Categories: "Time phrases"
Долго
The word долго means “for a long time,” but it's not the same as давно. Now here is a subtle bit. If an activity has been going on for a long time, but you don't really think of it in terms of starting “a long time ago,” then you use долго instead of давно:
Мы с братом долго говорили о его новой квартире. | My brother and I talked about his new apartment for a long time. |
Мы будем долго работать в Архангельске. | We are going to be working in Arkhangelsk for a long time. |
Приходится сегодня вечером долго учиться. Завтра будет экзамен, и я абсолютно ничего не знаю. | I'll have to study for a long time this evening. Tomorrow is the exam, and I know absolutely nothing. |
Some people will sloppily translate a sentence like «Мы долго ехали из Москвы во Владивосток» word for word as “We were riding from Moscow to Vladivostok for a long time,” but it's better to paraphrase the sentence thus: “It took a long time to go from Moscow to Vladivostok.” Other examples:
Мы долго строили дом. | It took us a long time to build the house. |
Мы долго будем разбираться в этой ситуации. | It will take us a long time to figure out this situation. |
It's possible to find долго and давно in similar-looking past tense sentences, but their meanings are quite distinct:
Мы давно жили в Москве. | We lived in Moscow a long time ago. |
Мы долго жили в Москве. | We lived in Moscow for a long time. |
Витя давно служил на подводной лодке. | Victor served on a submarine a long time ago. |
Витя долго служил на подводной лодке. | Victor served on a submarine for a long time. |
Давно
Russian-speaking Americans often confuse the words давно and долго. Today we will deal with the former. The first meaning of давно is something like “a long time ago.” In this sense it sometimes becomes давным-давно, meaning “a very long time ago”:
Давным-давно люди жили в пещерах. | A very long time ago people lived in caves. |
Я раньше жил в Туле, но это было уже давно. | I used to live in Tula, but that was a long time ago. |
Я давно купил эту книгу. | I bought this book a long time ago. |
— Твой брат холостой? — Нет, он давно женился. |
“Is your brother single?” “No, he got married a long time ago.” |
Давно is sometimes also translated as “for a long time” in certain senses, but there is a quirk in translating verb tenses between English and Russian with that sense. If you are talking about an activity that still goes on, and that activity began a long time ago, then in English you will often use the present perfect progressive tense, and the equivalent Russian sentence is put in the present tense and uses the phrase давно:
Я давно живу в Москве. | I have been living in Moscow for a long time. |
— Ты играешь на рояле? — Да, на рояле я играю уже давно. |
“Do you play the piano?” “Yes, I have been playing the piano for a long time.” |
For some verbs you will see the present perfect (see note) instead of present perfect progressive:
— Ты давно знаешь Борю? — Да, я его знаю уже двадцать пять лет. |
“Have you known Boris for long?” “Yes, I have known him for twenty-five years now.” |
— Твоя мама давно говорит по-испански? — Нет, по-испански она говорит всего два года. |
“Has your mother spoken Spanish for a long time?” “No, she has only spoken Spanish for two years.” |
Я уже давно хочу пойти на концерт Земфиры. | I have wanted to go to a Zemfira concert for some time. |
If you are talking about something you have NOT done for a long time, then the English sentence is only in the present perfect, and the equivalent Russian sentence shows up in the past tense:
Я не видел его уже давно. | I haven't seen him for a long time. |
Мой отец уже давно не сидел. | My father hasn't been in prison for a long time. |
Они давно не ездили за границу. | They haven't gone abroad for a long time. |
Мы с женой давно не ссорились. Живём дружно. | My wife and I haven't fought for a long time. We get along well. |
Я давно не играл в хороший теннис. | I haven't played good tennis for some time. |
Note: which verbs require present perfect progressive and which verbs require present perfect in English contexts is a complex issue. Stative verbs and dynamic verbs behave differently. The difference between the two is the stuff of which doctorates are made.
