Categories: "Time phrases"

Понедельник

by Don  

The word for Monday in Russian is понедельник. First a bit of history. The verb "to do" is делать. "To not do" thus is «не делать», and in ancient Russian one of the words for Sunday was неделя "the day on which you do nothing". The preposition по means after, and the suffix -ник forms a noun, thus the word понедельник means "the day after Sunday." Cool, huh? Of course nowadays nobody thinks about that history when they say понедельник. They just think of the first day of the week.

Some Americans say things like "I hate Mondays." The most common phrase about Monday in Russian is «Понедельник — день тяжёлый» "Monday is a tough day."

Though it is easy to memorize the days of the week in Russian, English speakers will need to keep in mind the prepositions that are used with them. If you want to say that something happened (or will happen) on a particular Monday, then you want the preposition в followed by the accusative case:

В понедельник я ходил в японский ресторан. On Monday I went to a Japanese restaurant.

If you go there every Monday, then you want the preposition по followed by the dative plural:

По понедельникам я всегда хожу в японский ресторан. On Mondays I always go to a Japanese restaurant.

If something started on Monday and is still continuing, you want the preposition с followed by the genitive case:

С понедельника мой сын страдает поносом. My son has been suffering from diarrhea since Monday.

And if you want to give a range of days over which something will happen, for the starting day you use с + genitive and for the ending day you use the preposition по + accusative:

С пятницы по понедельник я буду кататься на лыжах, а во вторник я вернусь домой.¹ I'll be skiing Friday through Monday, and on Tuesday I'll return home.

Last but not least, of course, you use the word in the nominative case when answering what day of the week it is:

— Какой сегодня день недели?
— Сегодня понедельник.
"What day is it today?"
"Today is Monday."

¹ Some of my native speaker informants prefer the preposition до + genitive in this context along with the adverb включительно inclusively. Thus:

С пятницы до понедельника включительно я буду кататься на лыжах, а во вторник я вернусь домой.¹ I'll be skiing from Friday to Monday inclusively, and on Tuesday I'll return home.

Времена года, сезоны

by Don  

The Russian phrase for "season" in the sense of the time of year is «время года», literally "time of year," and the plural is «времена года» "times of year." There is also a borrowed word сезон with plural сезоны which means the same thing:

— Какое сейчас время года?
— Лето. Разве ты не знаешь времена года?
"What season is it?"
"Summer. Do you really not know your seasons?"
— Какой сейчас сезон?
— Лето. Разве ты не знаешь сезоны?
— Я из Аризоны. У нас только два сезона.
— Правда? Какие?
— «Лето» и «скоро-будет-лето».
"What season is it?"
"Summer. Do your really not know your seasons?"
"I'm from Arizona. We only have two seasons."
"Really? What are they?"
" 'Summer' and 'soon-it-will-be-summer' ."

If you want to specify that something happens during a season, then you use the preposition в followed by the accusative case:

Как я люблю осень! В это время года я люблю гулять, смотреть, как oпадают листья. I really love autumn! During this season I love to take walks and watch the leaves fall.
— Я ненавижу аризонское лето. В этот сезон невозможно заниматься спортом на улице.
— Неправда, можно, но надо надевать шапку, смазывать себя противосолнечным кремом, и носить с собой большую бутылку воды.
"I hate Arizona's summer. During this season you can't play sports outside."
"That's not true. You can, but you have to put on a hat, use sunscreen, and carry a big bottle of water with you."

Note that if you use the names of the seasons—весна, лето, осень, зима—then those seasons go into the instrumental case when you mean "during that particular season":

Осенью я люблю гулять, смотреть, как опадают листья. In the autumn I love to take walks and watch the leaves fall.
Летом нельзя заниматься спортом на улице. In the summer you can't play sports outside.

One last quirk of the seasons is their starting date. In the States we say that winter starts on December 21st or 22nd. In Russia all the seasons start on the first of the month, so winter starts on the 1st of December.

Осень начинается первого сентября. Fall begins on September first.
Зима начинается первого декабря. Winter begins on the first of December.
Весна начинается первого марта. Springs starts on March first.
Лето начинается первого июня. Summer starts on the first of June.

Ночь (часть вторая)

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.

Число (часть третья)

by Don  

The other day we discussed the usage of число to mean date in the sense of the first of the month, the second, etc. That's pretty straight-forward as far as discussing today/tomorrow/yesterday's date is concerned. But if you want to talk about the date on which something takes place, that's trickier. In that context the date goes into the genitive case, and despite the use of ‘on’ in an English context, no preposition is used in Russian:

Пятого я был в Туле. On the fifth I was in Tula.

