Thread: About time in Russian..??

Who can explain for me the way to use time in Russian, for example when an event happens in an exactly year, month, day....how can I use it ?? And tutor me about ways to know What time is it? in Russian, thanx!!

Time of the day

What time is it? - Сколько (сейчас) времмени?
or - Который час?

(Right now) it is:
1 am - Сейчас час
2 am - Сейчас два часа
3 am - Сейчас три часа
4 am - Сейчас четыре часа
5 am - Сейчас пять часов
6 am - Сейчас шесть часов
7 am - Сейчас семь часов
8 am - Сейчас восемь часов
9 am - Сейчас девять часов
10 am - Сейчас десять часов
11 am - Сейчас одиннадцать часов
12 noon - Сейчас двенадцать часов or Сейчас полдень
1 pm - Сейчас тринадцать часов
2 pm - Сейчас четырнацать часов
3 pm - Сейчас пятнадцать часов
4 pm - Сейчас шестнадцать часов
5 pm - Сейчас семнадцать часов
6 pm - Сейчас восемнадцать часов
7 pm - Сейчас девятнадцать часов
8 pm - Сейчас двадцать часа
9 pm - Сейчас двадцать один час
10 pm - Сейчас двадцать два часа
11 pm - Сейчас двадцать три часа
12 midnight - Сейчас двадцать четыре часа or Сейчас полночь

This is the 24 hours clock.

If you want to use the 12 hour clock, in Russian they don't simply have am or pm, they will use the parts of the day (in the genitive): mornining, day, evening, night.

E.g. It's 9 am - Сейчас девять часов утра (It is 9 hours of the morning)
It's 9 pm - Сейчас девять часов вечера (It is 9 hours of the evening)

I'm not sure when you use each word but I THINK:
Ночь (night) = Midnight is from midnight to the early hours
Утро (morning) = Early hours until Noon
День (day) = Noon until 6
Вечер (evening) = 6 until midnight

I guessed them


If you want the easy way of doing time, this is like the 24 hours clock, and it is the same as in English saying "It is 5 hours and 10 mintues" for 5:10am.

It's 5:10 - Сейчас пять часов десять минут
It's 15:42 - Сейчас пятнадцать часов сорок две минуты

The more normal colloquial way of doing time is more complicated:

Between the hour and half past the hour

"It's 5 past 2" in Russian will be "It's 5 minutes of the third"
The hour is given in the genitive form of the ordinal number.
12am-1am is the first hour
1am - 2am is the second hour
2am - 3am is the third hour

Therefore, confusingly for English speakers, when you say "It is 20 minutes past 12(am)" you say "It is 20 minutes of the first"

It is 20 minutes past 12 (12:20) - Сейчас двадцать минут первого (It is 29 minutes of the first)
It is 29 minutes past 6 (6:29) - Сейчас двадцать девять минут седьмого (It is 29 minutes of the seventh)
It is 29 minutes past 6 (18:29) - Сейчас двадцать девять минут девятнадцатого (It is 29 minutes of nineteenth)

A quarter past the hour is either just "Fifteen minutes of the #th" or you use четверть

It is a quarter past 8 (8:15) - Сейчас пятнадцать минут девятого or Сейчас четверть девятого

Half past is Половина or shortened to Пол

It is half past ten (10:30) - Сейчас половина одиннадцатого or Сейчас пол-одиннадцатого

Between half past and the hour

For "It's ten minutes to seven" (6:50) you say "Without ten, seven"
Note how the hour in English and Russian matches again.

Without is Без, which requires the genitive case

It is ten to seven (6:50) - Сейчас без десяти семь
It is 25 to 12 (11:45) - Сейчас без двадцати пяти двенадцать
It is 23 to 4 (3:47) - Сейчас без двадцати трёх четыре
It is a quarter to 6 (5:45) - Сейчас без четверти шесть


If you think this is hard you should try Czech time.

Really you have to know your numbers. And how to use the genitive case and such.

and a question I want to ask you : When an event happens in an exact time, for ex : Я родилась в 1995-ом году.....it's smple . But if this sentence has both year, month, day.....What case i will use.?/? And tell me all instances.....please, thanx :P

With time it is like as follows:

они приехали без четверти два. (They came at 15 minutes to two.)
они приехали пять минут шестого. (They came at 5 after 5.)

