
I'm going to my parents'.
❌ Пое́ду в роди́телей.
Going TO a person uses к + dative, not в + accusative: к роди́телям.
✅ Пое́ду к роди́телям.
I'm going to my parents'.
❌ Бу́ду отдохну́ть.
отдохну́ть is perfective; the compound future takes the imperfective: бу́ду отдыха́ть.
✅ Бу́ду отдыха́ть.
I'll be relaxing.
❌ Что бу́дешь де́лаешь в выходны́е?
Pick one future — either present-for-future Что де́лаешь, or compound Что бу́дешь де́лать. Not both.
✅ Что де́лаешь в выходны́е?
What are you doing this weekend?
❌ Пое́ду домо́й к роди́телям на выходны́е… бу́ду домо́й.
'At home' is до́ма; домо́й means 'homewards'. To be located at home: Бу́ду до́ма.
✅ Бу́ду до́ма.
I'll be at home.
Key Takeaways
- Present-for-future: a settled plan is fine in the present — Что де́лаешь в выходны́е? ("What are you doing this weekend?").
- Perfective simple future: a perfective verb's present-shaped endings are the future — Пое́ду = "I'll go" (one word, no бу́ду).
- к + dative = going to a person or their place: к роди́телям, к врачу́, к дру́гу. (Use в/на
- accusative for plain locations.)
- Compound future = бу́ду + imperfective infinitive for ongoing activity: Бу́ду отдыха́ть. Never бу́ду
- a perfective infinitive.
- Casual ты speech drops the subject pronoun (Пое́ду, Бу́ду…) — the ending already shows the person.
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Start learning Russian→Related Topics
- Talking About the Future: All the OptionsB1 — Russian offers five distinct ways to talk about the future, and choosing well is half the battle: the perfective simple future for single completed acts (Я позвоню́), the imperfective compound future for processes and habits (Я бу́ду звони́ть ка́ждый день), the plain PRESENT tense for scheduled or imminent events (По́езд ухо́дит в семь; За́втра я е́ду в Москву́), собира́ться + infinitive for intention ('be going to'), and хоте́ть / плани́ровать / реши́ть + infinitive for wishes and plans. This page maps each to its meaning and gives you a quick way to decide.
- The Imperfective (Compound) FutureA2 — Russian builds the imperfective future from two words: the conjugated future of быть (бу́ду, бу́дешь, бу́дет, бу́дем, бу́дете, бу́дут) plus an imperfective infinitive — Я бу́ду чита́ть 'I'll be reading / I'll read.' Only the auxiliary бу́ду changes; the lexical verb stays in the infinitive forever. It expresses ongoing, repeated, or habitual future action, and it works ONLY with imperfectives (буду + a perfective is ungrammatical). The same бу́ду-forms also mean 'will be' on their own (Я бу́ду до́ма).
- The Perfective (Simple) FutureA2 — The perfective future is a single word: you conjugate a perfective verb with the ordinary present-tense endings (-у/-ю, -ешь/-ишь…) and the result means the FUTURE — прочита́ю 'I'll read (and finish),' напишу́ 'I'll write,' куплю́ 'I'll buy,' позвоню́ 'I'll call.' The trap is that these forms look exactly like a present tense, but a perfective verb has no present, so a conjugated perfective is always future. It names a single completed action with a result, a promise, or one step in a sequence.
- Ехать vs Ездить (Going by Vehicle)A2 — The vehicle counterpart to идти́/ходи́ть. Е́ХАТЬ (unidirectional) is one trip by vehicle, in progress or planned — Я е́ду в Москву́, Куда́ вы е́дете? Е́ЗДИТЬ (multidirectional) is habitual trips and past round trips — Я ка́ждый год е́зжу к роди́телям; В про́шлом году́ я е́здил в Япо́нию ('I went and came back'). Russian obligatorily distinguishes foot from vehicle, and the imperative is the irregular поезжа́й — never *ехай.
- Dative After Prepositions к and поB1 — Two prepositions govern the dative. К/ко means 'toward, up to (a person or destination)': иду́ к врачу́, к ве́черу. По is one of the most polysemous prepositions in Russian — along a surface (по у́лице), regularly (по понеде́льникам), by means of (по телефо́ну), and 'according to / on the subject of' (по пла́ну, экза́мен по фи́зике) — and it almost always takes the dative.
- Hobbies and Free TimeB1 — Talking about leisure with its grammar: увлека́ться + instrumental ('be into'), занима́ться + instrumental ('do [a sport/activity]'), the игра́ть в (games/sports) vs игра́ть на (instruments) split, the fixed time phrase в свобо́дное вре́мя, and люблю́ + infinitive for 'I like doing X' — so the leisure vocabulary doubles as instrumental-case and preposition practice.