Time in Russian
There are many different ways to talk about time in Russian. Let’s study the simplest and most universal ones for now.
· Утро (utro) – morning (5 am to noon is considered morning)
· День (dyen') – day (noon to 5 pm, but you would not be mistaken, using the word den’ (day) while talking about usual business hours)
· Вечер (vyechyer) – evening (usually time from 5 pm to 12 am is considered evening)
· Ночь (noch') – night (12 am to about 5 am is considered night)
· Полдень (poldyen') - noon
· Полночь (polnoch') – midnight
What time is it please?:
Скажите пожалуйста, который час? - Skazhite pozhalusta kotoryj chas?
Like most of Europe, Russia uses the 24-hour system for all kinds of official messages: train schedules, TV programs, working hours, and so on. So, instead of 3 p.m., you can sometime hear pyatnadtsdat’ chasov (15 o'clock).
In casual conversation, most people just use the 12-hour clock. To indicate a.m. say nochi or utra (literally: in the morning) and p.m. would be dnya (literally: in the day), vechera (in the evening) or nochi (at night).
Use the following terms to express the time between the hours:
Минута (minuta), Минут (minut), Час (chas) - (hour), Часов (chasov) - (hours).
Russians say "o'clock" when expressing time, just as in the United States.
The word “Час” or “Часов” can be ommited.
Follow these simple rules:
When the total number of hours or minutes ends with the following digits use these rules:
· 1 – час, минута
· 2, 3, 4 – часа, минуты
· 5-20, 30, 40, 50 – часов, минут
Practice:
1:32
4:41
5:23
2:12
3:24
12:55
2:00
8:30
6:40
10:22
12:43
Now try to say this:
6:30 am
2:15 am
3:45 pm
8:20 pm
4:00 am
11:36 am
11:19 pm
1:40 am
7:13 am
Interpret this:
18:00
21:30
13:05
1:11
5:00
20:15
10:00
00:00
19:45
12:30
17:25
