Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site osu-eddie.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!cbosgd!apr!osu-eddie!allen
From: allen@osu-eddie.UUCP (John Allen)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Slavic aspects (Russian Motion Verbs)
Message-ID: <444@osu-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 10-Jul-85 16:24:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: osu-eddi.444
Posted: Wed Jul 10 16:24:29 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 12-Jul-85 04:01:14 EDT
References: <10394@rochester.UUCP>
Organization: Ohio State Univ., CIS Dept., Cols, Oh.
Lines: 76


> I believe some of the less common Slavic
> aspects show up much more often in Russian. (There are entire
> dictionaries devoted to nothing but Russian verbs of motion, because
> they are so irregular!)

> Stu Friedberg   {seismo, allegra}!rochester!stuart  stuart@rochester

    The Russian verbs of motion are not at all irregular (well not very
anyhow).  They are completely consistent within this group of verbs and are
very similar to the other verbs of Russian.  They only look irregular
because they often have stems that end in consonants and because they
require a distinction which is meaningless for other verbs.
    All Russian verbs have a perfective/imperfective pair.  The perfective
has only a past and a future which are formed similarly to the Czech verbs;
the imperfective has a past, present, and future which, again, are formed
similarly to those in Czech.  The verbs of motion differ in that the
imperfective can be expressed with either of two verbs which are often
labelled determinate/indeterminate.  So, each verb of motion has three
different verbs associated with it.  For example.

              IMPERFECTIVE                    PERFECTIVE
     INDETERMINATE     DETERMINATE

        khodit'           idti                  pojti          `walk, go'
        plavat'           plyt'                 poplyt'        `swim'
        nosit'            nesti                 ponesti        `carry by
                                                                    hand'
        vozit'            vezti                 povezti        `carry by
                                                                    vehicle'
          .
          .
          .

[I'm not positive about all of the forms, but the general idea is there]

    The difference between the use of the determinate and the indeterminate
is very hard to describe completely.  In very simple terms the determinate
is used for "uni-directional" motion.  That is, motion in one direction
towards a specific goal.  In practice, the motion doesn't have to be one
direction, but does have to be towards a specific goal.

    Ya shel v magazin.   `I was going to the store [ but I stopped at
                                library, the newspaper stand, the high
                                school, etc.]'

[ shel is the (masc.) past form of idti]

The motion is not in one direction, but is towards the specific goal of
reaching the store (eventually).
    The indeterminate is used for "multi-directional".  This can be split
into several different subgroups

    1) Repeated action.
                Kazhdyj den', ya khozhu v universitet.
                `Every day, I walk to the university.'
    2) Habitual action.
                Ya khozhu v universitet.
                `[In general] I walk to school.'
    3) Round trips.
                Ya khodil v magazin.
                `I went to the store[, but now I'm back].'
    4) Ability.
                Moj syn khodet.
                `My son is walking (can walk).

    In truth the choice between determinate/indeterminate is much more
complicated, but these guidelines are very useful for most practical
purposes.

    I hope this helps.

                                        John Allen
					Ohio State University
					(UUCP: cbosgd!osu-eddie!allen)
					(CSNet: allen@ohio-state)