Questions & Answers about Сейчас я иду в парк, а обычно я хожу туда пешком.
Why is it иду in the first part and хожу in the second part?
Russian has two basic verbs for going on foot:
- идти – movement right now / in one specific direction / one trip
- ходить – movement in general / habitually / back-and-forth or multiple times
So:
- Сейчас я иду в парк – иду: I’m (in the process of) going to the park now, one specific trip.
- Обычно я хожу туда пешком – хожу: I usually go there on foot, as a regular habit, many times.
English uses one verb (go) and expresses the difference with adverbs (now vs usually). Russian encodes part of that difference in the verb itself.
Could I say Сейчас я хожу в парк instead of Сейчас я иду в парк? What would it mean?
You can say Сейчас я хожу в парк, but it means something different:
- Сейчас я иду в парк – I’m on my way to the park right now / I’m just going there now.
- Сейчас я хожу в парк – Nowadays / at this period of my life, I go to the park regularly.
So сейчас can mean:
- “right now, at this moment” → then use иду
- “these days / at present (in my life)” → then use хожу to talk about a current habit
In your sentence, we clearly talk about the current trip, so иду is correct.