18 Language Practice: Numbers in Phone numbers, Time, and Dates

Numbers in Russian is a very straightforward topic that is introduced very early on in the formal language learning. But if you’re learning Russian, you know that nothing is easy and there some things that are difficult because the concept or the usage is different from English.  Understanding these differences – or peculiarities – helps in navigating number-related communication effectively in both cultures. In this unit, we will look at numbers in phone numbers, dates, years, and telling time.

Peculiarities of saying phone numbers in Russian

1. In American English, numbers are typically pronounced individually. In Russian, numbers are typically grouped in a set of triplets and doubles. Russians pronounce a number in each segment rather than individual digits.
   • For example, in American English the phone number 123-45-67 will be pronounced as “one-two-three-four-five-six-seven”.
   • In Russian, the phone number 123-45-67 will be pronounced as “one hundred twenty-three – forty-five – sixty-seven”.
2. Additionally, in American English, the number 0 “zero” is often pronounced as “oh” when stating phone numbers, while in Russian, the word “ноль” (nol’) is used for zero.

Task 1: Practice recognizing phone numbers in Russian by watching these videos. In each video, you will hear a phone number pronounced by the speaker. Write it down and compare it to the correct answers at the end of each video. 

Task 2: Practice saying these phone numbers. Listen to audio files to check your response (each phone number is pronounced twice).

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Peculiarities of telling time in Russian: 12- vs. 24 hour systems

Telling time is a key element of personal and business communication in every culture. To be able to successfully navigate and/or explain how to tell time, it is important to understand the key differences in two cultures.

In the U.S., the use of the 24-hour clock system is known as military time because it is rarely used outside of the military context, and such fields as aviation, computing, and certain industries. In Russia, by contrast, the 24-hour clock system is used in various contexts, including everyday communication and especially formal settings. It is standard in written communication, official documents, schedules, timetables, and media and it is used extensively to avoid confusion, as there is no AM/PM distinction in Russian.

In United States, using the 24-hour clock system in everyday life can be very confusing. In Russia, the 24-hour clock is widely used and understood in everyday life. Russian people often easily switch between the 12-hour and 24-hour formats depending on the context. Russian-speaking people, use the 24-hour system both in written and spoken contexts, especially in formal situations.

In the United States, the 12-hour clock (AM/PM) is more commonly used in daily life. Most people use this format when speaking or writing informally. Times from 00:00 to 11:59 are generally referred to as AM, while times from 12:00 to 23:59 are referred to as PM but are still represented as a 12-hour system. In Russia, there are no AM/PM distinction. Times from 00:00 to 11:59 use the 12-hour clock system and starting from 12:00 to 23:59, people often switch between the 12- and 24-hour systems. Informal conversations might still use the 12-hour clock, using context to clarify whether it’s morning or evening. It’s also important to remember that 1 PM in informal settings is referred to as “час” in Russian (for example: Let’s meet at 1 p.m. – Давай встретимся в час). 

Summary of the comparison:

• The U.S. uses the 12-hour format widely, while Russia switches between the 12-hour and the 24-hour format.
• The U.S. uses AM/PM to distinguish between morning and evening in the 12-hour format, while Russia uses words “утро, день, вечер” rather than a specific words analogous to AM/PM.
• The 24-hour system is more prevalent in everyday use in Russia compared to the U.S., where the 12-hour system is more common.
• In Russia, people are accustomed to seamlessly understanding and using both formats, while in the U.S., the 24-hour format is often reserved for specific contexts and may require a mental conversion for some individuals not familiar with it.

Examples:

	U.S.	Russia
Informal: Meeting time	Hey, let’s meet for dinner at 7 PM.	Давай встретимся на ужин в семь вечера.
Formal: Meeting time	The conference call has been scheduled for 7 PM.	Конференц-звонок назначен на 19:00.
Informal: Flight schedule	Our flight leaves at 4 PM, therefore we should be at the airport by 2 PM.	Наш рейс отправляется в четыре часа дня, так что нужно быть в аэропорту к двум.
Formal: Flight schedule	The flight is scheduled to depart at 16:00, so please arrive at the airport by 14:00.	Время отправления рейса 16:00, поэтому прибудьте в аэропорт к 14:00.
Informal: TV program	The new episode airs at 8 PM tonight.	Новый эпизод выходит в восемь вечера.
Formal: TV program	The broadcast time for the new episode is 8 PM.	Время показа нового эпизода – 20:00.

