Thread: 'at that time' in russian

which of of the following is correct:

1) в это время

- or -

2) в это времю

the first one

Why the first one is correct ? What case is it ? I thought it should be accusative. In that case, shouldn't it be the second one ??

It is accusative, время is neuter.

Originally Posted by Johnroman

Why the first one is correct ? What case is it ? I thought it should be accusative. In that case, shouldn't it be the second one ??

I can't see a situation for "времю" at all.
в это время
нет времени
дорожить временем
what else?

Isn't 'at that time' more like в то время

очевидно кто-то не понимает, что слово «время» среднего рода а не женского.

«в то время» скорее всего лучший выбор, хотя «тогда» тоже подойдёт.

2Johnroman--
there is no such word времю.

For your homework, find all ten of the neuter nouns that end in -мя before posting again!! And learn them, who knows, you may ultimately have occasion to use вымя. Kidding....

Isn't 'at that time' more like в то время

They both mean the same thing.

They could have slightly different connotations depending on context (and intonation), especially when contrasting with each other (either explicitly or implicitly), but in isolation they're interchangable.

Google fight shows basically a dead heat, 'то' shades it by a whisker.

I am sure google has both quite popular, because they are both legimitimate phrases with different meanings!

в то время
At that time

в это время
At this time

I don't think they are completly interchangable

You could be right, but I don't think the это/ то distinction is as simple as English this/ that.

в то время - at that time (implicitly or explicitly contrasted with any other time)

в это время - at this/ that time (refers to a specific moment, but not necessarily contrasted with anything.)

So, the former is probably more likely to be translated as "at that time", in more contexts, but the latter could also legitimately have the same translation.

Or maybe I'm overcomplicating things.

No, I think scotcher is right. Russian sometimes uses это where we would use "that."