Second note: American English is losing the distinction between the past tense and the present perfect. Similarly there is not always a clear distinction between present perfect and present perfect progressive. This is one of the reasons that English is so frustrating to learn. That, and when to use “the,” “a” or no article.
Сегодня
The word сегодня is an adverb that means today. It is quirky in that the г is actually pronounced like a в, so the word is usually pronounced something like [сиводня]. Sample sentences:
Сегодня будет хорошая погода. | The weather will be nice today. |
Я сегодня отвёз маму к врачу. | I took Mom to the doctor today. |
To express the idea of “this morning,” “this evening,” etc., сегодня combines with the words утром, днём, вечером, ночью:
Сегодня утром я не успела позавтракать. | I didn't manage to eat breakfast this morning. |
Сегодня днём мы пойдём в кино. | We are going to the movies this afternoon. |
Сегодня вечером мы будем ужинать у тёти. | This evening we are having dinner at our aunt's place. |
Сегодня ночью у нас потекла крыша. | Early this morning our roof started leaking. |
Despite the fact that сегодня is an adverb, and thus theoretically it should not be able to be the object of a preposition, sometimes you find it as the object of the preposition на in the sense of “for”:
На сегодня студенты подготовили первые три страницы нового урока. | For today the students prepared the first three pages of the new lesson. |
Прошу больше не делать замечаний. На сегодня уже хватит. | Please don't criticize me anymore. That's enough already for today. |
Где можно узнать курс рубля на сегодня? | Where can I find out the ruble exchange rate for today? |
♌ Вот ваш гороскоп на сегодня: день будет напряжённым и беспокойным. Тем не менее, вы поступите правильно, если будете придерживаться заранее составленного плана действий – суета и спешка не приведут ни к чему хорошему. | Here is your horoscope for today: the day will be stressful and worrisome. Nonetheless you will do the right things if you adhere to your previously established plan of action. Bustling and rushing around won't lead to any good. |
На сегодня в Петербурге обещают солнечную погоду. | They are promising sunny weather for today in St. Petersburg. |
Ещё (часть первая)
Ещё means still:
Он не был в России сорок лет, но он ещё хорошо говорил по-русски. | He hadn't been to Russia for forty years, but he still spoke good Russian. |
Я уже пью восемь часов подряд, но я ещё не очень пьян. | I've been drinking for eight hours straight now, but I'm still not very drunk. |
Почему ты ещё работаешь в этой фирме? | Why are you still working at this company? |
When ещё combines with the negative particle не, we translate it into English as “not yet.”
Я работаю на этой проклятой фирме уже пять лет, но мне ещё не повысили зарплату. | I have been working at this damned company for five years now, but they haven't given me a raise yet. |
Солнце ещё не зашло. | The sun hasn't set yet. |
— Ты уже поговорил с Машей? — Ещё нет. |
“Have you already spoken with Masha?” “Not yet.” |
Sometimes ещё has the meaning of “also, another, additionally, some more.”
