In Russian, verbs referring to motion include 14 pairs of verbs. Each of those verbs differs from its pair in a systematic way. Sometimes, the label ‘determinate’ is used for one member of each pair and the name ‘indeterminate’ is use for the other member:
- the determinate verbs refer to motion in one direction (not necessarily in a straight line), often with a named destination. They usually refer to motion on a single occasion, but can express repeated actions if:
– stress is on movement in one direction; or
– the motion is part of a sequence of actions or processes. - the indeterminate verbs refer to motion as an activity in general (without referring to a particular direction or goal), motion in more than one direction, habitual motion, habitual return journeys or (in the past tense only) a single return journey.
Other labels sometimes used are:
- instead of determinate: directed, unidirectional, single direction, single trip;
- instead of determinate: undirected, multidirectional, round trip.
Table 1 lists the 14 pairs of Russian Verbs, giving both the Cyrillic spelling and a transliteration in the English Alphabet. I have used the transliteration that I think non-specialist English speakers will find easiest to understand. It is a hybrid of the 2 systems described at https://languagemiscellany.com/2025/08/transliterating-russian-into-english/
Table 1. Russian Verbs of motion
| Indeterminate | Determinate | Meaning |
| ходить khodit’ | идти idti | go by foot (walk) |
| ездить jezdit’ | ехать jekhat’ | go by vehicle (eg car, train, bus) |
| носить nosit’ | нести necti | carry (going on foot), wear |
| возить vozit’ | везти vezti | carry (by vehicle) |
| водить vodit’ | вести vesti | lead, accompany, drive (a car) |
| бегать begat’ | бежать bezhat’ | run |
| летать letat’ | лететь letet’ | fly |
| плавать plavat’ | плыть plyt’ | swim, sail |
| ползать polzat’ | ползти polzti | crawl |
| бродить brodit’ | брести bresti | stroll |
| лазить lazit’ | лезть lezt’ | climb |
| гонять gonjat’ | гнать gnat’ | chase, drive |
| таскать taskat’ | тащить tashchit’ | drag, pull |
| катать katat’ | катить katit’ | roll |
Timberlake (1993) expresses some doubt about whether 3 of the pairs (brodit’-bresit, lazit’-lezt’, katat’-katit’) are best viewed as indeterminate-determinate pairs.
Perfective and imperfective aspects
Most Russian verbs are a pair of linked verbs marking one of 2 ‘aspects’: ‘perfective’ or ‘imperfective’. Different aspects are different ways of depicting the event or state described by the verb. Speaking very roughly, the perfective aspect depicts an event or state as a single undivided whole, whereas the imperfective looks inside the event or state.
The general distinction between perfective and imperfective verbs is not the same as the distinction between determinate and indeterminate verbs of motion. The forms listed above (both determinate and indeterminate) are all imperfective.
Verbs of motion form their perfective with the prefix po-. Perfective determinate verbs of motion typically:
- mean ‘set off’, ‘depart’ without returning; or
- refer to the start of a new stage in a action already in progress, or a change in tempo.
Perfective indeterminate verbs of motion generally refer to a short action in the past or future. (Perfective verbs in Russian do not have a present tense.)
Compounds of verbs of motion
Many Russian verbs are derived by adding a prefix to a verb of motion. The imperfective of these derived verbs is based on the indeterminate member of the pair (6 verbs), on a slightly different stem (6 verbs, table 2), or on a stem that differs only in stress (бегать begat’; ползать polzat’).
Table 2. Indeterminate base forms for imperfective compounds
| Base for imperfective | Related indeterminate |
| -езджaть -jezzhat’ | ездить jezdit’ |
| -плывать -plyvat’ | плавать plavat’ |
| -брeдaть -bredat’ | бродить brodit’ |
| -лeзать -lezat’ | лазить lazit’ |
| -таскивать -taskivat’ | таскать taskat’ |
| -катывать -katyvat’ | катать katat’ |
The corresponding perfectives are derived from the determinate member of the pair. For идти (idti), the abbreviated base –ити (-iti) is used.
Other Slavonic languages
The distinction between determinate and indeterminate verbs of motion is an ancient distinction in the Slavonic languages. Huntley (1993) says that 6 pairs of verbs of motion are already attested in surviving documents written in Old Church Slavonic, a conservative liturgical language that arose before the end of the 1st millennium.
Pairs of determinate and indeterminate verbs are still present in the East Slavonic languages (Belarus, Ukrainian and Russian) and West Slavonic languages (including Polish, Czech and Slovak). The number of these pairs still present is between 9 (Polish and Slovak) and 20 (Ukrainian).
The distinction between determinate and indeterminate forms has been lost in the South Slavonic languages: Serbian, Croatian, (and Bosnian and Montenegrin), Bulgarian, Macedonian, though possibly with some vestiges in Slovene.
Sources
Comprehensive Russian Grammar, Terence Wade (1992)
Russian: a Linguistic Introduction, by Paul Cubberley (2000)
Russian, Alan Timberlake, in Comrie and Corbett (editors, 1993)
The Slavonic Languages, edited by Bernard Comrie and Greville G Corbett (1993)
The Slavic Languages, by Roland Sussex and Paul Cubberley (2006)
Old Church Slavonic, David Huntley in Comrie and Corbett (editors,1993)
Slavische Interkomprehension: Eine Einführung, by Karin Tafel, Rašid Durić, Radka Lemmen, Anna Olshevska, Agata Przyborowska-Stolz (2009)
Further Reading
Verbs of Motion in Russian, L Muravyova (1975, 2nd edition)