Questions & Answers about Я записал время прибытия такси.
Why is прибытия in the genitive case rather than nominative?
In Russian, when one noun specifies another (here “arrival” specifying “time”), the second noun goes into the genitive. So время прибытия literally means “time of arrival,” with прибытия (genitive singular) showing possession or relation—just like дата рождения (“date of birth”) or название фильма (“title of the movie”).
How can we tell that время is the direct object (accusative) here, when it looks exactly like the nominative?
Время is a neuter noun whose accusative form is identical to the nominative: время. We infer it’s the object of записал because записал is a transitive verb requiring a direct object, and by the word order (Я записал [object]).
Why use the perfective verb записал, not the imperfective записывал?
Perfective aspect (записал) indicates that the action of writing down the time is completed (I wrote it down). Imperfective (записывал) would stress the process or repetition (“I was writing it down” or “I used to write it down”).
Why is there no preposition before время? Shouldn’t it be something like “about the time”?