Я хочу знать, сколько времени осталось.

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Breakdown of Я хочу знать, сколько времени осталось.

• хотеть: to want
• время: the time
• знать: to know

Questions & Answers about Я хочу знать, сколько времени осталось.

Why is времени in the genitive case rather than the nominative?

When you ask about an amount with сколько, Russian requires the noun to be in the genitive case. Since время (time) is uncountable, you say сколько времени.

Why is there a comma before сколько?

Because сколько времени осталось is a subordinate (indirect question) clause. In Russian, subordinate clauses are separated from the main clause (Я хочу знать) by a comma.

Why does the verb осталось appear in the past tense (neuter singular) when we’re talking about the present?

Russian often uses the past tense of остаться (“to remain”) to express that something has remained up to the present—similar to English present perfect (“has left”). Also, the phrase сколько времени is treated as a singular neuter concept, so the past neuter form осталось is required.

Could we use a different tense, like останется (future) or остается (present)?

In contexts about deadlines or remaining time, you typically use осталось.
• останется (“will remain”) shifts focus to a future action and is less common here.
• остается (“remains” in the present) sounds odd because it doesn’t convey the completed-result nuance of time counted down up to now.