Time vocabulary is one of the highest-return areas of a language: once a learner can say the day, the month, the hour, and basic phrases like "yesterday" and "next week," an enormous portion of daily conversation becomes accessible. Russian time expressions are also a workout for the case system: almost every temporal phrase uses a specific case - в понедельник uses the accusative, в январе uses the prepositional, пять минут uses the genitive plural. Learning time expressions therefore doubles as practical case training.
This page presents days of the week, months, seasons, time of day, complete telling-time grammar, and temporal adverbs (yesterday, today, tomorrow, day before, day after). For the underlying cases, see the Russian six cases reference. Numbers appear constantly when telling time; for full declension see the Russian numbers 1 to 100 reference. For the stress patterns in time words like понедельник and воскресенье, see the Russian pronunciation and stress guide.
Days of the Week
Table 1. Days of the week.
| Russian | Transliteration | English | Case for "on..." |
|---|---|---|---|
| понедельник | ponedelnik | Monday | в понедельник (acc) |
| вторник | vtornik | Tuesday | во вторник (acc) |
| среда | sreda | Wednesday | в среду (acc) |
| четверг | chetverg | Thursday | в четверг (acc) |
| пятница | pyatnitsa | Friday | в пятницу (acc) |
| суббота | subbota | Saturday | в субботу (acc) |
| воскресенье | voskresenye | Sunday | в воскресенье (acc) |
Etymological notes:
- понедельник = "after Sunday" (понеделя, week)
- вторник = "second" (from второй)
- среда = "middle"
- четверг = "fourth"
- пятница = "fifth"
- суббота = Sabbath
- воскресенье = "resurrection" (Sunday as the day of Christ's resurrection)
The Russian week starts on Monday, not Sunday. Calendars reflect this convention.
Using days of the week
- в понедельник - on Monday (accusative with в)
- по понедельникам - on Mondays (regularly, dative plural with по)
- в следующий понедельник - next Monday
- в прошлый понедельник - last Monday
- каждый понедельник - every Monday
- до понедельника - until Monday (genitive)
- с понедельника - from Monday (genitive)
Memory tip. Note the spelling во вторник (with во, not в). Russian adds the extra vowel before consonant clusters that would be difficult to pronounce. The same happens with во Франции and во сне.
Months
Table 2. Months of the year.
| Russian | Transliteration | English | Case for "in..." |
|---|---|---|---|
| январь | yanvar | January | в январе (prep) |
| февраль | fevral | February | в феврале (prep) |
| март | mart | March | в марте (prep) |
| апрель | aprel | April | в апреле (prep) |
| май | may | May | в мае (prep) |
| июнь | iyun | June | в июне (prep) |
| июль | iyul | July | в июле (prep) |
| август | avgust | August | в августе (prep) |
| сентябрь | sentyabr | September | в сентябре (prep) |
| октябрь | oktyabr | October | в октябре (prep) |
| ноябрь | noyabr | November | в ноябре (prep) |
| декабрь | dekabr | December | в декабре (prep) |
All months are masculine. Note that months use в + prepositional, while days use в + accusative. This is one of Russian's most famous asymmetries: you learn to feel which case belongs with which time unit.
Expressing dates
To say a date, use the ordinal number in the genitive case, followed by the month in the genitive:
- Первое января - January 1st (nominative, as a label)
- Сегодня первое января. - Today is January 1st.
- Первого января - On January 1st (genitive, temporal)
- Я приеду первого января. - I will arrive on January 1st.
Table 3. Date patterns.
| Russian | English |
|---|---|
| Какое сегодня число? | What is today's date? |
| Сегодня восьмое марта. | Today is March 8th. |
| Какой сегодня день? | What day is it today? |
| Сегодня среда. | Today is Wednesday. |
| Когда твой день рождения? | When is your birthday? |
| Пятнадцатого июня. | June 15th. |
Seasons
Table 4. Seasons.
| Russian | Transliteration | English | Case for "in..." |
|---|---|---|---|
| зима | zima | winter | зимой (instrumental) |
| весна | vesna | spring | весной (instrumental) |
| лето | leto | summer | летом (instrumental) |
| осень | osen | autumn | осенью (instrumental) |
Crucially, seasons take the instrumental case to mean "in winter / in summer": летом = "in summer," not *в лете. Times of day work the same way.
Table 5. Seasonal phrases.
| Russian | English |
|---|---|
| русская зима | Russian winter |
| ранняя весна | early spring |
| жаркое лето | hot summer |
| золотая осень | golden autumn |
| холодной зимой | in a cold winter |
For weather and seasonal vocabulary, see the Russian weather, seasons, and nature vocabulary reference.
