Time Expressions in Russian

In Brief

Ask Который час? (“What time is it?”), and answer Сейчас три часа (“It is three o’clock now”). To say when something happens, use в: в семь часов, в понедельник, в январе. Seasons and parts of the day often need no preposition: весной (“in spring”), утром (“in the morning”).

Overview

Time expressions are an A1 foundation: they let you arrange a meeting, give a schedule, say what day it is, and describe when you work or travel. Russian divides this job among several patterns. English uses at, on, and in, but their Russian equivalents are not a simple one-to-one match.

The most important distinction is between the current time and the time of an event. Который час? asks what the clock shows now. Во сколько? asks at what time something happens. Russian also changes the form of some time words because of case (a change in a word’s form that shows its role in the phrase). You do not need to master the whole case system before learning the common expressions as useful chunks.

Start with whole hours, weekdays, months, seasons, and parts of the day. More exact clock phrases are included later as a preview; beginners can safely use digital-style times such as три часа десять минут.

How It Works

Asking about time

Use two different questions:

Russian	English	Note
Который час?	What time is it?	Literally asks which hour it is now.
Сколько времени?	What time is it?	A common alternative; literally “how much time?”
Во сколько начинается фильм?	What time does the film start?	Во сколько? asks the time of an event.

The extra о in во сколько makes pronunciation easier. Do not use Который час? when you mean “At what time?”

Telling the time in whole hours

Russian uses the same number pattern here as it does when counting many other things. The noun after the number changes:

Number	Form	Example
1	час	Сейчас час.
2–4	часа	Сейчас два часа.
5–20	часов	Сейчас семь часов.

At one o’clock, Сейчас час is more natural than Сейчас один час. For a scheduled time, say в час (“at one”), but numbers from two onward normally keep the overt noun: в два часа, в четыре часа, в десять часов.

In everyday conversation, часов may be omitted when the meaning is obvious: Встречаемся в семь (“We’re meeting at seven”). Keeping it is always a safe beginner choice.

Clock time with в

Use в + time to say when an event happens. In grammatical terms, в here governs the accusative case (the form used after certain prepositions and often for a direct object), although most number phrases do not visibly change.

Time	Russian
at one o’clock	в час
at two o’clock	в два часа
at five o’clock	в пять часов
at twelve o’clock	в двенадцать часов

Context often supplies a.m. or p.m. Russian can make it explicit with утра, дня, вечера, or ночи: в семь утра (“at seven in the morning”), в три часа дня (“at three in the afternoon”), в восемь вечера (“at eight in the evening”). The 24-hour clock is common in timetables and formal announcements: в 18:30 is normally read with the appropriate hour and minute forms.

Days of the week

Use в for a single event on a weekday. Во replaces в before вторник because в вторник is awkward to pronounce.

Day	On …
понедельник	в понедельник
вторник	во вторник
среда	в среду
четверг	в четверг
пятница	в пятницу
суббота	в субботу
воскресенье	в воскресенье

The visible changes среда → среду, пятница → пятницу, and суббота → субботу are accusative forms. Notice the stress in в среду́.

For a repeated weekly event, use по + dative plural (a plural form required after по): по понедельникам means “on Mondays” or “every Monday.”

One occasion	Habitual repetition
в понедельник — on Monday	по понедельникам — on Mondays
во вторник — on Tuesday	по вторникам — on Tuesdays
в выходные — at/on the weekend	по выходным — at/on weekends

Months

Use в + prepositional case (the form used after в when it means location in space or time) for months. Most month names end in -е in this phrase; март and август also lose no letters before the ending, while soft-sign and -й nouns change their final sound in spelling.

Month	In …	Month	In …
январь	в январе	июль	в июле
февраль	в феврале	август	в августе
март	в марте	сентябрь	в сентябре
апрель	в апреле	октябрь	в октябре
май	в мае	ноябрь	в ноябре
июнь	в июне	декабрь	в декабре

Month names are normally lowercase in Russian, unlike English: в январе, not в Январе.

Seasons and parts of the day

The usual words for “in winter/spring/summer/autumn” have no preposition. They are instrumental forms (forms that can express time, means, or accompaniment):

Period	Russian
in winter	зимой
in spring	весной
in summer	летом
in autumn/fall	осенью
in the morning	утром
in the daytime/afternoon	днём
in the evening	вечером
at night	ночью

These forms answer когда? (“when?”). Do not add в to them in the basic meaning: летом, not в летом.

