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I am a little bit confused about the idea of driving short distances taking ходить (as in, I’m going to the coffee shop) and what amount of distance is needed before it becomes ездить. For example, how would you say that you are going/driving to the bus stop on the way to catch a train?

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    can't shake the feeling it belongs on fitness.stackexchange.com
    – Quassnoi
    Jan 25, 2021 at 22:50
  • on a more serious note, is there a chance you're thinking of the phrase автобус ходит?
    – Quassnoi
    Jan 25, 2021 at 22:52
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    А куда идёт этот автобус?😀 Поезд отходит от станции, набирая ход. Автобус ходит довольно регулярно.
    – V.V.
    Jan 26, 2021 at 9:50

2 Answers 2

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Well, it's quite straight-forward, "ездить" is always about going by car, by public transport etc. - in other words, it's never about walking. When one is saying "я езжу в это кафе часто" or "она ездит на остановку электрички" - it's never about going by foot, otherwise it would have been just "ходить".

On the other hand, "ходить" in phrases like "я хожу в это кафе уже лет пять" is not necessarily about walking but rather just visiting.

So, don't expect to get an answer like "if it's about 700 meters or less, it's ходить, otherwise it's ездить" - it's not about that at all.

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  • Thank you! So, to clarify, do you mean you use ходить if it’s a day trip and ездить if you drove somewhere and stayed more than one night or if the trip took many hours, like to another city - and the focus is on the process of the trip, not the destination? I’m confused because I thought for these situations you use идти or ездить?
    – Yelena
    Jan 27, 2021 at 5:22
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    No. You are concentrating on a wrong thing again.It is not about distance, and it is not about the trip duration either.
    – Giedrius
    Jan 28, 2021 at 20:15
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  • куда вы собрались?
  • мы идём в кино. in this situation we can use transport, but the verb still ИДТИ, because the distance is not important to us, the fact is important. - Мы идем в гости. (also possibly using transport)

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