Learn in 5 Minutes: Telling Time in Russian

Hey Junkies!

Russian lesson time. Do you know how to tell time? You’re going to learn that in this 5-Minute LinguaJunkie Russian Guide. Here’s what you need to know:

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Alright, lets go. First and foremost, here’s how you ask “what time is it” in Russian. There are two ways to do so.

#1. Kotoriy chas?
- Который час?

Kotoriy means “which” so you’re literally asking “which hour is it?”

#2. Извините, Сколько время?
- Izvinite, Skol’ko vremya?

Skol’ko means “how much.” You’re asking “how much” is the time. Doesn’t make sense in English but it’s proper in Russian. And “izvinite” means “excuse me,” if you already didn’t know.

Telling time in Russian is easy. Here’s what you do.

Do you know your Russian numbers (I wrote an article on counting 1-100)? If so, you can easily tell the time in Russian. The good news is, it’s almost just like English. You can say it in the (hour – minute) format like “two thirty” or “nine fifty-five.”

Step 1. Let’s cover the hours first. There’s only one small change – the way “1” is called when it comes to hours. It’s said as “chas.”

Hour
Number	Russian	Romanization
1	час (normally, this is odin, but the 1st hour is said as “chas“)	chas
2	два	dva
3	три	tri
4	четыре	chetire
5	пять	pyat’
6	шесть	shest’
7	семь	sem’
8	восемь	vocem’
9	девять	devyat’
10	десять	decyat’
11	одиннадцать	odinnadsat’
12	двенадцать	dvenadsat’

Step 2. Let’s review the minutes. From 00 to 59.

The chart below covers the numbers from 0 to 59. You should know these by now. If not, print this page out for future reference. All of the numbers below will serve as a reference to telling time in Russian.

Minutes
Number	Russian	Romanization
0	ноль	nol’
1	один	odin
2	два	dva
3	три	tri
4	четыре	chetire
5	пять	pyat’
6	шесть	shest’
7	семь	sem’
8	восемь	vocem’
9	девять	devyat’
10	десять	decyat’
11	одиннадцать	odinnadsat’
12	двенадцать	dvenadsat’
13	тринадцать	trinadsat’
14	четырнадцать	chetirnadsat’
15	пятнадцать	pyatnadsat’
16	шестнадцать	shestnadsat’
17	семнадцать	semnadsat’
18	восемнадцать	vocemnadsat’
19	девятнадцать	devyatnadsat’
20	двадцать	dvadsat’
21	двадцать один	dvadsat’ odin
22	двадцать два	dvadsat’ dva
23	двадцать три	dvadsat’ tri
24	двадцать четыре	dvadsat’ chetire
25	двадцать пять	dvadsat’ pyat’
26	двадцать шесть	dvadsat’ shest’
27	двадцать семь	dvadsat’ sem’
28	двадцать восемь	dvadsat’ vocem’
29	двадцать девять	dvadsat’ devyat’
30	тридцать	tridsat’
31	тридцать один	tridsat’ odin
32	тридцать два	tridsat’ dva
33	тридцать три	tridsat’ tri
34	тридцать четыре	tridsat’ chetire
35	тридцать пять	tridsat’ pyat’
36	тридцать шесть	tridsat’ shest’
37	тридцать семь	tridsat’ sem’
38	тридцать восемь	tridsat’ vocem’
39	тридцать девять	tridsat’ devyat’
40	сорок	sorok
41	сорок один	sorok odin
42	сорок два	sorok dva
43	сорок три	sorok tri
44	сорок четыре	sorok chetire
45	сорок пять	sorok pyat’
46	сорок шесть	sorok shest’
47	сорок семь	sorok sem’
48	сорок восемь	sorok vocem’
49	сорок девять	sorok devyat’
50	пятьдесят	pyat’desat
51	пятьдесят один	pyat’desat odin
52	пятьдесят два	pyat’desat dva
53	пятьдесят три	pyat’desat tri
54	пятьдесят четыре	pyat’desat chetire
55	пятьдесят пять	pyat’desat pyat’
56	пятьдесят шесть	pyat’desat shest’
57	пятьдесят семь	pyat’desat sem’
58	пятьдесят восемь	pyat’desat vocem’
59	пятьдесят девять	pyat’desat devyat’

Step 3. Combining it all: How to Tell Time in Russian

The way you say or tell the time in Russian simply follows the (hour – minute) format.

For the hour, check the chart in Step #1
For the minutes, check the chart in Step #2

For example:

1:35 is час тридцать пять (chas tridsat’ pyat’)
- Meaning, you’re literally saying “one thirty five”
2:07 is два ноль семь (dva nol’ sem’)
- You’re saying “two o’seven”
12:30 is двенадцать тридцать (dvenadsat’ tridsat’)
- You’re saying “twelve thirty”
7:59 is семь пятьдесят девять (sem’ pyat’desat devyat’)
- You’re saying “seven fifty nine”
3:00 is три (tri)
- - You just say “three”
- You can also say “три часa” (tri chasa)
  - Meaning “three hours”

AM or PM? Does it matter?

Well, it’s as needed just as much as it’s needed in English. You can say 7:03 and if it’s morning, people will know it’s morning. If you want to make the AM/PM distinction, as you would want to in English..

…here’s how you do it.

Hint: You will see час (chas) or some variation throughout these. This can be omitted. This just stands for “hour” and you don’t have to say it.

For AM, that depends if it’s morning, day or night. Morning starts at 4AM until 11AM and you say “утра” (ootra) meaning morning. Night is from 12 (midnight) to 3AM. You would say night as “ночи” (nochi).

12AM is midnight. You can say двенадцать часов ночи (dvenadsat’ chasov nochi)
- You can also say – midnight: полночь – polnoch’
1AM is час ночи (chas nochi)
3AM is три часа ночи (tri chasa nochi)
4AM (remember, morning) is четыре часа утра (chetire chasa ootra)
5AM is пять часов утра (pyat’ chasov ootra)
11AM is одиннадцать часов утра (odinnadsat’ chasov ootra)

For PM, it depends on whether it’s day or evening/night. In Russian, day is дня (dnya) – note: this word is conjugated – and it starts from 12PM to 4PM. Evening is вечер (vecher) and starts at 5PM and ends at 11:59PM.

12PM is двенадцать часов дня (dvenadsat’ chasov dnya)
- You can also say полдень (polden’) meaning half-day (or afternoon).
1PM is час дня (chas dnya).
- You cannot omit “chas” from here as it includes “1” in it’s meaning/context here.
4PM is четыре часа дня (chetire chasa dnya)
6PM is шесть вечера (shest’ vechera)
11PM is одиннадцать часов вечера (odinnadsat’ chasov vechera)

And that’s it, junkie! Telling time in Russian requires a bit of detail. However, it’s nothing you can’t conquer without this sheet and regular practice. Be sure to print this.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!

– The Main Junkie

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