With days of the week it is as follows:

они приехали в пятницу. (They came on Friday.)
они приехали во вторник. (They came on Tuesday.)

With seasons it is as follows:

они приехали зимой. (They came in the winter.)
они приехали летом. (They came in the summer.)
они приехали весной. (They came in the spring.)
они приехали осенью. (They came in the fall. )

With dates it is as follows:

они приехали второго мая. (They came on the 2nd of May.)

они приехали двадцать пятого декабря. (They came on the 25th of December.)

With months it is as follows:

они приехали в мае. (They came in May.)

они приехали в ноябре. (They came in November.)

With years it is as follows:

они приехали в тысяча девятьсот восемьдесят пятом году. (They came in 1985. )

Note: If the month and or date and year are stated, the year must be in genetive case.

они приехали в мае тысяча девятьсот семьдесят второго года. (They came in May of 1972.)

они приехали седьмого мая тысяча девятьсот семьдесят второго года. (They came on the 7th of May in 1972.)

ANd when you understand all of this, you can combine it ALL into one hell of a sentence.

они приехали без двадцати три, в четверг, зимой, четвертого декабя тысяча девятьсот шестьдесят четвертого года. (They came at 20 minutes to 3, on Thursday, in the winter, on the 4th of December in 1964.)

Well there ya go. You used the last of my energy. You should feel very blessed, because I spent so much time on you! Now I need to go recover and let my fingers rest. Good luck with the whole time thing.

Ps. Suggested books if you ever get a chance to get them.

Be sure to get Nicholas Maltzov "Essentials of Russian Grammar".

And also be sure to get the Barron's Russian Grammar Book by Natalia Lusin.

They are both good, with lots of stuff about time in them.

Originally Posted by TATY

It is 29 minutes past 6 (18:29) - Сейчас двадцать девять минут семнадцатого (It is 29 minutes of seventeenth)

Сейчас двадцать девять минут девятнадцатого
It is 29 minutes of nineteenth

Originally Posted by kwatts59

Originally Posted by TATY

It is 29 minutes past 6 (18:29) - Сейчас двадцать девять минут семнадцатого (It is 29 minutes of seventeenth)

Сейчас двадцать девять минут девятнадцатого
It is 29 minutes of nineteenth

When saying "X минут Y-го", 12-hour system is used, not 24-hour. It would be двадцать девять минут пятого и двадцать девять минут седьмого.

To say "during the day/morning/night/evening" or "during spring/summer/autumn/winter" the parts of the day and seasons are given in the instrumental. This can be seen in english too when we say "By day" or "By night"

During the morning / In the morning - утром

During the day / By day / In the daytime - днём

During the evening / In the evening - вечером

During the night / By night / At nightime - ночью

During (the) spring / In (the) spring - весной

During (the) summer / In (the) summer - летом

During (the) autumn (fall) / In (the) autumn (fall) - осенью

During (the) winter / In (the) winter - зимой

Every summer my parents and I go to the dacha
Каждым летом, мы с родителями ходим на дачу

I'm not sure about ходим. I think the choice of ходить vs. идти is right because it is a repeated action. But I'm not sure if I should have used ездить. I know sometimes you say ходить/идти even though you go by transport.

sorry everbody for my trouble, but I think....all of you are good-hearted.

I'm not sure about ходим. I think the choice of ходить vs. идти is right because it is a repeated action.

You're right. ходим is correct.

I'm not sure if I should have used ездить. I know sometimes you say ходить/идти even though you go by transport.

Im not 100% on this, but I think ездить would be better here. If there is a better word, someone please tell me. I would also like to know.

Originally Posted by saibot

I'm not sure if I should have used ездить. I know sometimes you say ходить/идти even though you go by transport.

Im not 100% on this, but I think ездить would be better here. If there is a better word, someone please tell me. I would also like to know.

Yes, you definitely need to use "ездить" here. If you use "ходить" it would mean that you walk to dacha.

During (the) summer / In (the) summer - лето

летом