To ask the time in Russian, say Кото́рый час? or Ско́лько вре́мени? Answer on the hour with a number plus час / часа́ / часо́в (три часа́ = three o’clock). For dates, use the ordinal day and the month in the genitive — пе́рвое января́ (“the first of January”) — and say “on Monday” with в plus the accusative: в понеде́льник.
Published 19 September 2026
Time and dates are where a lot of otherwise confident beginners freeze — not because the vocabulary is hard, but because Russian keeps changing the endings on the numbers and the months, and because its everyday clock talk counts toward the next hour instead of the one just gone. The good news: there is one style that is always correct and always understood, and you can lean on it while the trickier habits settle. This guide starts there, then adds the everyday shortcuts once the safe ground is under you.
Two questions do almost all the work:
To answer on the hour, lead with сейча́с ("now") and add the number: Сейча́с три часа́ ("it's three o'clock"). The only thing to get right is which form of the word for "hour" to use.
Russian picks the form of час ("hour") from the number in front of it — the same counting pattern you meet everywhere in the language. The genitive is simply the "of / counted" form a noun takes after most numbers.
| Number ends in… | Form of "hour" | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (and 21) | час | оди́н час · два́дцать оди́н час |
| 2, 3, 4 (and 22–24) | часа́ | два часа́ · три часа́ · четы́ре часа́ |
| 5–20 (and 0) | часо́в | пять часо́в · оди́ннадцать часо́в |
So the clock runs час, два часа́, три часа́, четы́ре часа́, пять часо́в… up to двена́дцать часо́в. Russia uses the 24-hour clock in writing, schedules and announcements, and the same rule keeps working: 13:00 is трина́дцать часо́в, 20:00 is два́дцать часо́в, then 21:00 jumps back to два́дцать оди́н час and 22:00 to два́дцать два часа́.
Here is the method to trust: say the hours, then the minutes, each with its own counted form. Minutes follow the very same pattern — мину́та after 1, мину́ты after 2–4, мину́т after 5–20. This is exactly how times are read on trains, TV and phones, and it always works.
| Clock | Russian | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 8:05 | во́семь часо́в пять мину́т | 8 → часо́в; 5 → мину́т |
| 2:02 | два часа́ две мину́ты | 2 → часа́; 2 → мину́ты |
| 9:01 | де́вять часо́в одна́ мину́та | 9 → часо́в; 1 → одна́ мину́та |
| 14:30 | четы́рнадцать часо́в три́дцать мину́т | 24-hour clock; 30 → мину́т |
Notice одна́ мину́та and две мину́ты: because мину́та is feminine, "one" and "two" take their feminine forms одна́ and две, not оди́н and два. Get comfortable here and you can already tell any time on the clock.
In relaxed speech Russians often count toward the coming hour. This is the part that surprises everyone, so meet it slowly — and remember the official style above is always available if you'd rather not risk it.
| Clock | Everyday Russian | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| 2:30 | полови́на тре́тьего | "half of the third [hour]" |
| 5:30 | полови́на шесто́го | "half of the sixth [hour]" |
| 2:45 | без че́тверти три | "without a quarter, three" |
| 1:50 | без десяти́ два | "without ten, two" |
Two patterns are doing the work. полови́на + the next hour (as an ordinal) gives the half hour: 2:30 is "half of the third hour," because the third hour is halfway through. без ("without") + the minutes + the whole hour counts down to the top: без че́тверти три is "a quarter before three" (2:45), без десяти́ два is "ten before two" (1:50). If in doubt, fall back on два часа́ три́дцать мину́т and you will be understood perfectly.
To say when something happens on the hour, put в ("at") in front — the hour forms don't change: в час (at one), в два часа́ (at two), в семь часо́в (at seven). Two handy fixed phrases: в по́лдень (at noon) and в по́лночь (at midnight).
