A matter of time: temporal constructions in Russian

Young RFL teachers often complain that many learners do not grasp the difference between these temporal constructions: Я путешествую по России месяц. (I have been travelling around Russia for a month.) Я приехал в Россию на месяц. (I came to Russia for a month.) Я побывал в 10 городах России за месяц. (I visited 10 cities in Russia over the course of a month.) How can the teacher explain these differences clearly?

Indeed, this topic almost always presents difficulties even for the most able learners. In my view, the problem stems from the fact that learners try to translate these constructions into their native languages and often find that there is no exact equivalent.

That is why, when explaining the semantic differences, it is better to avoid direct translation through a mediating language. These sentences require learners to understand the nature and duration of the action itself. English prepositions such as “for”, “during” and “in” do not correspond one-to-one with the Russian constructions, so direct translation can lead learners to misuse Russian prepositions. For instance, they may insist on translating “We have been talking for three months” as “Мы общаемся на три месяца”. Such situations should be avoided.

Let us recall how these constructions differ. The accusative case without a preposition is used to indicate the duration of an action. Here, nouns denoting a unit of time or a period are used – for example, “Она лежала в больнице целый месяц” (“She was in hospital for a whole month”) and “Мы разговаривали всю дорогу” (“We talked the whole way”). Both imperfective and perfective verbs can occur in such sentences, but imperfective verbs are much more common.

The preposition “на” (often translated as “for”) is also used with the accusative, but with a completely different meaning: it indicates the duration of the resulting state or the time of a planned action. In the first case, the action itself is not named but implied; the resulting state begins immediately after the preceding action. For example, “Они уехали в Сочи на месяц” (“They left for Sochi for a month”) means that they went to Sochi and will remain there for a month. “Мать отвела ребёнка в сад на пять часов” (“The mother took the child to kindergarten for five hours”) means that the mother took her child to kindergarten and the child will remain there for five hours.

The second meaning of “на” is to indicate the scheduled time of a planned action. For example, “Она купила билет в театр на семь часов” (“She bought a theatre ticket for seven o’clock”) means that she bought a ticket for a performance beginning at seven. Both perfective and imperfective verbs can be used with this preposition.

The preposition “за” (roughly “in”) also takes the accusative in temporal uses. Learners should not confuse it with the same preposition used with the instrumental case in spatial constructions. The temporal meaning of “за” is “the period of time required to achieve a result”. For example, “Я дописал статью за один вечер” (“I finished the article in one evening”) and “Мы доехали до станции «Киевская» за пятнадцать минут” (“We got to Kievskaya station in fifteen minutes”). The perfective aspect is more common in this construction, except when the action is habitual: “Обычно мы доезжаем до станции “Киевская” за десять минут” (“We usually get to Kievskaya station in ten minutes”).

To explain this topic clearly, it is essential to give learners plenty of examples of all three patterns – without a preposition, with “на’, and with “за” – so that they can compare and analyse them. Joint analysis by teacher and learner is particularly important here. Before assigning consolidation exercises, the teacher should therefore present several sets of similar phrases for detailed discussion and encourage learners to formulate the differences themselves.
For example: “Мы ехали уже час” (“We had been driving for an hour”), “Мы приехали к вам на час” (“We came to see you for an hour”), and “Мы доехали до вас за час” (“It took us an hour to get to you”). It is better to choose interesting, engaging examples related to learners’ everyday lives. The teacher should also consider the communicative situations in which these constructions are useful, such as “Plans”, “Work”, “Holidays” and “My Day”.

The teacher can introduce these constructions through dialogues or short texts. A possible sequence for presentation and practice is as follows:

• Present the constructions in context, using dialogues, short texts or authentic materials.
• Analyse the constructions together with the learners.
• Provide a range of similar examples for learners to compare and analyse.
• Summarise the findings together, for example in a mind map showing the construction without a preposition and the prepositions “на” and “за”, with examples.
• Use multiple-choice tasks, gap-fill exercises focusing on the choice of preposition, and other practice activities.
• Ask learners to answer questions, choosing whether a preposition is required and, if so, which one.
• Finish with a communicative task: learners interview one another on topics such as “My plans and projects for the next ten years”, “Completed and unfulfilled plans” or “My best and worst day”, and so on.

Finally, a detailed explanation of these temporal meanings can be found in S. A. Khavronina and I. V. Kaznyshkina’s textbook “Всему своё время” (“There is a Time for Everything”). The book contains an excellent set of exercises on this topic and other related temporal constructions. For additional practice, the manuals “Трудные случаи русской грамматики” (“Difficult Cases of Russian Grammar”) and “Чистая грамматика” (“Pure Grammar”) can be used.

Author: Yulia Amlinskaya, teacher of Russian as a Foreign Language and administrator of the “RFL Teachers” professional community.