Thread: "I hope you had a good morning" - Я надеюсь, что у тебя была доброе утро ?

"Утро добрым не бывает" (народная мудрость). Так что мы едва ли зададим такой вопрос. Но, вообще, можно спросить "как прошёл период_времени?" (все надежды, что прошёл хорошо - подразумеваются, в вопросе слова "хорошо","приятно",... не фигурируют!)

Так что,

- Как прошло утро?
- Нормально. Выпил 3 чашки кофе, и мне полегчало.

Хотя, если подумать, мы можем поинтересоваться и "Как спалось?" и "Хорошо спалось?" (то, что это вопрос, а не утверждение, определяется по интонации). То есть, иногда всё-таки в вопросе содержится намёк на положительный ответ.

И предостережение американцам: утро в России начинается где-то в 4 часа, а не после 12:00 a.m.
Расходясь после вечеринки в час ночи (at 1:00 a.m.), следует говорить "Спокойной ночи", а не "С добрым утром"

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

утро в России начинается где-то в 4 часа

I disagree.
In Russian, the concepts of «утро, день, вечер и ночь» are not fixed. They depend on a person’s daily schedule, and different people may have different opinions when the night ends and the morning starts.

For those who are accustomed to waking up early, yes, 4:00 am can already be considered the morning. But not for everyone! As to me personally, I would say 4:00 am is still night time. Sometimes my friends and I have weekend parties which end later than 4:00 am, and we would not say that it’s already morning! Although, if I go to bed at 6:00 am, I would admit that it is a morning time. So, psychologically "my morning" starts somewhere between 4:00 am and 6:00 am (the border is not clearly defined), and "my day" starts somewhere between 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm.

Other people would say differently, though.

But the most common concept that «утро» is the period between someone’s wake up and the noon.

Now, you can see why «Как прошло утро?» is not a popular question in Russia. What do the most people usually do in the morning? They wake up, wash, clean their teeth, have some breakfast at home, or just a cup of tea/coffee, and leave for their work. And then they start their business activity, and … and it’s already the noon!

That’s why it is meaningless to ask «Как прошло утро?» in a normal situation (without a specific context).
On the other hand, it is perfectly fine to ask «Как прошёл день?» (when being asked in the evening time, вечером).
And it is perfectly fine to ask «Как прошёл вчерашний вечер?» (when being asked the next day).

And yes, "день" is usually the period between the noon and the end of business (the end of "день" can vary from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm or even 7:00 pm for some people).
"Вечер" is usually one's free time (after the end of business and before going to bed). Usually "вечер" ends at 11:00 pm, for some people -at 12:00 am, for others - even at 10:00 pm. We never use "ночь" for "вечер".
That explains why many Russians rarely use the English expression "tonight" although they understand what it means. They usually stick to saying "this evening", including myself

And "ночь" is normally the time for sleep. So, for me "ночь" is between 12:00 am and 5:00 am or 6:00 am.

To put it more accurately, this concept is not only linked to someone's daily schedule, it is somewhat of interrelation between:
- the daily schedule on the one hand,
- and the daily sun cycle on the other hand (so "ночь" is still associated with the dark time, "день" - with the sunny time, "утро" is somehow related to the sunrise and beginning of the sunny time, but not exactly, "вечер" is related to the sunset and twilight, but again, does not exactly coincide).
So, two factors matter of how someone understands утро, день, вечер и ночь.

And also have in mind: Russia is located mostly in high geographical latitudes, that leads to the big differences between day duration and night duration throughout the year (in winter the sunrise is late - 9 - 10 am, and the sunset is very early, it can be just after 4 pm in December; in summer the sunrise is very early - after 3 am in June, and the sunset is late - 10 - 11 pm). That is why you cannot fully rely on the daily sun cycle.

And that is why in the summer time I would agree 4:00 am is already morning, even if I am not in the bed yet. But in the winter I would never say 4:00 am is a morning, it is definitely night time to me.
However, sometimes when I go for a business trip, I have an early morning flight, and I have to wake up at 3:30 am to be in time at the airport for the check-in. In this case, I say 3:30 is the morning!

Sorry for the long post, it’s just an interesting subject to discuss.

When I first time was in the US, it surprised me a lot to hear "this morning" just a few minutes after the midnight!
And finally, a question to native English speakers:
I have never understood what is the difference between "evening" and "night" in English. It seems as you can use "night" for the whole evening period.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

And finally, a question to native English speakers:
I have never understood what is the difference between "evening" and "night" in English. It seems as you can use "night" for the whole evening period.

Боб -- first, thanks for the corrections! Is it really impossible to say Как проходило утро? I instinctively wanted to use the imperfective in order to emphasize the "whole process", instead of only the result.

And to answer your question: I would say that "evening" roughly corresponds to the time period from 5 PM to 9 PM. But that's only approximate, because people don't necessarily perceive "evening" in terms of exact "clock time." Rather, it may signify "from the time you leave work till after you've eaten dinner." It's also roughly tied to закат -- from the time when it's beginning to get dim, until the sun has completely set and it's dark as night.

But the expression "tonight" can cover both вечер and ночь. Like, if you say to a coworker "I have a date tonight," it means "Sometime after I leave work, and before I go to bed."

"I have a date this evening" is correct, but can sometimes sound overly-precise and uncolloquial. You could say it, though, if friends invite you to go out drinking after work, but you already have some sort of appointment: "I'm having dinner with my parents this evening, but I'll be free by 9:30 or so, and could join you guys then." (But in the case of a romantic date, saying "this evening" may sound pessimistic, as though you expect the date to end early -- so "tonight" sounds better!)

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Боб -- first, thanks for the corrections! Is it really impossible to say Как проходило утро? I instinctively wanted to use the imperfective in order to emphasize the "whole process", instead of only the result.

Throbert, yes, it is impossible (at least if used out of a specific context).
But there are some examples when it is possible:

1. (However it's used not as a question, but as a statement):
You write: "Как проходило моё утро:" and then write a long story with a detailed description of your morning activities.
So, the imperfective would consider the action in its time duration here.
But still, "Как прошло моё утро:" is also possible in this context.

If you refer to a single action, you might say "Моё утро проходило так:" or "Моё утро прошло так:" if describing its details.
But if you only give an appraisal of the process as a whole, you can only say "Моё утро прошло хорошо" or "Моё утро прошло неудачно" etc. - you do not view it "from inside the process", you view it "from outside" as a whole.

2. When it is perfectly possible, is when you refer to systematic actions.
Example: you come back from a business trip where you spent, say, a month. And you tell me a story about your life there. Then I would ask:
"А как проходило твоё утро?" - 'cause I mean not a single morning, but all your mornings within that period.

The usage of perf./imperf. aspects is sometimes very hard to explain. We just "feel" what sounds right and what sounds wrong. But we do not know all the rules
But I would say: when you describe "the whole process" from the "outside view", you use perfective. Imperfective somewhat changes you "reference frame" as if you were viewing the process from its inside.
We ask: "Как ты поработал?" "Как ты отдохнул?" etc. when we expect an appraisal (хорошо/плохо etc.), but we ask: "Как ты работал?" "Как ты отдыхал?" when we expect a description of process details.

And "Я работал хорошо" implies "I worked carefully, following all the technology rules, etc." when "Я поработал хорошо" implies "I achieved good results with my work".