Task: In this task, find the correct way to express time in informal and formal contexts. 

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Peculiarities of telling time in informal conversations

In English, formal and colloquial ways of telling time are similar to each other. For example, the time references that are expressed in numbers are widely used in both contexts: for example, 5:15 will be announced as “five – fifteen”, 6:30 as “six-thirty”, and 7:45 as “seven-forty-five” in most contexts. There are other ways to express the same time references, for example: quarter after five or half past six, but they are not widely used.

In Russian, it is still common to use words like  “четверть” and “половина” to indicate times with 15-30-45 minutes even in colloquial expressions.

It gets even trickier because once these words are used in the first 30 minutes of the hour, the digits switch from cardinal numbers (e.g.: one, two, three etc.) to ordinal numbers (e.g.: first, second, third etc.) used in the Genitive case. And what’s even more peculiar – even though logical – the numbers refers to the next hour. This can be a bit counterintuitive for English speakers, who usually say “quarter after” or “half past” the current hour.

For example:

• “четверть пятого” literally translates to “quarter of the fifth hour,” meaning it is moving towards five o’clock. Thus, it is 4:15.
• “половина восьмого” literally translates to “half of the eighth,” meaning it is halfway to eight o’clock. Thus, it is 7:30.

Here are some more key concepts in Russian time-telling:

Full hours: The hour is stated simply. For example:

• • 7:00 – семь часов (seven o’clock).

Minutes past the hour:

• • • 7:10 – десять минут восьмого (ten minutes past seven, literally “ten minutes of the eighth”).
    • 7:15 – пятнадцать минут восьмого or четверть восьмого (fifteen minutes past seven, literally “fifteen minutes of the eighth” or “a quarter of the eighth”).
    • 4:20 – двадцать минут пятого (twenty minutes past four, literally “twenty minutes of the fifth”).

Half past the hour:

• • 6:30 – половина седьмого (halfway to seven, literally “half of the seventh”).
  • 7:30 – половина восьмого (halfway to eight, literally “half of the eighth”).

Minutes to the hour:

• • 7:45 – без четверти восемь or без пятнадцати восемь (a quarter to eight, literally “without a quarter, eight” or “15 minutes to eight).
  • 7:50 – без десяти восемь (ten minutes to eight, literally “without ten, eight”).
  • 9:45 – без пятнадцати десять (fifteen minutes to ten, literally “without fifteen, ten”).

Peculiarities of expressing dates

Telling dates in Russian can be challenging for Americans due to several key differences between the two systems. Here are the main difficulties and peculiarities.

The main difference that can cause confusion is the order of the day, month, and year when dates are written out in digits. Russians use the format starting with the smallest unit (day) and ending with the largest (year), while Americans start with the month. Americans use / to divide the units of the date, while Russians use . for the same purpose. 

Russian format: Day.Month.Year  – DD.MM.YYYY  —–   03.04.2024 means April 3rd, 2024.

American format: Month/Day/Year  – MM/DD/YYYY —–  03/04/2024 means March 4th, 2024.

It should also be noted that it can be common in the Russian system of writing dates to omit the leading zeroes more often than it happens in the American system. For example, it is more common for the Russian system to have 3.4.2024 for April 3rd, 2024, than it would be for the American system where leading zeroes would be included more often: 04/03/2024 for April 3rd, 2024.

The next difference is in the way dates are pronounced and written. In Russian, dates are often written in the format “3 апреля 2024 года” (3rd of April, 2024) and pronounced similarly – day first. In the American system, dates are usually written as “April 3, 2024” and pronounced as “April third, 2024” – month first.

The use of cases with dates can be further confusing: When Russians simply state the date, they use the Nominative case. However, when they indicate that something happened on that date (in English the word “on” is used to indicate that), they switch to the Genitive case. 

For example: Today is June 5th. – Сегодня пятое (Nom.) июня.  – We will arrive on June 5th – Мы приедем пятого (Gen.) июня.

Finally, even though the use of ordinal numbers for dates is common in both systems, only the American colloquial speech can allow using cardinal digits for dates. For example, пятнадцатое января can be pronounced in English as January 15th (fifteenth) or January 15 (fifteen). But the Russian system only uses the standard option with the ordinal number.