If you learn only one motion pair properly, make it this one: идти́ / ходи́ть ("go on foot"). It is the most frequent verb of motion in the language, and the contrast it draws — a single trip in progress versus a habit or a round trip — is the model for every other pair. This page conjugates both verbs in full, sorts out exactly when each is used (including the round-trip past that surprises everyone), and covers the idioms that идёт quietly carries.
The core split in one line
Both verbs are imperfective. Neither is "more complete" than the other — they differ only in direction of travel. (For why a single meaning splits into two imperfectives in the first place, see the verbs of motion overview and two imperfectives in one pair.)
- идти́ (unidirectional): one trip, one direction, usually right now — "be on the way".
- ходи́ть (multidirectional): repeated trips, round trips, going around, walking in general — "go [regularly] / go around".
Я иду́ домо́й.
I'm going home / I'm on my way home. (one trip, in progress now — идти́)
Я хожу́ домо́й пешко́м.
I walk home (regularly). (habit — ходи́ть)
Conjugation
Both verbs are present-tense (their forms below are genuine present, because both are imperfective — only prefixed perfectives like прийти́ will refer to the future).
| идти́ (unidirectional) | ходи́ть (multidirectional) | |
|---|---|---|
| я | иду́ | хожу́ |
| ты | идёшь | хо́дишь |
| он / она́ | идёт | хо́дит |
| мы | идём | хо́дим |
| вы | идёте | хо́дите |
| они́ | иду́т | хо́дят |
| past | шёл, шла, шло, шли | ходи́л, ходи́ла, ходи́ло, ходи́ли |
| imperative | иди́, иди́те | ходи́, ходи́те |
Two things to commit to memory. First, идти́ has a wildly irregular past — шёл / шла / шло / шли — which shares no obvious material with the infinitive. It is a true suppletive form (the same root that gives English "go / went" by suppletion). Second, ходи́ть mutates х → ж in the 1sg only: хожу́, but хо́дишь, хо́дит, хо́дят. This is the regular second-conjugation consonant mutation; the stress also shifts back onto the stem from the 2sg onward (хожу́ but хо́дишь).
Куда́ ты идёшь?
Where are you going? (right now — идти́)
Когда́ я шёл домо́й, начался́ дождь.
As I was walking home, it started to rain. (a trip in progress in the past — past of идти́, шёл)
When to use ИДТИ́ (unidirectional)
A trip in progress, now or at a stated moment
Не меша́й, я иду́ на ва́жную встре́чу.
Don't hold me up, I'm on my way to an important meeting.
Смотри́, вон идёт Ма́ша.
Look, there goes Masha / there's Masha coming.
The planned near future
When a single trip is arranged for the near future, Russian routinely uses present-tense идти́ — exactly as English uses "I'm going to the theatre tomorrow". The trip is conceived as one directed event, so the unidirectional verb is correct even though it hasn't happened yet.
За́втра я иду́ в теа́тр.
Tomorrow I'm going to the theatre. (a single arranged outing → идти́)
В суббо́ту мы идём на конце́рт.
On Saturday we're going to a concert.
When to use ХОДИ́ТЬ (multidirectional)
Habit and repetition
Я хожу́ в спортза́л три ра́за в неде́лю.
I go to the gym three times a week. (habit → ходи́ть)
По воскресе́ньям мы хо́дим в це́рковь.
On Sundays we go to church.
"Attend" — being enrolled, being a regular
Он хо́дит в шко́лу.
He goes to school / he's a pupil. (attendance, an ongoing arrangement → ходи́ть)
Ты ещё хо́дишь на те ку́рсы ру́сского?
Are you still going to that Russian course?
General ability to walk — and "walking around"
Ребёнок уже́ хо́дит!
The baby walks already! (general ability, no destination → ходи́ть)
Мы це́лый день ходи́ли по го́роду.
We walked around the city all day. (various directions, no single goal → ходи́ть)
Note the preposition: motion "around / about" a place uses по + dative (ходи́ть по го́роду, по па́рку), precisely because there is no single goal — the dative-with-по marks scattered, goalless movement.
The round trip — the use that trips everyone
This is the distinguishing point of the whole pair. A past round trip — "I went somewhere and came back" — uses ходи́ть, not идти́. Russians describe an ordinary completed outing with ходи́л, because the natural mental picture is there-and-back, not frozen mid-walk.
Вчера́ я ходи́л в магази́н.
Yesterday I went to the shop. (and came back — a complete round trip → ходи́л)
В выходны́е мы ходи́ли в кино́.
At the weekend we went to the cinema. (went and returned → ходи́ли)
Contrast this directly with шёл, the past of идти́, which freezes you mid-trip at a point in time:
Я шёл в магази́н и встре́тил сосе́да.
I was walking to the shop and met my neighbour. (a moment during the trip → шёл)
ИДЁТ in idioms: weather, time, and "showing"
The 3rd-person идёт is built into a cluster of fixed expressions where nothing is literally walking. Here English uses entirely different verbs, so these are pure vocabulary to memorise.
На у́лице идёт дождь.
It's raining outside. (literally 'rain goes' — дождь идёт)
Зимо́й здесь ча́сто идёт снег.
In winter it often snows here. (снег идёт = 'it snows')
Вре́мя идёт о́чень бы́стро.
Time goes by very fast. (вре́мя идёт — the passage of time)
Како́й фильм сейча́с идёт в кинотеа́тре?
