Date and time in Russian

100: Asking and telling date in Russian

In this lesson, we will learn how to ask and tell date in Russian. To be able to follow the lesson, you need to know months in Russian, the Genitive case and how to decline ordinal Russian numbers.

Asking about a date in Russian

To ask what date it is today use the following question:

– Како́е сего́дня число́?
– What date is it today?

Число́ means number. So asking that question you are literally asking the number of the day of the month.

If you want to ask what date was yesterday or will be tomorrow, use the following questions:

– Како́е число́ бы́ло вчера́?
– What was the date yesterday?

– Како́е за́втра число́? or Како́е число́ бу́дет за́втра?
– What will be the date tomorrow?

Telling date in Russian

To answer any of the questions above, use the ordinal number for the date and the Genitive case for the month.

Examples:

– Како́е сего́дня число́?
– Второ́е ма́рта. / Сего́дня второ́е.
– What date is it today?
– March, 2d. / Today is the second.

– Како́е вчера́ бы́ло число́?
– Два́дцать восьмо́е февраля́.
– What was the date yesterday?
– 28th of February.

– Како́е за́втра число́?
– Пя́тое ноября́.
– What date is tomorrow?
– November, 5th.

Note that the ordinal numbers are used in neuter gender as the word число is neuter.

Specifying dates of events

Sometimes you need to know the date of a certain event. In this case, besides the usual question Когда? (When?) you can say:

– Како́го числа́ …?
– What date …?

Числа́ in the question above is the Genitive form of the word число́. So when you answer such a question, you need to put the ordinal number in the Genitive case as well:

– Когда́ у тебя́ день рожде́ния?
– Пятна́дцатого (15-го) ию́ня.
– When is your birthday?
– 15th of June.

– Како́го числа́ ты возвраща́ешься?
– Два́дцать второ́го, в пя́тницу.
– What date are you coming back?
– On 22d, Friday.

To learn more about how to use Russian days of the week in such context, have a look at one of our earlier lesson.

Do you need help with declension of Russian numbers? We have created a tool just for that! Check it out now!

And this is it for this lesson. We hope you enjoy learning Russian with us and find our lessons helpful.

If you want us to cover specific topics, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.

099: Asking time, specifying the time of events

Last time we have learned how to tell time in Russian.

In this lesson, we will learn to ask time in Russian, how to ask “What time is something?” and how to specify the time of events.

Asking time

To ask time, you can use one of the following questions:

– Кото́рый час?
– Lit: Which hour is it?

– Ско́лько вре́мени?
– Lit: How much time is it?

Of course, you should wrap these questions in some polite form:

– Вы не подска́жете, кото́рый час?
– Could you tell me what time it is?

– Извини́те, не подска́жете, ско́лько вре́мени?
– Excuse me, could you tell me what time it is?

You can also ask:

– Извини́те, вы вре́мя не подска́жете?
– Excuse me, could you tell me time?

If you are addressing a friend or a relative, you can use the informal form of questions, for example these ones:

– У тебя́ есть часы́?
– Do you have a watch?

– Ско́лько сейча́с вре́мени?
– What time is it now?

More examples:

– Вы не подска́жете, кото́рый сейча́с час?
– Четы́рнадцать три́дцать.
– Could you tell me please what time it is?
– Two thirty.

– У тебя́ есть часы́? Ско́лько вре́мени?
– Три мину́ты второ́го.
– Do you have a watch? What time is it?
– Three minutes past one.

Asking “What time is something?”

To ask “What time is something?”, you can use the following questions:

– Во ско́лько?
– At what time?

– В како́е вре́мя?
– At what time?

Examples:

– Во ско́лько мы за́втра встреча́емся?
– What time are we meeting tomorrow?

– Во ско́лько наш рейс?
– What time is our flight?

– В како́е вре́мя лу́чше прийти́?
– What time is it better to come?

Making appointments and specifying the time of events

To make an appointment at a specific time or to specify the time of some event, use the preposition в (at):

– Дава́й встре́тимся за́втра в полдевя́того.
– Let’s meet tomorrow at half past eight.

– Приходи́те за́втра в де́сять у́тра.
– Come tomorrow at ten in the morning.

– Мы приземля́емся в семна́дцать со́рок.
– We land at five forty.

– Кто тебе́ звони́т в три часа́ но́чи?
– Who is calling you at 3 AM?

And this is it for this lesson. Stay tuned and in the next lesson we will learn the declension of the Russian numerals so you can tell time with ease. 🙂

098: Time in Russian

In our previous lessons we have covered a lot of Russian numbers, so let’s use this knowledge today to learn how to tell time in Russian. Study the lesson »