This month

Hi there,

I came across the following sentence:
"Чем они занимаются в эти месяцы?"

в этом году - (in) this year
на этой неделе - this week
этим вечером - this evening
в этот день - this day (when?)
в этот момент - this moment (when?)
на данный момент - at this moment (e.g., indicating status on a request or w/e...)

What about "this month"?
в этом месяце OR в этот месяц?

If "в этом...", then why are they using "в эти..."? Regularity? Convention?

в этом месяце
в эти месяцы.

Эти - plural
месяцы - plural

So there is nothing irregular with the phrase ;)

I wanted to make sure it was used with the "sixth case" for singular forms, whereas the "fourth case/accusative" was used for plural.
That's why I was talking about "irregularities".

Alright, looks fine to me now. Thanks a lot!

Yes... it's fine. Example:

Июнь, июль и август обычно тёплые. В эти месяцы температура редко опускается ниже 15 градусов.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iCake

в этом месяце
в эти месяцы.

Эти - plural
месяцы - plural

So there is nothing irregular with the phrase ;)

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Indeed looks like "в этих месяцах" would be more consistent. But we do not ever take easy ways.

A very interesting question!

Moreover, I must admit, sometimes (in some contexts) we do say "в этот месяц" and "в этот год" (in accusative). Try googling "в этот месяц" and you'll see the results. So, it is not only the question of singular-plural. There is a subtle nuance in that.

I do feel some stylistic difference between "в этом месяце" and "в этот месяц". The former, I think, is nearly universal. The latter is used only in some contexts. It's very hard to find any explanation for that... I've never noticed it before :)

Any ideas are welcome!

В эту минуту я нахожусь с тобой.
В этой минуте, которую я проведу с тобой, мое утешение.

Russians diffirintiate easily because we always can ask "Когда?" or "В чем?" and it helps us to understand what case is used. But it won't help foreigners to understand the difference. I tried to look at this question through the rules when cases are to be used.

Acc

Quote:

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In certain expressions describing duration or frequency of an action,

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Prep

Quote:

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To indicate the time of an action with wordsгод (year), месяц (month), неделя (week)

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В эту минуту я нахожусь с тобой - duration?
В этой минуте - моё утешение - time of an action?

It still seems confusing as for me they seem to mean vise versa.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

A very interesting question!
Try googling "в этот месяц" and you'll see the results. So, it is not only the question of singular-plural. There is a subtle nuance in that.

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No idea, but I'm somewhat reluctant about consulting Google when it comes to the frequency of words/formulations. There seems to be a divergence as to the frequency of some words etc. I tend to consult Yandex for that kinda things as well - It's still not the best way to solve an issue. But yea, comes in handy to see what the interwebs thinks.

Bottom line is, yeah, you're right, I did google and "yandex" (to yandex...^^) -

Kewl, it occured to me that this question was a straight forward thing - turns out there is some room for debate. Appreciated.