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

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".