The Russian week starts on Monday. Day names are written with a small letter mid-sentence. To say "on" a particular day, use в + the accusative (the object form of a word) — which changes the feminine days visibly (среда́ → в сре́ду) but leaves the others looking the same.
| Day | Russian | "on [day]" |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | понеде́льник | в понеде́льник |
| Tuesday | вто́рник | во вто́рник |
| Wednesday | среда́ | в сре́ду |
| Thursday | четве́рг | в четве́рг |
| Friday | пя́тница | в пя́тницу |
| Saturday | суббо́та | в суббо́ту |
| Sunday | воскресе́нье | в воскресе́нье |
Months are also lowercase. You need two forms of each: the prepositional (the form used after prepositions like в) for "in [month]," and the genitive for dates.
| Month | Russian | "in [month]" | date form (genitive) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | янва́рь | в январе́ | января́ |
| February | февра́ль | в феврале́ | февраля́ |
| March | март | в ма́рте | ма́рта |
| April | апре́ль | в апре́ле | апре́ля |
| May | май | в ма́е | ма́я |
| June | ию́нь | в ию́не | ию́ня |
| July | ию́ль | в ию́ле | ию́ля |
| August | а́вгуст | в а́вгусте | а́вгуста |
| September | сентя́брь | в сентябре́ | сентября́ |
| October | октя́брь | в октябре́ | октября́ |
| November | ноя́брь | в ноябре́ | ноября́ |
| December | дека́брь | в декабре́ | декабря́ |
Notice how the -брь months pull the stress onto the ending: сентя́брь but в сентябре́, сентября́. Say them aloud a few times and the shift stops feeling strange.
For the date itself, Russian names the day with an ordinal number in neuter gender and the month in the genitive. Stating today's date, you use the neuter nominative; saying on a date, you switch the ordinal to the genitive too:
| English | Russian |
|---|---|
| Today is the first of January. | Сего́дня пе́рвое января́. |
| My birthday is on the tenth of May. | Мой день рожде́ния — деся́того ма́я. |
| We're meeting on the second of March. | Мы встреча́емся второ́го ма́рта. |
In writing, dates go day-month-year: 01.01.2026 or, spelled out, 1 января́ 2026 г. (the г. is short for го́да, "of the year"). To say a year, only the last part is an ordinal: "in 2026" is в две ты́сячи два́дцать шесто́м году́, or colloquially just в два́дцать шесто́м году́.
| Ско́лько вре́мени? | What time is it? |
| Сейча́с полови́на тре́тьего. | It's half past two. |
| Встре́тимся в семь часо́в. | Let's meet at seven. |
| Я прие́ду в сре́ду. | I'll arrive on Wednesday. |
Cover the answers and put each of these into Russian. Say them aloud — the endings only stick when you produce them.
If you matched each form to its job — counted noun after a number, accusative for a single day, genitive for a date — the system has done its work. The fastest way to make it automatic is to say real times and dates out loud and get corrected on the spot, which is exactly the kind of practice we're built for. Start learning Russian — free →
How do you ask what time it is in Russian? Two questions cover almost everything. Который час? is the neutral, slightly more traditional way to ask the clock time. Сколько времени? (literally “how much of time?”) is extremely common in everyday speech and means the same thing. To answer on the hour you just say сейчас plus the number and the right form of час: Сейчас три часа (it’s three o’clock).
Why is 2:30 половина третьего and not half past two? Russian’s everyday half-past style looks at the hour that is coming, not the one that has passed. половина третьего literally means “half of the third hour,” i.e. the third hour is half over — which is 2:30, not 3:30. If that logic feels risky, the official style always works and is fully understood: два часа тридцать минут for 2:30.
How do I say “on Monday” versus “on Mondays” in Russian? For one specific day, use в plus the accusative: в понедельник (on Monday), в среду (on Wednesday). For something that happens regularly, Russian switches to по plus the dative plural: по понедельникам (on Mondays), по субботам (on Saturdays). The first names a single day; the second describes a habit.
Do Russian day and month names take a capital letter? No. Unlike English, Russian writes days of the week and months with a small letter in the middle of a sentence: понедельник, январь, среда, август. You only capitalise them when they start a sentence. This trips up English speakers constantly, because our own calendar words are always capitalised.
PS — build this on times and dates you actually need: the hour you set your alarm, the day your class meets, your own birthday. A handful of real, repeated examples will teach the endings faster than any table.