What film is showing at the cinema right now? (фильм идёт = 'is on / is screening')
A few more in the same family worth recognising: часы́ иду́т ("the clock is running / keeps good time"), де́ло идёт хорошо́ ("things are going well"), and the conversational Идёт! ("Deal! / It's a go!"). These figurative uses are gathered on the figurative motion page.
A note on perfectives
идти́ and ходи́ть are both imperfective, so neither has a "completed" form on its own. The perfectives come from prefixes: пойти́ ("set off / go" — see пойти́), прийти́ ("arrive"), уйти́ ("leave"), and so on. Crucially, prefixing replaces the unidirectional/multidirectional contrast with an ordinary perfective/imperfective one (прийти́ perfective / приходи́ть imperfective). That whole mechanism is laid out on prefixed verbs of motion. For now, keep the unprefixed pair clean in your head.
Дава́й пойдём гуля́ть!
Let's go for a walk! (пойти́ — the perfective 'set off', from идти́)
Common Mistakes
❌ Я иду́ в шко́лу ка́ждый день.
Incorrect — 'every day' is habitual, so a single directed trip won't do.
✅ Я хожу́ в шко́лу ка́ждый день.
I go to school every day. (habit → multidirectional ходи́ть)
❌ Вчера́ я шёл в магази́н и купи́л хлеб.
Incorrect for an ordinary completed outing — шёл freezes you mid-walk; a there-and-back trip needs ходи́л.
✅ Вчера́ я ходи́л в магази́н и купи́л хлеб.
Yesterday I went to the shop and bought bread. (round trip → ходи́л)
❌ Вчера́ я идёл домо́й по́здно.
Incorrect — there is no form *идёл; the past of идти́ is the suppletive шёл / шла.
✅ Вчера́ я шёл домо́й по́здно, когда́ позвони́л оте́ц.
Yesterday I was walking home late when my father called. (past of идти́ → шёл)
❌ Я ходжу́ в университе́т.
Incorrect spelling — the 1sg of ходи́ть is хожу́ (х → ж), not *ходжу́.
✅ Я хожу́ в университе́т.
I go to university / I'm a student. (1sg хожу́)
❌ На у́лице хо́дит дождь.
Incorrect — the weather idiom is fixed with идёт, not ходи́т.
✅ На у́лице идёт дождь.
It's raining outside. (idiom: дождь идёт)
Key Takeaways
- идти́ = one trip on foot, one direction, now or planned-near-future: Я иду́ домо́й; За́втра я иду́ в теа́тр.
- ходи́ть = habit, attendance, round trips, walking ability, going around: Я хожу́ в спортза́л; Ребёнок уже́ хо́дит.
- The past of идти́ is the suppletive шёл / шла / шло / шли; ходи́ть has 1sg хожу́ (х → ж), then хо́дишь, хо́дят.
- "I went somewhere yesterday" (and came back) is normally ходи́л — the round-trip past — not шёл. Use шёл for "was walking / on my way" at a moment.
- идёт carries idioms with no literal walking: дождь / снег идёт ("it rains / snows"), вре́мя идёт, фильм идёт ("is showing").
- Both are imperfective; the perfectives (пойти́, прийти́…) come only with prefixes.
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- Verbs of Motion: OverviewA2 — Russia's most distinctive verb subsystem. A handful of motion meanings come not as aspect pairs but as pairs of IMPERFECTIVE verbs split by directionality: unidirectional (one trip, one direction, in progress — идти́, е́хать) vs multidirectional (round trips, habits, general ability — ходи́ть, е́здить). Я иду́ в шко́лу (I'm on my way) vs Я хожу́ в шко́лу (I go / attend). The eight core pairs, why both members are imperfective, and how prefixes later build the perfective system.
- 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.
- Prefixed Verbs of Motion: How the System WorksB1 — The second half of the motion system. Adding a directional prefix (при-, у-, в-, вы-, под-, от-, до-, пере-, про-, за-, об-) does two things at once: it specifies a spatial direction AND converts the verb into an ordinary aspect pair. Prefix + UNIDIRECTIONAL stem = PERFECTIVE (прийти́ 'arrive'); prefix + MULTIDIRECTIONAL stem = its IMPERFECTIVE partner (приходи́ть). The unidirectional/multidirectional contrast is replaced by perfective/imperfective — the structural pivot that makes the whole prefixed system tractable.
- Figurative and Idiomatic Uses of Motion VerbsB2 — Russian's motion verbs are massively idiomatic. Дождь идёт ('it's raining'), Речь идёт о… ('we're talking about'), Тебе́ идёт ('it suits you'), Мне везёт ('I'm lucky'), нести́ чушь ('talk nonsense'), доро́га ведёт ('the road leads'). Grouped by verb, these high-frequency idioms where the motion verb has bleached into abstract meaning.
- Verbs with Two Imperfectives (and Aspect Triplets)B2 — Prefixation creates a new perfective that then needs its own imperfective, so one root can span an imperfective–perfective–secondary-imperfective triplet (писа́ть → переписа́ть → перепи́сывать); a few roots even have two competing imperfectives with different nuance (the neutral base vs. an iterative -ывать form), and the archaic frequentatives (ха́живал 'used to go') survive in literature.
- Motion-Verb ErrorsB1 — The three deadliest motion-verb mistakes English speakers make: using идти́ (on foot) for a trip you'd take by vehicle (Я иду́ в Москву́ → е́ду/лечу́), using идти́ for a daily routine instead of multidirectional хожу́ (ка́ждый день), and using the perfective пошёл for an ordinary round-trip outing where Russian wants ходи́л. Plus the imperative trap: е́хать has no *Е́хай — say Поезжа́й!