Thread: What's the difference between зайди́ and войди́?

"Зайди" - we can cay - зайди за дерево, зайди за угол - to move behind some object.

Originally Posted by dondublon

"Зайди" - we can cay - зайди за дерево, зайди за угол - to move behind some object.

Does this not require the instrumental? I read somewhere that за meaning 'behind' takes instrumental. Maybe I am wrong?

Originally Posted by krwright

Does this not require the instrumental? I read somewhere that за meaning 'behind' takes instrumental. Maybe I am wrong?

No, it uses accusative.

Originally Posted by krwright

Does this not require the instrumental? I read somewhere that за meaning 'behind' takes instrumental. Maybe I am wrong?

I don't understand exactly, but this phrases doesn't require anything.

Originally Posted by krwright

Does this not require the instrumental? I read somewhere that за meaning 'behind' takes instrumental. Maybe I am wrong?

Consider this a difference the same as between "in" and "into", "at" and "to". Just like "на" and "в" require Prepositional for expressing a location and Accusative for describing a detination of movement, "за" takes a noun in Accusative when you are describing motion with a goal to get behind something. When you are simply telling the position behind some object, it takes Instrumental. Even when the position is not itself static Eg. "За мной!" which can be used as "follow me" or "иди за мной"... doesn't matter much when used as a command).

Originally Posted by Shady_arc

Consider this a difference the same as between "in" and "into", "at" and "to". Just like "на" and "в" require Prepositional for expressing a location and Accusative for describing a detination of movement, "за" takes a noun in Accusative when you are describing motion with a goal to get behind something. When you are simply telling the position behind some object, it takes Instrumental. Even when the position is not itself static Eg. "За мной!" which can be used as "follow me" or "иди за мной"... doesn't matter much when used as a command).

This was the clarification I was looking for. Спасибо большое!

Originally Posted by Shady_arc

for describing a destination of movement, "за" takes a noun in Accusative when you are describing motion with a goal to get behind something. When you are simply telling the position behind some object, it takes Instrumental.

Yes -- and you can generalize this for certain other prepositions like над ("over") and под ("under") -- instrumental for static position, accusative for motion.

Also, note:

Он сидел за столом. (He was sitting at [lit. "behind"] the table.)
Он сел за стол. (He sat down at the table.)

The latter uses the accusative because "to sit down" implies movement, even though it's not one of the "Verbs Of Motion".