Times of Day
Table 6. Times of day.
| Russian | Transliteration | English | Case for "in the..." |
|---|---|---|---|
| утро | utro | morning | утром (instr) |
| день | den | day / afternoon | днём (instr) |
| вечер | vecher | evening | вечером (instr) |
| ночь | noch | night | ночью (instr) |
Like seasons, times of day use the instrumental: утром = in the morning, вечером = in the evening.
Telling Time
Russian telling time works on a different logic from English for the half hour, and the case of minutes depends on the number.
Table 7. On the hour (simplest case).
| Russian | English |
|---|---|
| Который час? / Сколько времени? | What time is it? |
| Час. | One o'clock. |
| Два часа. | Two o'clock. |
| Пять часов. | Five o'clock. |
| Двенадцать часов. | Twelve o'clock. |
The noun час declines after numbers just like any other:
- 1 - час (nominative)
- 2, 3, 4 - часа (genitive singular)
- 5-20 - часов (genitive plural)
- 21 - час (nominative after -один)
- 22, 23, 24 - часа (genitive singular after compound 2, 3, 4)
Minutes past the hour
For minutes 1-30, Russian uses an unusual construction: minutes + genitive of the NEXT hour:
- 5:10 = десять минут шестого (literally: "ten minutes of the sixth")
- 8:15 = пятнадцать минут девятого / четверть девятого (a quarter of the ninth)
- 7:30 = половина восьмого / полвосьмого (half of the eighth) - NOT half-past seven
So half-past seven in English = половина восьмого ("half of the eighth") in Russian. The logic: you are moving toward the next hour.
Minutes to the hour (31-59)
For minutes 31-59, Russian uses без + minutes in genitive + hour in nominative:
- 7:40 = без двадцати восемь (without twenty, eight)
- 8:55 = без пяти девять (without five, nine)
- 9:50 = без десяти десять (without ten, ten)
Table 8. Full telling-time examples.
| Digital | Russian | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1:00 | час | one o'clock |
| 2:05 | пять минут третьего | 5 past 2 |
| 3:15 | четверть четвёртого | quarter past 3 |
| 4:30 | половина пятого / полпятого | half past 4 |
| 5:45 | без пятнадцати шесть / без четверти шесть | quarter to 6 |
| 6:50 | без десяти семь | 10 to 7 |
| 8:00 | восемь часов | 8 o'clock |
| 12:00 | двенадцать часов / полдень / полночь | 12 o'clock / noon / midnight |
Using 24-hour time
Russia widely uses 24-hour time in official contexts (schedules, TV, forms):
- 13:00 = тринадцать часов
- 20:30 = двадцать часов тридцать минут
Casually, Russians also say восемь вечера (8 in the evening) or три дня (3 in the afternoon) to disambiguate without using 24-hour style.
Memory tip. The "half of the next hour" rule feels strange but is mechanical: for X:30, say половина (X+1)-ого. Seven thirty = half of eight (полвосьмого). Twelve thirty = half of one (полпервого).
Temporal Adverbs
Table 9. Yesterday, today, tomorrow, and beyond.
| Russian | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|
| сейчас | seychas | now |
| сегодня | segodnya | today |
| вчера | vchera | yesterday |
| завтра | zavtra | tomorrow |
| позавчера | pozavchera | day before yesterday |
| послезавтра | poslezavtra | day after tomorrow |
| утром | utrom | in the morning |
| днём | dnyom | in the afternoon |
| вечером | vecherom | in the evening |
| ночью | nochyu | at night |
| скоро | skoro | soon |
| поздно | pozdno | late |
| рано | rano | early |
| тогда | togda | then |
| потом | potom | later |
| раньше | ranshe | earlier / formerly |
Compound temporal phrases:
- вчера вечером - yesterday evening
- завтра утром - tomorrow morning
- сегодня днём - this afternoon
- послезавтра вечером - evening of the day after tomorrow
Weeks, Months, Years, Centuries
Table 10. Longer time units.
| Russian | English | Case for "for..." |
|---|---|---|
| минута | minute | пять минут |
| час | hour | два часа |
| день | day | три дня |
| неделя | week | две недели |
| месяц | month | пять месяцев |
| год | year | один год / два года / пять лет |
| век / столетие | century | два века |
Note the irregular plural for years: 1 год, 2/3/4 года, 5+ лет. The form лет is a historical remnant (from лето = summer, once meaning "year").
