The time-preposition toolkit: через час, год назад, по понедельникам, с двух до пяти, на неделю/за неделю
I can place events in time with через/назад/по/с-до and distinguish на vs за periods.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Поезд через десять минут, а мы вышли из дома час назад и всё ещё в пробке.
The train is in ten minutes, and we left home an hour ago and are still stuck in traffic.
Я уехал на месяц в Сочи и написал там книгу за две недели.
I went to Sochi for a month and wrote a book there in two weeks.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
English places events in time with "in", "ago", "on", "from... to", "for". Russian has its own set, and two of them trip up English speakers in particular: "in ten minutes" is not в, and "for a week" splits into two different words.
| Russian | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| через + accusative | in (from now), after | через час - in an hour; через год - in a year |
| назад (after the time) | ago | год назад - a year ago; два часа назад - two hours ago |
| по + dative plural | on (regularly) | по понедельникам - on Mondays; по вечерам - in the evenings |
| с... до + genitive | from... until | с двух до пяти - from two to five |
| на + accusative | for (a planned stay or result) | уехать на неделю - to go away for a week |
| за + accusative | in (the time it took) | сделать за час - to do it in an hour |
Через and назад sit on opposite sides. Через comes before the time, like English "in": через десять минут. Назад comes after, like English "ago": час назад. The two often meet in one breath: Поезд через десять минут, а мы вышли из дома час назад и всё ещё в пробке. A common slip is to say *в десять минут for "in ten minutes"; в with a time means a clock time (в десять часов, at ten o'clock).
Regular habits take по with the plural. "On Mondays" is по понедельникам, not *в понедельникам: по субботам мы ездим на дачу. A single day takes в and the accusative: в понедельник (on Monday).
The на / за trap. English "for a week" and "in a week" do not line up with the Russian pair. На answers "for how long will the result last?": Я уехал на месяц в Сочи (I went to Sochi for a month, planning to stay). За answers "how long did it take?": написал книгу за две недели (wrote a book in two weeks). If you are describing how long something lasted while it was going on, Russian uses no preposition at all: Я жил в Сочи месяц (I lived in Sochi for a month).
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice Exercisesна/за periods confused
на = duration of stay; за = time to complete
назад before the time expression
time + назад: год назад
Поезд через десять минут, а мы вышли из дома час назад и всё ещё в пробке.
The train is in ten minutes, and we left home an hour ago and are still stuck in traffic.
через (future) + назад (past) in one panic.
Я уехал на месяц в Сочи и написал там книгу за две недели.
I went to Sochi for a month and wrote a book there in two weeks.
на месяц (stay) + за две недели (completion).
The check for this topic is still being prepared
Ready-made hints are free
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises