Questions & Answers about Сегодня я иду пешком на работу.
Word by word:
- Сегодня – today
- я – I
- иду – I go / I am going (on foot) – present tense, 1st person singular of идти
- пешком – on foot / by walking
- на работу – to (the) work / to my workplace
- на – to / onto (here: direction towards a place)
- работу – work in the accusative case (shows direction: to work)
Both иду and пойду come from the verb идти (to go on foot), but:
- иду – imperfective, present tense: I am going / I go (on foot)
- пойду – perfective, future tense: I will go (on foot)
In this sentence:
- Сегодня я иду пешком на работу. – Focus on the process: Today I’m (going / will be going) to work on foot.
- Сегодня я пойду пешком на работу. – Focus on the fact/decision: Today I will (at some point) go to work on foot.
Both are possible, but иду sounds more like a planned, arranged or “scheduled” action (similar to English I’m walking to work today), while пойду is more like I will (choose to) walk to work today.
Russian has two basic verbs for “to go (on foot)”:
- идти (я иду) – one direction, one specific trip, or a trip in progress
- ходить (я хожу) – habitual, repeated, or multi-directional movement
So:
- Сегодня я иду пешком на работу. – Today I’m (going) walking to work (one specific trip, today).
- Я хожу на работу пешком. – I walk to work (on foot) [as a habit].
Because сегодня refers to today as a single occasion, иду (one-time movement) is correct.
By default, идти / идти пешком is “to go on foot / to walk”.
For transport, Russian normally uses ехать / ездить, not идти:
- Я иду на работу. – I’m going to work (on foot).
- Я еду на работу. – I’m going to work (by some vehicle: bus, car, etc.).
In casual speech some people might use идти more loosely for “going somewhere”, but grammatically and in standard usage:
- идти → on foot
- ехать → by transport
You’re right that иду already strongly suggests walking. Adding пешком:
- Emphasizes the means: specifically on foot, not by bus, car, etc.
- Makes it clearer for learners or in contexts where “going” might be ambiguous.
- Is very natural-sounding; Russians often say both together.
So:
- Сегодня я иду на работу. – Context usually implies walking, but it’s not 100% explicit.
- Сегодня я иду пешком на работу. – Explicit: I am walking there on foot (not using transport).
Пешком is an adverb meaning on foot. It:
- Does not decline (no cases, no gender, no plural).
- Does not change for person or tense.
- Functions like other adverbs of manner (e.g. быстро – quickly, медленно – slowly).
So you always use пешком in this exact form:
- Я иду пешком. – I’m going on foot.
- Мы ходим на работу пешком. – We walk to work on foot.
- Они вернулись пешком. – They came back on foot.
The choice of preposition with places is often idiomatic in Russian. For “to one’s workplace” the standard phrase is:
- на работу – to work (as a place you go to)
Patterns:
- идти на работу – to go to work
- идти на почту – to go to the post office
- идти на рынок – to go to the market
- идти в школу – to go to school
- идти в магазин – to go to the store
в работу is possible but has a different meaning: “into the work” in an abstract sense, e.g. вступать в работу (to start functioning).
к работе would mean “towards the work/workplace” in a very literal, spatial sense and is not how people say “go to work” in everyday Russian. The natural fixed phrase is на работу.
With verbs of motion, Russian uses:
- Accusative for direction / destination: to where?
- Prepositional for location / place: where?
Because на работу means “to work” (direction), работа goes into accusative:
- Я иду на работу. – I’m going to work. (direction → accusative)
- Я на работе. – I’m at work. (location → prepositional)
So:
- на работу – to work (accusative)
- на работе – at work (prepositional)
Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and all of these are grammatically correct:
- Сегодня я иду пешком на работу. – neutral, very natural.
- Сегодня я пешком иду на работу. – slight emphasis on on foot.
- Я сегодня иду пешком на работу. – emphasis a bit more on today.
- Я иду сегодня пешком на работу. – also okay, but less neutral-sounding.
- Я иду на работу пешком сегодня. – possible, but feels somewhat marked; сегодня usually comes earlier.
The safest, most neutral versions for a learner are:
- Сегодня я иду пешком на работу.
- Я сегодня иду пешком на работу.
Yes, you can. In Russian the verb ending -у / -ю in иду already shows the subject is “I”, so:
- Сегодня я иду пешком на работу.
- Сегодня иду пешком на работу.
Both are grammatically correct.
Differences:
- Including я is neutral and common in simple statements.
- Dropping я often sounds a bit more informal or contextual, like an answer to a question:
- Как ты добираешься до офиса? – How are you getting to the office?
- Сегодня иду пешком на работу. – Today I’m walking to work.
For a habitual action, you must switch from идти to ходить:
- Я хожу на работу пешком каждый день. – I walk to work on foot every day.
Structure:
- Я хожу – I (habitually) go (on foot)
- на работу – to work
- пешком – on foot
- каждый день – every day
Using иду here (Я иду на работу пешком каждый день) sounds wrong, because иду describes one specific movement, not a regular habit.
Yes. With verbs of motion, present tense in Russian is very often used for near future plans, similar to English “I’m going to …” / “I’m …ing (later)”:
- Завтра я иду к врачу. – I’m going to the doctor tomorrow.
- Сегодня вечером мы идём в кино. – We’re going to the cinema this evening.
- Сегодня я иду пешком на работу. – Today I’m (going to) walk to work.
Context will show whether you are already on your way or just talking about what will happen later today. Both readings are natural.
- Сегодня – se-VO-dnya
- Stress on во: сего́дня
- иду – ee-DOO
- Stress on ду: иду́
- пешком – pyesh-KOM
- Stress on ком: пешко́м
- The шк cluster is pronounced like “shk” in English “hush + k”.
- работу – ra-BO-too
- Stress on бо: рабо́ту
Saying the whole sentence with correct stress:
Сего́дня я иду́ пешко́м на рабо́ту.