Expressing duration and frequency
- неделю назад - a week ago (accusative)
- через неделю - in a week (accusative)
- каждую неделю - every week (accusative)
- на прошлой неделе - last week (prepositional)
- на этой неделе - this week (prepositional)
- на следующей неделе - next week (prepositional)
- в этом году - this year (prepositional)
- в прошлом году - last year (prepositional)
- в следующем году - next year (prepositional)
Common Mistakes English Speakers Make
- Treating 7:30 as "half past seven" in Russian. Полвосьмого means 7:30 but literally "half of the eighth" - Russian counts toward the next hour. Always check this if you are arranging meetings.
- Using в with seasons and times of day. Wrong: *в зиме, *в утре. Right: зимой, утром (instrumental).
- Using в + prepositional with days of the week. Wrong: *в понедельнике. Right: в понедельник (accusative).
- Not declining час after numbers. Wrong: *два час. Right: два часа, пять часов.
- Confusing месяц (month) with луна (moon). Both exist; месяц is also an old word for "crescent moon," but in temporal contexts it always means "month."
Common mistake. English speakers often use literal в for everything. Russian uses different cases for different time units, and learning the patterns by type (days vs months vs seasons vs times of day) is faster than memorizing them phrase by phrase.
Quick Reference Cheat Sheet
Days (accusative with в): в понедельник, во вторник, в среду, в четверг, в пятницу, в субботу, в воскресенье
Months (prepositional with в): в январе, в феврале, в марте, в апреле, в мае, в июне, в июле, в августе, в сентябре, в октябре, в ноябре, в декабре
Seasons (instrumental, no preposition): зимой, весной, летом, осенью
Times of day (instrumental, no preposition): утром, днём, вечером, ночью
Key adverbs: сегодня, вчера, завтра, позавчера, послезавтра, сейчас, скоро
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Russian say "half of the eighth" for 7:30? Historical counting logic: the half-hour is thought of as progress through the next hour, not completion of the current one. Eight o'clock is approaching, and you are halfway there.
Can I just use 7:30 in digital form when writing? Yes. In informal writing and texting, digital time is universal. The spoken forms matter for speaking and listening.
When do I say днём vs вечером? Днём covers roughly noon to 5 or 6 pm; вечером covers evening through late night, around 5 pm to 11 pm.
How do I write dates? Russian format is day.month.year: 15.06.2024. In formal text, the day is often spelled out: 15 июня 2024 года (genitive plural of год).
What case follows "на прошлой неделе" and "в прошлом году"? Both are prepositional - they name a time frame you were in. Note the different prepositions: на for week, в for year.
Is there a Russian word for "AM" / "PM"? No distinct AM/PM markers. Use утра (of the morning), дня (of the afternoon), вечера (of the evening), ночи (of the night): Три часа дня = 3 PM.
Why is Sunday called воскресенье? From воскресение (resurrection). Before Christianity, the Slavic word for Sunday was неделя ("no work day"), which now means "week."
See Also
- Russian numbers 1 to 100 cardinal, ordinal, with declension
- Russian grammar cases complete guide
- Russian six cases reference
- Russian pronunciation and stress guide for beginners
- Russian common phrases for daily conversation reference
- Russian weather, seasons, and nature vocabulary reference
- Russian top 100 common verbs reference
Author: Kalenux Team
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Russian say 'half of the eighth' for 7:30?
Russian counts the half-hour as progress toward the next hour. Eight is the destination and you are halfway there, so полвосьмого means 7:30.
Can I use digital time in writing?
Yes. Digital time is universal in informal writing and texting. The spoken forms matter for speaking and listening comprehension.
When do I say днём vs вечером?
Днём covers roughly noon to 5 or 6 pm; вечером covers evening through late night, approximately 5 pm to 11 pm.
How do I write dates in Russian?
Russian format is day.month.year: 15.06.2024. Formally, the day is spelled out: 15 июня 2024 года (genitive of год).
Why is there no AM/PM in Russian?
Russian uses утра, дня, вечера, or ночи after the time instead. Три часа дня = 3 PM; три часа ночи = 3 AM.
What case follows на прошлой неделе?
Prepositional - it names a time frame. Note the different prepositions: на for week, в for year (в прошлом году).
Why is Sunday called воскресенье?
From воскресение (resurrection). Before Christianization, the old Slavic word for Sunday was неделя (no-work day), which now means 'week.'
