How to tell time in Russian?

The most basic way to say the time in Russian is to say the number for the hour, then the number for minutes. But there are several other ways:

Four ways to say "7:45 pm":

In this post, we’ll take you through all the most common ways to read a clock in Russian, from the most basic and conversational, to the most formal. Are you ready? Let’s become pros in addressing time!

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

You also might need other question structures to ask about the time of a meeting or a flight. For instance:

There are three main ways in Russian to tell what time it is:

• using only numbers
  (like “seven forty-five” in English)

• by counting the hours and minutes
  (roughly, “seven hours and forty-five minutes”)

• with a structure sort of like “half past” or “quarter to” in English

For most purposes, the simple structure is good enough, but you never know how a Russian native speaker might give you the time of day, so it’s good to practice all three methods. Let’s go through them one-by-one!

The easiest way to give the time in Russian is to simply simply name the numbers as you see them on the dial or screen. Use cardinal numbers in the nominative case (dictionary form).

Let’s look at some more examples:

Let’s talk a little about two special cases:

1. Times “on the hour” → If you’re reading a time that is exactly on the hour, you can add the word ровно (transcribed ROVna) which means “exactly” or “sharp.”

   Сейчас пять (ровно).

   Transcription: siCHAS pyat (ROVna).

   Translation: It’s five (sharp). = 5:00

   Now five (exactly).

2. 1:00 → You will often hear the hour “1:00” read just with the word for “hour” rather than the word “one,” though other options are possible as well.

   • час (дня)

     Transcription: chas (dnya)

     Translation: hour (of the day)
   • тринадцать ноль ноль

     Transcription: triNAtsat nol nol

     Translation: thirteen zero zero

If you’re telling someone what time it is at the moment you’re speaking (e.g. “It’s 5:00 right now”), this is typically done by introducing the time with the word сейчас (transcribed siCHAS, meaning “now”), though you can just give the numbers in casual conversation. For example:

If, instead, you want to provide the time of some past or future event, you’ll want to introduce the time with the preposition в (transcribed v, meaning “at”):

The second way to give the time in Russian is to count the number of “hours” and “minutes.” This variant is not as common as the first one, because it’s a little wordier, but you’ll still hear Russians use it. For example:

You may recall that counting things with numbers in Russian comes along with quite a bit of grammar. Since, here, we’re counting hours and minutes, you’ll need to follow all those rules here. For a complete discussion of these rules, check out our post on how to use cardinal numbers in Russian, but here is a brief summary of the rules that matter most for giving the time.

When giving the time by counting the hours and minutes…

• The number itself will always be in the nominative case.

• The number will also agree with the gender of the word you are counting:

  • час (transcribed chis, meaning “hour”) is masculine

  • минута (transcribed miNOOTa, meaning “minute”) is feminine

• The case and number for the words “hour” and “minute” will depend on the number that comes before them.

  Number	Case and number for “hour” or “minute”
  Last digit is: 0, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 or Number is: 11, 12, 13, or 14	Genitive Plural: часов (transcribed chiSOF) минут (transcribed miNOOT)
  Last digit is: 2, 3, or 4 and Number is not: 12, 13, 14	Genitive Singular: часa (transcribed chiSA) минуты (transcribed miNOOty)
  Last digit is: 1 and Number is not: 11	Nominative Singular: час (transcribed chas) минута (transcribed miNOOta)

Let’s look at a couple of examples to illustrate. If you’re confused about why a certain case or number is used, go back to the rules above!

You can also say the time in Russian by talking about how far you have progressed toward the next full hour. This is a little like when we say “half past” or “a quarter ’til” in English, except that in Russian we are always focused on giving the time in terms of the next hour that will come instead of counting up from the hour that we have just passed.

Now might be a good time to remind yourself of the different forms of numbers you’ll need for telling time in Russian!

Let’s see how it works.

When you are giving the time on a schedule (e.g. “at 2pm”) you will add the preposition в (transcribed v, meaning “at”) before the time reaches the half-hour mark, but after the half-hour mark you don’t need to add any additional preposition, the preposition без (transcribed byes, meaning “without”) is enough. For example:

• 9:15

  nominative cardinal numbergenitive ordinal number

  В пятнадцать минут десятого у нее важная встреча.

  Transcription: f pitNAtsat miNOOT diSYAtava oo niYO VAZHnaya FSTRYEcha.

  Translation: At fifteen minutes after nine, she has an important meeting.

  Literally: lit. At fifteen minutes of tenth, ...
• 1:30

  genitive ordinal number

  В полвторого она должна быть у стоматолога.

  Transcription: f polftaROva aNA dalZHNA byt oo stamaTOlaga.

  Translation: At half past one, she should be at the dentist.

  Literally: lit. At half second…
• 4:45

  genitive ordinal numbernominative cardinal number

  Ей нужно уйти с работы без четверти пять, чтобы не опоздать на свидание.

  Transcription: YEy NOOZHna ooyTEE s raBOty bis CHYETvirti pyat SHTOby ni apazDAT na sviDAniye.

  Translation: She needs to leave work at a quarter to five to not be late for a date.

  Literally: lit. …without a quarter five…

In a situation where you are not sure what the time is exactly or when specifically the event happens:

• You can use the preposition около (transcribed Okala, meaning “about”) + genitive case to express approximate time. For instance:

  genitive case

  Давайте встретимся около пяти часов.

  Transcription: daVAYti FSTRYEtimsya Okala piTEE chiSOF.

  Translation: Let's meet at around five o'clock.

  Я приеду домой около восьми.

  Transcription: ya priYEdoo daMOY Okala vasMEE.

  Translation: I will arrive home at about eight.

• You can add the adverb где-то (transcribed GDYEta, meaning “somewhere around”) somewhere in the sentence:

  nominative cardinal number

  Я вернусь домой где-то в шесть вечера.

  Transcription: ya virNOOS daMOY GDYEta f shest VYEchira.

  Translation: I will return home around six in the evening.

• You can simply change the word order. Just put часов (transcribed chiSOF, meaning “hours”) at the beginning of the sentence, before the time of day.

  • Часов в шесть мы начнём ужинать.

    Transcription: chaSOF f shest my nachNYOM OOzhynat.

    Translation: At around six o’clock we will start dinner.

    Literally: lit. Hours at six we will start to eat dinner.
  • Когда он пришёл, было часа два.

    Transcription: kagDA on priSHOL BYla chiSA dva.

    Translation: When he arrived, it was around two o’clock.

When telling the time in Russian, keep in mind that…

• There are several ways to ask, “What time is it?” in Russian:

  • Который сейчас час?

    Transcription: kaTOryi siCHAS chas
  • Который час?

    Transcription: kaTOryi chas
  • Сколько времени?

    Transcription: SKOLka VRYEmini

• There are several ways to say what time it is in Russian:

  • say the numbers as you see them on the clock

  • count the hours and minutes (but be careful to use the right cases!)

  • talk about the amount of time remaining before the next hour

• There are also some ways to say what time it is approximately using the preposition около (transcribed Okaka, meaning “about/around”), the adverbs где-то (transcribed GDYEta, meaning “somewhere/around”) and почти (transcribed pachTEE, meaning “almost”), or by changing the word order.

Now, check out our exercises to help you practice saying the time in Russian by downloading them below!