Thread: Они ездили в Париж!

Они ездили в Париж! - Confused about why ездили (the Imperfective Indefinite is being used rather than the Perfective). From the short section I read on the subject;

if its a one time action that is to be completed immediately or has been completed it is Perfective?

Imperfective is if it's either in process, common process etc...

Also what's more confusing than it not being in the Perfective is that it is not the Definite Imperfective (Ездили), rather in the Indefinite (Ехали)

I always assume Rosetta Stone is correct as it hasn't let me down so far, so what is the reason for this.

EDIT: The prior sentence was "Они едут в Париж"

Thanks for your help

The way I understand it, ездили is used because they went to Paris (and then came back again). If they went to Paris and were still there, it'd be different. ("Они поехали в Париж" ?) Someone else will be able to give you a better answer - I've been lazy with my grammar!

Imperfective verbs of motion in Russian can be "unidirectional" or "multidirectional":

Verbs of Going: Unidirectional and Multidirectional (идти vs ходить). Present Tense forms of идти, ходить, ехать, ездить). Past Tense of Going Verbs. Introduction

Russian Topics: Movement Verbs

I think the question was why an imperfective verb (and not a perfective one) was used.

I do not know an exact rule for that, but I'll try to explain how I feel it.

I thought over that, and I think we use imperfective verbs when we want to express a general experience in the past.

So, "Мы ездили в Париж" - it's a kind of "general experience" meaning roughly "We have an experience of visiting Paris".

That is not limited by the verbs of motion. Any other verb can be used like that:

- Ты знаешь, это интересная книга! - You know, this is an interesting book.

- Да, я знаю, я читал её. - Yes, I know, I read it. (I have an experience of reading the book).


I believe grammar books might provide some better explanation, but that is what first comes to my mind.

Hmm see thats what confuses me because... if you know the book, and you've already read it (so it is a completed action that happened in the past) I would of it was "да, я знаю, я уже прочитал(а) её"

Ahhh just as I was writing the next part I read that imperfective can express a lack of result. So is this sort of saying I have read but not finished the book? or just purely leaving it open to interpretation. I mean if a Russian said your posted sentence and you wanted to know if they had finished, is this sentence not enough to express that and you would have to ask.. "Did you just read a little or all?"

Also I've made a mistake in the original post. What I meant was how come it isn't in the DEFINITE IMPERFECTIVE (which is actually Ехали) like the sentence before [the program is trying to teach present/past/future at this point]. Instead it is in the INDEFINITE IMPERFECTIVE (Ездили)!

It's gone from they go to Paris in the definite (which i understand) to they went to paris... in the multidirectional/uncomplete! Mind-ебать

And with the trip to Paris you can't really, not have completed it

1. As to DEFINITE IMPERFECTIVE (Ехали) vs INDEFINITE IMPERFECTIVE (Ездили).
"Ехали" strictly denotes a movement with a single definite direction (Point A to Point B). "Мы ехали в Париж" means we were on our way to Paris. It is a unidirectional verb.
Here is an example when you can use it:
Когда мы ехали в Париж, мой друг учил меня французскому языку. - When we were on our way to Paris, my friend was teaching French to me.

When you mean a round-trip movement (e.g. Moscow-Paris-Moscow), you can never use "ехали". It is not a unidirectional verb.

"Мы ездили в Париж" means "We went to Paris (and then came back)".

2. Perfective vs Imperfective.

It is much harder to explain, as I wrote. But just keep in mind: Imperfective does not necessarily tells you the action was left incomplete. It rather tells nothing about its completeness. This is an important point.

So, "Я читал эту книгу" can be ambiguous in Russian. It can assume:
"I have an experience of reading this book in a certain moment in the past", and
"I started reading it did not finish".

The context easily clears it up.

And the sentence "Мы ездили в Париж" can hardly mean "we went to Paris but failed to reach it" So, it's a very natural way to express, and it just means "we have been to Paris".

If you want to describe some specific period of your life, e.g. how you spent your vacation, you are welcome to use the perfective form:
"Мы съездили в Париж" - we performed (successfully) our trip to Paris.

The difference between "ездили" and "съездили" is very subtle here. I can feel it, but do not know a good way to express it in English, sorry.


And as to your example,
"да, я знаю, я уже прочитал(а) её"
and
"да, я знаю, я уже читал(а) её"
are both possible and mean nearly the same.

I think this is a point where non-native speakers who know Russian well can drop more light than we, natives

Ah yes I suppose by my logic it would be like saying, I went to read the book but didn't however this isn't the case. So the fact that the FRANCE trip happened is always true no matter which you use. However if you used the DEFINITE it couldn't mean that you ever came back. Like one of the earlier comments said, would it be then possible to use ехали to denote that you never came back (although I guess when put in context that could also be shown using the perfective, as a complete trip could also mean a complete move to France).

ShakeyX, your logic is not quite correct again. I have almost written a long explanation with examples, but it disappeared before I clicked "Send" It sometimes happens on this forum. I think I pressed some button accidentally. I should rather use MS Word to edit long posts...

I can repeat the explanation, but maybe tomorrow. I feel very frustrated now.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

ShakeyX, your logic is not quite correct again. I have almost written a long explanation with examples, but it disappeared before I clicked "Send" It sometimes happens on this forum. I think I pressed some button accidentally. I should rather use MS Word to edit long posts...

I can repeat the explanation, but maybe tomorrow. I feel very frustrated now.

Try to click "Go Advanced" instead of "Post Quick Reply" this prevents post disappearing due to logout timeout.