Тридцать пять минут второго or Без двадцати пяти два?
Learning how to tell time in Russian can be confusing for English speakers. Unlike English, Russian often describes time by referring to the current hour and the minutes before or after it.For example:
🕐 Тридцать пять минут второго
🕐 Без двадцати пяти два
Both phrases mean 1:35 in Russian.
The first phrase literally means “thirty-five minutes of the second hour.” The second phrase means “twenty-five minutes before two.” Both expressions are correct, and Russian speakers use both in everyday conversations. Understanding these patterns will help you recognize natural Russian speech and communicate more confidently. When learning Russian, it is important not only to memorize vocabulary but also to understand how native speakers actually express ideas in daily life.
Here are a few more examples:
🕒 3:45 Без пятнадцати четыре (fifteen minutes before four)
🕔 5:25 Двадцать пять минут шестого (twenty-five minutes of the sixth hour)
🕚 10:50 Без десяти одиннадцать (ten minutes before eleven)
These time expressions are a great example of why Russian grammar and Russian culture are closely connected. The way Russians talk about time reflects a different way of organizing everyday communication.
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