В (frequency)
In English when you want to say how often something happens and the period over which it occurs, you can use two constructions. The first uses no preposition, and the second uses the preposition ‘per’:
We meet in Prague two times per year.
In English the ‘per’ version sounds more formal and stilted, and the prepositionless version sounds normal. In Russian the prepositionless version is not an option; you must use the preposition в:
| Мы встречаемся в Праге два раза в год. | We meet in Prague two times a year. |
At first glance it might seem that год is in the nominative case, but that is because it is a masculine inanimate noun. If we see a feminine noun in that context it is clearly accusative:
| Я всё ещё читаю газету в печатном виде пять раз в неделю. | I still read a hardcopy newspaper five times a week. |
If you want to ask how often something happens, then the phrase to use is как часто:
| — Как часто ты получаешь критику от читателей? — Наверно два раза в день. |
“How often do your receive criticism from readers?” “Probably twice a day.” |
| — Как часто ты меняешь мобильный телефон? — Раз в год. Мне вседга нужна новейшая техника. |
“How often do you change your mobile phone?” “Once a year. I always need the latest technology.” |
| Этот сотовый телефон определяет своё местонахождение пять раз в секунду. | This cell phone checks its [geographical] position five times a second. |
| На мобильник сына я скачал софт, который сообщает мне его местонахождение четыре раза в час. Он больше не будет пропускать уроки. | I downloaded an app to my son's cell phone that tells me his location four times an hour. He's not going to skip class any more. |
That last example is interesting because you could rephrase it with minutes and skip the preposition:
| На мобильник сына я скачал софт, который сообщает мне его местонахождение каждые пятнадцать минут. | I downloaded an app to my son's cell phone that tells me his location every fifteen minutes. |
Note the interesting use of the plural form of каждый before a number greater than one.
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