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Welcome to Module 10. In our previous module, we finished our deep dive into the Russian case system by learning how to talk about age—a skill that neatly combined numbers and the genitive case. Now, we shift our focus to another fundamental aspect of language: time. Over the next few lessons, we'll explore how to talk about the past, present, and future.
Today's lesson is the first step on that journey. You will learn to use the essential time expressions for past, present, and future: вчера́ (yesterday), сего́дня (today), and за́втра (tomorrow). To use these words correctly, we'll also take our first look at the past and future tenses of the verb быть (to be), which will be the cornerstone for building more complex sentences later.
1. The Present: Сегодня (Today)
Let's start with the present moment. The word for "today" in Russian is сего́дня.
Right away, you'll notice a pronunciation quirk that is important to master. Although it's spelled with a 'г' (се-го-дня), it's pronounced with a 'в' sound: [si-vód-nya]. This is a common exception you'll just need to memorize.
To see how сего́дня works in a sentence, and to review a key concept, let's watch a short video.
Russian Lesson: today, yesterday, tomorrow + present, past & future
The video 'Russian Lesson: today, yesterday, tomorrow' from RussianTutorOnline clearly explains the pronunciation of 'сегодня' and reminds us how the present tense works in Russian.
Watch from 00:42 to 02:07. Pay close attention to the pronunciation of 'сегодня' and the example sentences. Notice what's missing compared to English.
As the video explained, Russian doesn't use a verb for "to be" (am, is, are) in the present tense. You've seen this before in sentences like Я студе́нт (I am a student). The same applies when using сего́дня:
- Сего́дня я до́ма. (Today I am at home.)
- Сего́дня ле́кция. (Today there is a lecture.)
- Он сего́дня в лаборато́рии. (He is in the lab today.)
2. The Past: Вчера (Yesterday)
Next, let's look back at "yesterday," which is вчера́ in Russian.
The pronunciation here is also a little tricky. The initial в is followed by a voiceless consonant ч, so the в becomes devoiced and sounds like ф: [fchi-rá].
When you talk about yesterday, you must use the past tense. This is where we need to introduce the verb быть (to be) in its past form. Unlike the present tense, the past tense of "to be" is always stated. It changes based on the gender and number of the subject.
This next segment of the video will introduce these forms.
Russian Lesson: today, yesterday, tomorrow + present, past & future
Let's continue with the same video. It will now introduce 'вчера' and the four past-tense forms of 'to be'.
Watch from 02:07 to 04:57. Focus on understanding when to use 'был', 'была́', 'бы́ло', and 'бы́ли'.
Here is a summary of the past tense forms of быть:
| Form | Used with... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| был | Masculine subjects (он, я, ты) | Вчера́ он был в библиоте́ке. (Yesterday he was in the library.) |
| была́ | Feminine subjects (она́, я, ты) | Вчера́ она́ была́ на конце́рте. (Yesterday she was at a concert.) |
| бы́ло | Neuter subjects (оно́, э́то) | Вчера́ бы́ло хо́лодно. (It was cold yesterday.) |
| бы́ли | Plural subjects (они́, мы, вы) | Вчера́ мы бы́ли в кино́. (Yesterday we were at the cinema.) |
Notice that for я (I) and ты (you), the form depends on the speaker's gender. As a male speaker, you would say: Вчера́ я был...
3. The Future: Завтра (Tomorrow)
Finally, let's look ahead to "tomorrow": за́втра [záft-ra].
As you can guess, using за́втра requires the future tense. To say "will be," you'll use the future forms of the verb быть. These forms change depending on the person and number (i.e., they are conjugated).
The last part of the video we'll watch covers these future conjugations.
Russian Lesson: today, yesterday, tomorrow + present, past & future
This final segment from RussianTutorOnline introduces 'завтра' and provides the full future tense conjugation of the verb 'быть'.
Watch from 04:57 to 06:47. Don't worry about memorizing all the forms instantly, but try to recognize the pattern.
Here are the future tense conjugations of быть for your reference:
| Pronoun | Future Tense of быть |
Translation |
|---|---|---|
| я | бу́ду | I will be |
| ты | бу́дешь | you (inf.) will be |
| он/она́/оно́ | бу́дет | he/she/it will be |
| мы | бу́дем | we will be |
| вы | бу́дете | you (form./pl.) will be |
| они́ | бу́дут | they will be |
Now you can build future sentences:
- За́втра я бу́ду за́нят. (Tomorrow I will be busy.)
- За́втра они́ бу́дут на экза́мене. (Tomorrow they will be at an exam.)
- За́втра бу́дет ве́село. (Tomorrow will be fun.)
4. Expanding Your Timeline
Russian also has simple words for "the day before yesterday" and "the day after tomorrow."
As the image shows:
- Позавчера́ [pazaf-chi-rá] - The day before yesterday (uses past tense)
- Послеза́втра [posli-záft-ra] - The day after tomorrow (uses future tense)
For a great text summary of everything we've covered, plus a few more details, please review the following resource.
Yesterday, today, tomorrow in Russian - Learn to talk about time
The article 'Yesterday, today, tomorrow in Russian' provides concise explanations and clear examples for each time word.
Read the sections titled 'Yesterday', 'Today', and 'Tomorrow'. Notice how 'сегодня' can be used with past, present, or future actions within the same day (e.g., 'сегодня утром я был...' - 'this morning I was...'). Also, pay attention to the extra words for time of day, like 'у́тром' (in the morning) and 'ве́чером' (in the evening).
5. Practice
Let's put your new knowledge to the test. Try to translate the following sentences into Russian.
- Today the weather is wonderful.
- Yesterday I was at the university.
- Tomorrow we will be at home.
- She will be at work the day after tomorrow.
Click for answers
- Сего́дня пого́да чуде́сная. (or
Сего́дня чуде́сная пого́да.) - Вчера́ я был в университе́те.
- За́втра мы бу́дем до́ма.
- Послеза́втра она́ бу́дет на рабо́те.
Conclusion
Excellent work today! You've taken a significant step into discussing events in time. By learning just three core words and the basic forms of the verb "to be," you can now frame simple sentences in the past, present, and future.
Key Takeaways:
- Сего́дня (today): Pronounced with a
вsound. Used with the present tense (zero verb "to be"), but can also specify actions within today that are past or future. - Вчера́ (yesterday): Pronounced with an
фsound. Requires the past tense. The verb "to be" becomes был/была́/бы́ло/бы́ли based on gender and number. - За́втра (tomorrow): Requires the future tense. The verb "to be" is conjugated (я бу́ду, ты бу́дешь, он бу́дет...).
- You also learned позавчера́ (day before yesterday) and послеза́втра (day after tomorrow).
Preview of the next lesson:
Now that you have a handle on the past tense of быть, we'll expand on this in the next lesson. You will learn how to form the past tense of regular verbs, allowing you to say not just what was, but what you did.