Questions & Answers about Сейчас я еду домой.
Russian has different verbs for going on foot and going by transport:
- идти – to go on foot, one direction, right now (walking)
- ехать – to go by some vehicle (car, bus, train, bike, etc.), one direction, right now
Я иду домой = I’m going home on foot.
Я еду домой = I’m going home by transport.
So Сейчас я еду домой implies you’re using some kind of transport, not walking.
There are actually two related verbs:
- ехать – one-time / one-direction motion by transport
- я еду
- ты едешь
- он/она едет
- ездить – habitual / repeated / multi-direction motion
- я езжу
- ты ездишь
- он/она ездит
In this sentence, you are talking about what is happening now, in one direction, this trip, so Russian uses ехать → еду.
If you were talking about a habit, you might use ездить:
- Я каждый день езжу домой на автобусе.
I go home by bus every day.
Both have to do with going by transport, but:
ехать (uni-directional)
- One trip, one direction, “in the process” of going
- Often used for right now or a clearly single upcoming trip
- Я еду домой. – I am going home (now).
ездить (multi-directional / habitual)
- Repeated trips, round trips, habits, general ability
- Я езжу домой на машине. – I (usually) go home by car.
In your sentence, it’s this specific trip, happening now, so еду (from ехать) is correct.
Both contain the idea of “to the home / house”, but they’re not the same:
домой – “(to) home” in a general sense: to my home / to where I live.
- No preposition.
- Very common, natural in everyday speech.
- Я еду домой. – I’m going home.
в дом – literally into the (physical) building / house.
- Has preposition в
- accusative дом.
- Used when focusing on entering a specific building.
- Мы вошли в дом. – We went into the house.
- Has preposition в
So домой is the normal word for “home(ward)”, especially when talking about going home in a personal, everyday sense.
Historically it comes from дом with a directional ending, but in modern Russian it is best treated as an adverb of direction (“home, homeward”).
You can think of it like English home in “go home”:
- English: “go home” (no preposition)
- Russian: идти/ехать домой (no preposition)
So for practical purposes:
- Don’t try to decline домой; just memorize it as a fixed directional form meaning “(to) home”.
You can, but it means something a bit different:
- Я еду домой. – I’m going home (to the place where I live).
- Я еду в дом. – I’m going into the house (the building).
В дом focuses on the physical building and the action of entering it.
Домой focuses on the idea of home (where you live), not just any house.
So in most everyday “going home” situations, домой is the natural choice.
Both sentences are correct, but they give slightly different emphasis:
Сейчас я еду домой.
- Emphasis a bit more on “right now”.
- Almost like: “Right now, I’m going home.”
Я сейчас еду домой.
- Neutral, natural “I’m going home now.”
- Emphasis more on “I (am the one who) am going home now” in contrast to others, depending on context.
In everyday speech, Я сейчас еду домой is perhaps more common, but Сейчас я еду домой is also completely natural. Russian word order is relatively flexible; stress is on what is placed earlier for focus.
Yes, you can.
Russian often omits subject pronouns when the verb ending already makes the subject clear. Еду can only be “I go (by transport)”, so я is understood.
- Сейчас еду домой. – (I’m) going home now.
Using я makes the subject more explicit and can sound a bit more emphatic or formal, but both versions are correct.
Both can be translated as “now”, but:
сейчас
- Often means “right now, at this moment”, more immediate.
- Very common in spoken language for the present moment.
- Сейчас я еду домой. – I’m going home right now.
теперь
- Often means “now, as opposed to before”, after some change.
- Implies a contrast with a previous situation.
- Теперь я еду домой. – Now (as opposed to earlier), I’m going home.
So:
- If you just mean the current moment → сейчас is the default.
- If you want to stress a change (“before I was at work, now I’m going home”) → теперь is a good choice.
Russian doesn’t have a separate continuous/progressive tense. The simple present of an imperfective verb usually covers both:
- English I go / I am going
- Russian я еду / я иду / я читаю, etc.
So:
- Я еду домой. can correspond to:
- “I go home” (as a commentary)
- much more commonly: “I am going home (now).”
Context tells you whether it’s right now or habitual. Adding сейчас clearly marks that it’s about right now.
The difference is aspect and time:
я еду домой (imperfective present)
- I am (in the process of) going home now.
- Action is ongoing.
я поеду домой (perfective future)
- I will go home (by transport).
- Future action, focusing on the fact it will happen once.
With сейчас:
Сейчас я еду домой.
- I’m going home now (already on my way).
Сейчас я поеду домой.
- I’m about to go home now / I’ll go home now (in a moment, starting soon).
So:
- еду = already moving.
- поеду = will start moving (very soon or in general future).
Stresses (marked in caps here) and approximate sounds:
- СейЧАС – [sʲɪˈt͡ɕas]
- я – [ja]
- Еду – Е is stressed: [ˈjedʊ]
- доМОЙ – final syllable stressed: [dɐˈmoj]
Together (roughly):
- [sʲɪˈt͡ɕas ja ˈjedʊ dɐˈmoj]
Main stresses:
- сейЧАС
- Еду
- доМОЙ