Archives for: May 2010, 12

Ночь (часть вторая)

May 12th, 2010 by Don

We previously discussed the word ночь, which means night in the sense of the time between midnight and roughly fourin the morning. To say something happens during that period, you put ночь into the instrumental case.

Ночами лучше не пить. Мудрые люди ночью спят. You shouldn't stay up late drinking. Wise people sleep at night.
Ночью все кошки серы. At night all cats are grey. (Russian proverb)

Since in English we usually call that period of time “early morning,” that leads to some curious translations. Notice how «поздно ночью», which literally means “late at night,” is best translated as “early in the morning”:

Наши соседи часто шумят поздно ночью. Я это ненавижу. Our neighbors often make noise early in the morning. I hate that.
Когда я был ребёнком, я каждый день вставал в три часа ночи и на велосипеде развозил газеты по району. When I was a little boy, I got up every morning at three and delivered newspapers all over the neighborhood.

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