GrammarParts of the day

This guide is about naming morning, afternoon, evening and night; for saying “in the morning / in the evening” and greeting people at the right time. For reading the clock itself, hours and minutes, see Telling the time.

The four parts

The boundaries are fuzzy, but roughly:

Midday and midnight have their own words: по́лдень (noon) and по́лночь (midnight). The whole span of a 24-hour day is су́тки, and “time of day” itself is вре́мя су́ток.

“When?” — the adverbs

To say “in the morning / in the afternoon / …” you don’t use a preposition. Instead each noun has a fixed instrumental form that works as an adverb answering когда́? (when?):

You can sharpen an adverb with ра́но (early) / по́здно (late), or anchor it to a specific day with сего́дня (today), вчера́ (yesterday) or за́втра (tomorrow):

Greetings

The greeting adjective agrees with the gender of its part-of-day noun, so the ending changes:

• до́брое у́тро (Good morning! — у́тро is neuter → -ое)
• до́брый день (Good afternoon! — день is masculine → -ый)
• до́брый ве́чер (Good evening!)

There is no “good night” greeting for meeting someone. споко́йной но́чи (Good night!) is said only when parting for the night — and it’s in the genitive, because it’s a shortened wish (“[I wish you] a peaceful night”). До́брый день! is the safe all-purpose “hello” for most of the day.

Habits and spans of the day

For something that happens regularly at that time, use по + dative plural:

• по утра́м (in the mornings, every morning)
• по вечера́м (in the evenings)
• по ноча́м (at nights)

Some other useful set phrases:

• с утра́ до ве́чера (from morning till evening, all day long)
• с утра́ (since the morning) · под ве́чер / к ве́черу (towards / by evening)
• среди́ но́чи (in the middle of the night) · на рассве́те (at dawn)

No a.m. / p.m.

Instead of a.m./p.m., a clock hour is pinned to a part of the day with the genitive of that part. So the day-part word does the job English does with a.m./p.m.:

Only add the day-part when it isn’t obvious from context. For how to say the hours and minutes themselves, see Telling the time.

Common mistakes

• Looking for “a.m./p.m.” Russian has none — use the day-part genitive.
  7 a.m. → семь часо́в утра́
  7 p.m. → семь часо́в ве́чера
• Saying в день for “in the daytime”. The time adverb is днём, with no preposition.
• Using Споко́йной но́чи! as a hello. It’s only for parting at night; to greet, use До́брый ве́чер!

Summary

• Four parts of the day:
  у́тро (morning) → у́тром (in the morning)
  день (day) → днём (in the daytime / afternoon)
  ве́чер (evening) → ве́чером (in the evening)
  ночь (night) → но́чью (at night)
• Greetings:
  До́брое у́тро! (Good morning!)
  До́брый день! (Good afternoon!)
  До́брый ве́чер! (Good evening!)
  Споко́йной но́чи! (Good night! (only when parting))
• Regular habits:
  по утра́м (in the mornings)
  по вечера́м (in the evenings)
  по ноча́м (at nights)
  
• No a.m./p.m.: pin the hour to a part of day in the genitive:
  7 часо́в утра́ (7 a.m.)
  3 часа́ дня (3 p.m.)