Telling time

When you need to find out the time, ask: Который (сейчас) час?

You'll hear in reply:

Сейчас час.It's one o'clock.
Сейчас два часа.It's two o'clock.
Сейчас десять часов.It's ten o'clock.

When you need to know WHEN? you may use one of the following two

questions: Когда? and В котором часу?

There are two ways of answering these questions:

  1. Когда? This is less specific and may be answered by saying:

    Утром.In the morning (from about 5:00 am to noon)
    Днём.In the daytime (from noon to about 6:00 pm)
    Вечером.In the evening (from 6:00 pm to midnight)
    Ночью.At night (from midnight to about 5:00 am)
  2. В котором часу? This is more specific and indicates the hour:

    В час.At one o'clock.
    В два/три/четыре (часа).At two/three/four o'clock.
    В пять/шесть/семь (часов)At five/six/seven o'clock.

    В восемь /девять /десять (часов)

    В одиннадцать /двенадцать (часов)

    At eight /nine /ten

    At eleven /twelve o'clock.

То indicate am add ночи or утра after the hour:

В час ночи. В семь часов утра.

For p_m, add дня or вечера.

В два часа дня. В одиннадцать часов вечера.

То indicate partial hours, Russian uses a very complex system which is gradually being replaced by a simpler one based on the 24-hour clock. Study the following examples:

В час.At 1:00 am.
В четыре тридцать.At 4:30 am.
В девять сорок пять.At 9:45 am.
В тринадцать десять.At 1:10 pm. (13:10)
В семнадцать тридцать.At 5:30 pm. (17:30)
В двадцать пятнадцать.At 8:15 pm. (20:15)
В двадцать три тридцать.At 11:30 pm. (23:30)

But you will also hear these:

В половине пятого утра.At 4:30am. (lit. half five in the morning)
Без пятнадцати десять утра.At 9:45am. (lit. 10 less 15 [minutes])
В десять минут второго.At 1:10pm. (lit. 10 minutes of the second hour)
В половине шестого вечера.At 5:30pm. (lit. half six in the evening)