Дайте, пожалуйста, кило картошки и ещё полкило морковки. | Give me a kilo of potatoes and also half a kilo of carrots. |
Он сказал, что привёз из-за границы целый чемодан итальянских шёлковых рубашек, и ещё сказал, что имеет доступ к неограниченному количеству итальянских туфель. | He said that he had brought an entire suitcase of Italian silk shirts into the country, and he also said that he had access to an unlimited supply of Italian shoes. |
— Ещё мяса положить? — Пожалуйста. |
“Shall I put some more meat on your plate?” “Yes, please.” |
— Ещё водки? — Спасибо, нет. |
“More vodka?” “No, thanks.” |
Когда? Во сколько? В котором часу? (без пяти семь)
To say "at five minutes to two" a Russian literally says "without five two," where the preposition без means without and governs the genitive case. The "minute" words are often left out, but not necessarily so. When speaking of the minutes to one o'clock, they usually leave the number "one" out and simply say "hour." For example:
Затмение луны началось без одной (минуты) час. | The lunar eclipse began at one minute to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двух (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at two minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без трёх (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at three minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без четырёх (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at four minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без пяти (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at five minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без шести (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at six minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без семи (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at seven minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без восьми (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at eight minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без девяти (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at nine minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без десяти (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at ten minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без одиннадцати (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at eleven minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двенадцати (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at twelve minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без тринадцати (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at thirteen minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без четырнадцати (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at fourteen minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без пятнадцати (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at fifteen minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без шестнадцати (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at sixteen minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без семнадцати (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at seventeen minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без восемнадцати (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at eighteen minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без девятнадцати (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at nineteen minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати одной (минуты) | The lunar eclipse began at twenty one minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати двух (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty two minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати трёх (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty three minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати четырёх (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty four minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати пяти (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty five minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати шести (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty six minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати семи (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty seven minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати восьми (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty eight minutes to one. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати девяти (минут) час. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty nine minutes to one. |
When speaking of "minutes till" for the other hours of the clock, they usually leave out the word "hour." Other examples:
Затмение луны началось без одной (минуты) два. | The lunar eclipse began at one minute to two. |
Затмение луны началось без двух (минут) два. | The lunar eclipse began at two minutes to two. |
Затмение луны началось без трёх (минут) три. | The lunar eclipse began at three minutes to three. |
Затмение луны началось без четырёх (минут) три. | The lunar eclipse began at four minutes to three. |
Затмение луны началось без пяти (минут) четыре. | The lunar eclipse began at five minutes to four. |
Затмение луны началось без шести (минут) четыре. | The lunar eclipse began at six minutes to four. |
Затмение луны началось без семи (минут) пять. | The lunar eclipse began at seven minutes to five. |
Затмение луны началось без восьми (минут) пять. | The lunar eclipse began at eight minutes to five. |
Затмение луны началось без девяти (минут) шесть. | The lunar eclipse began at nine minutes to six. |
Затмение луны началось без десяти (минут) шесть. | The lunar eclipse began at ten minutes to six. |
Затмение луны началось без одиннадцати (минут) семь. | The lunar eclipse began at eleven minutes to seven. |
Затмение луны началось без двенадцати (минут) семь. | The lunar eclipse began at twelve minutes to seven. |
Затмение луны началось без тринадцати (минут) восемь. | The lunar eclipse began at thirteen minutes to eight. |
Затмение луны началось без четырнадцати (минут) восемь. | The lunar eclipse began at fourteen minutes to eight. |
Затмение луны началось без пятнадцати (минут) девять. | The lunar eclipse began at fifteen minutes to nine. |
Затмение луны началось без шестнадцати (минут) девять. | The lunar eclipse began at sixteen minutes to nine. |
Затмение луны началось без семнадцати (минут) десять. | The lunar eclipse began at seventeen minutes to ten. |
Затмение луны началось без восемнадцати (минут) десять. | The lunar eclipse began at eighteen minutes to ten. |
Затмение луны началось без девятнадцати (минут) одиннадцать. | The lunar eclipse began at nineteen minutes to eleven. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати (минут) одиннадцать. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty minutes to eleven. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати одной (минуты) двенадцать | The lunar eclipse began at twenty one minutes to twelve. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати двух (минут) двенадцать. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty two minutes to twelve. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати трёх (минут) двенадцать. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty three minutes to twelve. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати четырёх (минут) двенадцать. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty four minutes to twelve. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати пяти (минут) двенадцать. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty five minutes to twelve. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати шести (минут) двенадцать. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty six minutes to twelve. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати семи (минут) двенадцать. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty seven minutes to twelve. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати восьми (минут) двенадцать. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty eight minutes to twelve. |
Затмение луны началось без двадцати девяти (минут) двенадцать. | The lunar eclipse began at twenty nine minutes to twelve. |
Other entries dealing with time are under the categories "Time phrases" and "What time is it" and "At what time."