In Russian if you want to clarify the date on which something occurs, you can ask the question «Какого числа?» For instance:

— Какого числа родился твой отец?
— Первого мая.
“On what date was your father born?”
“He was born on the first of May.”

Although the «какого числа» question is perfectly grammatical, it's a bit more common to simply use когда. Both approaches are perfectly grammatical. I have the impression that Russian say «какого числа» more frequently than English speakers say “on what date”:

— Какого числа вы родились?
— Я родилась четвёртого апреля.
“On what date were your born?”
“I was born on April fourth.”
— Когда вы родились?
— Я родилась четвёртого апреля.
“When were your born?”
“I was born on April fourth.”

In English we say things like “Christmas is December 25th.” In Russian you always put the date in the genitive, you never leave it simply in the nominative:

Рождество — двадцать пятого декабря. Christmas is December twenty-fifth. or
Christmas is on December twenty-fifth.

For the sake of thoroughness, here is a sample sentence with all thirty-one dates:

Мы будем в Туле первого.We will be in Tula on the first.
Мы будем в Туле второго.We will be in Tula on the second.
Мы будем в Туле третьегo.We will be in Tula on the third.
Мы будем в Туле четвёртого.We will be in Tula on the fourth.
Мы будем в Туле пятого.We will be in Tula on the fifth.
Мы будем в Туле шестого.We will be in Tula on the sixth.
Мы будем в Туле седьмого.We will be in Tula on the seventh.
Мы будем в Туле восьмого.We will be in Tula on the eighth.
Мы будем в Туле девятого.We will be in Tula on the ninth.
Мы будем в Туле десятого.We will be in Tula on the tenth.
Мы будем в Туле одиннадцатого.We will be in Tula on the eleventh.
Мы будем в Туле двенадцатого.We will be in Tula on the twelfth.
Мы будем в Туле тринадцатого.We will be in Tula on the thirteenth.
Мы будем в Туле четырнадцатого.We will be in Tula on the fourteenth.
Мы будем в Туле пятнадцатого.We will be in Tula on the fifteenth.
Мы будем в Туле шестнадцатого.We will be in Tula on the sixteenth.
Мы будем в Туле семнадцатого.We will be in Tula on the seventeenth.
Мы будем в Туле восемнадцатого.We will be in Tula on the eighteenth.
Мы будем в Туле девятнадцатого.We will be in Tula on the nineteenth.
Мы будем в Туле двадцатого.We will be in Tula on the twentieth.
Мы будем в Туле двадцать первого.We will be in Tula on the twenty-first.
Мы будем в Туле двадцать второго.We will be in Tula on the twenty-second.
Мы будем в Туле двадцать третьего.We will be in Tula on the twenty-third.
Мы будем в Туле двадцать четвёртого.We will be in Tula on the twenty-fourth.
Мы будем в Туле двадцать пятого.We will be in Tula on the twenty-fifth.
Мы будем в Туле двадцать шестого.We will be in Tula on the twenty-sixth.
Мы будем в Туле двадцать седьмого.We will be in Tula on the twenty-seventh.
Мы будем в Туле двадцать восьмого.We will be in Tula on the twenty-eighth.
Мы будем в Туле двадцать девятого.We will be in Tula on the twenty-ninth.
Мы будем в Туле тридцатого.We will be in Tula on the thirtieth.
Мы будем в Туле тридцать первого.We will be in Tula on the thirty-first.

Число (часть вторая)

by Don  

The other day we discussed how to say things like “Today is the first.” Sometimes we want to include the month as well, and in Russian when we do that, the month must be put in the genitive case, but the date itself stays in the nominative:

Сегодня двадцать седьмое января. Today is January twenty-seventh. or
Today is the twenty-seventh of January.

Putting the month in the genitive is tricky at first because some of the months are end-stressed nouns; that is, when you put them in an oblique case, the stress shifts to the first syllable of the grammatical ending:

Nominative Genitive
январь января
февраль февраля
март марта
апрель апреля
май мая
июнь июня
июль июля
август августа
сентябрь сентября
октябрь октября
ноябрь ноября
декабрь декабря

A couple more examples:

Завтра будет первое сентября. Tomorrow is the first of September.
Вчера было тридцатое августа. Yesterday was August thirtieth.

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