Colloquial Russian

Unit 10: The Arbat 143

Врéмя лети�т Time flies

Дела� иду�т хорошо� Things are going well

Идёт фильм A film is on

Шла торго�вля Trade took place

Verbs of motion in the past tense

The past tense of the following verbs is formed regularly:

ходи�ть, éздить, носи�ть, води�ть, вози�ть, бéгать, лета�ть, ехать,

бéгать, летéть

Irregular past tenses:

идти�: шёл, шла, шло, шли; нecти�: нёс, несла�, несло�, неcли�;

вести�: вёл, вела�, вело�, вели�; везти�: вёз, везла�, везло�, везли�

In the past and the future tense and when using the infinitive, the same
differences between the use of the (a) and (b) type verbs are observed
as in the present tense:

Ка�ждый день я éздил нa рабо�ту нa авто�бусе

‘Each day I went to work on the bus’ (repeated round trip).

Пи�тер бы�стро шёл пo у�лице к рестора�ну

‘Peter was walking quickly along the street towards the restaurant’

(single occasion and direction).

Пи�тер ужé два ра�за лета�л в Ло�ндон

‘Peter has already flown to London twice’.

Пи�тер ча�сто бу�дет лета�ть в Ло�ндон

‘Peter will often fly to London’.

Пи�тер лю�бит ходи�ть пo Арба�тy

‘Peter loves walking up and down the Arbat’.

Сейча�с он хо�чет идти� в кафé

‘Now he wants to go to a сafe’.

In the past tense only, the (a) verb may be used to describe a single
round trip:

Ма�ть ужé ходи�лa в го�род

‘Mother has already been to town.’