Two decisions before you can say you went anywhere: on foot or by vehicle, and this once or as a rule. Four verbs where English has one.
I can choose between the four verbs of motion by transport and by frequency, and use the prefixes that specify direction.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Зараз я іду на працу, а звычайна езджу.
Right now I am walking to work, though I usually take transport.
Ён ішоў праз лес і нёс кошык.
He was walking through the forest carrying a basket.
Заедзь да нас пасля працы.
Drop in on us after work.
Мы пераехалі ў новую кватэру летась.
We moved to a new flat last year.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Where English has "go", Belarusian makes you answer two questions first:
| This once, in one direction | As a rule, or there and back | |
|---|---|---|
| On foot | ісці - іду, ідзеш, ідзе | хадзіць - хаджу, ходзіш |
| By vehicle | ехаць - еду, едзеш | ездзіць - езджу, ездзіш |
Adding a prefix makes a perfective and specifies the direction:
| прыйсці / прыехаць | to arrive |
| пайсці / паехаць | to set off |
| выйсці / выехаць | to go out, to leave |
| зайсці / заехаць | to drop in |
| перайсці / пераехаць | to cross; to move house |
| абысці / абехаць | to go round |
Ісці is irregular in the past: ішоў, ішла, ішлі - and the masculine has no ending at all. The Russian form is no guide here.
The same on-foot / by-vehicle split runs through the verbs of carrying: несці to carry on foot against везці to transport, весці to lead someone on foot. Their past forms are the endingless нёс, вёз, вёў.
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: using one verb for all four cells because English has one word; and using the habitual form for something happening now (Зараз я хаджу instead of Зараз я іду).
Using one verb for all four cells
Decide twice: on foot or by vehicle, this once or as a rule.
Using хадзіць or ездзіць for something happening now
Now takes ісці or ехаць: Зараз я іду.
Writing the forms without дз
Ідзеш, ідзе, ходзіш, ездзіш - all with дз.
Using a Russian past form
Ішоў, ішла, ішлі. And нёс, вёз, вёў for carrying.
Зараз я іду на працу, а звычайна езджу.
Right now I am walking to work, though I usually take transport.
All four features in one sentence: now against usually, on foot against by vehicle.
Ён ішоў праз лес і нёс кошык.
He was walking through the forest carrying a basket.
Two endingless masculine pasts: <em>ішоў</em> and <em>нёс</em>, both on-foot verbs.
Заедзь да нас пасля працы.
Drop in on us after work.
The prefix <em>за-</em> means dropping in, and the vehicle root <em>-ехаць</em> says how.
Мы пераехалі ў новую кватэру летась.
We moved to a new flat last year.
<em>Пераехаць</em> covers both crossing and moving house - the context decides.
Кожную восень мы ходзім у лес па грыбы.
Every autumn we go to the forest for mushrooms.
<em>Кожную восень</em> makes it habitual and there-and-back, so <em>ходзім</em>.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
The current academic reference grammar; the linked edition serves the full text. Cited for its verb section, which treats the infinitive, transitivity and reflexivity before the conjugation paradigms, and gives the participle suffixes -уч- (-юч-), -ач- (-яч-) and -ш-, -ўш-, -т-, -н- alongside the gerund suffixes -ўшы, -шы and -учы (-ючы), -ачы (-ячы).
The academic reference grammar behind the phonology, orthoepy and morphology sections: the 32-letter inventory, дж and дз as digraphs rather than letters, and the normative description of akanne and jakanne. A print work; no URL is given, because the only one available is a library catalogue record that carries none of the text.