Examples in Context

Russian	English	Note
Сейчас три часа.	It’s three o’clock now.	Current clock time
Который час? — Сейчас час.	What time is it? — It’s one o’clock.	час, not один час
Во сколько урок? — В девять часов.	What time is the lesson? — At nine o’clock.	Event time
Я приду в семь часов.	I’ll come at seven o’clock.	в + clock time
Поезд отправляется в шесть утра.	The train leaves at six in the morning.	Makes a.m. explicit
Фильм начинается в восемь вечера.	The film starts at eight in the evening.	Makes p.m. explicit
В понедельник я работаю дома.	On Monday I work from home.	One particular Monday
Во вторник у нас экзамен.	We have an exam on Tuesday.	во before вторник
Мы встречаемся по пятницам.	We meet on Fridays.	Regular weekly event
В январе здесь холодно.	It is cold here in January.	Month in the prepositional case
Мой день рождения в мае.	My birthday is in May.	май → мае
Весной мы много гуляем.	We walk a lot in spring.	No preposition
Летом дети живут на даче.	In summer the children live at the dacha.	Seasonal expression
Утром я пью кофе, а вечером чай.	In the morning I drink coffee, and in the evening tea.	Parts of the day
Магазин ночью закрыт.	The shop is closed at night.	ночью without в

Common Mistakes

Using the current-time question for an event

• Wrong: Который час начинается концерт?
• Right: Во сколько начинается концерт?
• Why: Который час? asks what time it is now. Во сколько? asks when an event occurs.

Copying English prepositions directly

• Wrong: на понедельник я работаю when you simply mean “I work on Monday.”
• Right: В понедельник я работаю.
• Why: English on does not determine the Russian preposition. Use в/во for an event on a weekday. На понедельник has a different use: something is scheduled, assigned, or planned for Monday.

Forgetting the feminine weekday changes

• Wrong: в среда, в пятница
• Right: в среду, в пятницу
• Why: After в meaning “on” here, feminine nouns ending in -а/-я take accusative -у/-ю.

Saying в before a basic season expression

• Wrong: в весной, в летом
• Right: весной, летом
• Why: The usual seasonal forms already express “in/during” and need no preposition.

Using a singular weekday for a regular habit

• Wrong: Я хожу в спортзал в понедельник if you mean every Monday.
• Right: Я хожу в спортзал по понедельникам.
• Why: в понедельник normally points to one Monday; по понедельникам clearly marks repetition.

Using the wrong form of час

• Wrong: Сейчас пять часа.
• Right: Сейчас пять часов.
• Why: Use час after one, часа after two to four, and часов after five to twenty.

Usage Notes

Russian schedules commonly use the 24-hour clock in writing: a museum may be open с 10:00 до 18:00 (“from 10:00 to 18:00”). In relaxed speech, speakers often use a twelve-hour number and rely on context, or add утра, дня, вечера, or ночи.

Днём covers daytime and often what English calls “in the afternoon”; вечером begins when the situation is understood as evening. There is no single fixed clock boundary in ordinary conversation. Likewise, в выходные can refer to the coming or contextually relevant weekend, while по выходным describes a recurring weekend habit.

Word order is flexible. В понедельник мы работаем дома foregrounds Monday; Мы работаем дома в понедельник presents the day as later scheduling information. Both are grammatical.

Beyond the Basics: More Exact and Extended Time

You do not need to master these patterns at A1, but you will hear them often.

For digital-style time, say the hour followed by the minutes, with the correct number forms: три часа десять минут (3:10), пять часов двадцать минут (5:20). In careful speech, a zero may be read in timetable-style announcements, but ordinary conversation usually uses one of the patterns below.

Russian also describes minutes as belonging to the next hour:

Russian	English	Literal idea
половина четвёртого	half past three (3:30)	half of the fourth hour
четверть четвёртого	quarter past three (3:15)	a quarter of the fourth hour
без четверти четыре	quarter to four (3:45)	four without a quarter
без десяти четыре	ten to four (3:50)	four without ten

This differs sharply from English: половина четвёртого is 3:30, not 4:30. The ordinal number четвёртого (“of the fourth”) names the approaching hour. When stating an appointment, you may hear в половине четвёртого (“at half past three”).

Other prepositions create meanings that belong to the later advanced time-expression topic: через час (“in an hour”), за час (“within/in the space of an hour”), до пяти (“until five”), and с девяти до пяти (“from nine to five”). Learn these as contrasts rather than assuming that every English in, for, or by maps to в.

Dates add another case pattern: Russian uses an ordinal number in the neuter form, as if agreeing with число (“date/number”): Сегодня пятое мая (“Today is the fifth of May”). This is related to time expressions but is a separate skill from weekdays and clock time.

Practice Tips

1. Build a seven-day schedule. Write one single event with в/во for each weekday, then turn three of them into habits with по + weekday in the plural: в пятницу → по пятницам.
2. Say real times aloud. Look at the clock and ask Который час? Then answer with a whole hour or digital-style time. Next ask about an event with Во сколько? and answer using в.
3. Learn time words as complete chunks. Put в январе, весной, утром, and в семь часов on cards rather than memorising isolated nouns. This makes the required preposition—or its absence—automatic.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Numbers 1–20 — needed for whole hours and the forms час, часа, and часов.
• Next steps: Advanced Time Expressions — adds duration and boundaries with expressions such as через час, за неделю, and с утра до вечера.