Отправка письма занимает минуту.

Sending a letter takes a minute.

Breakdown of Отправка письма занимает минуту.

• письмо: the letter
• минута: the minute
• отправка: the sending
• занимать: to take

Questions & Answers about Отправка письма занимает минуту.

What is отправка and what part of speech does it belong to?

Отправка is a noun meaning “sending” or “dispatch.” It’s the nominalized form of the verb отправить (“to send”), formed with the suffix -ка. In Russian, such nouns denote the action or result of a verb and are always treated grammatically as independent nouns.

Why is письма in the genitive case here?

In the phrase отправка письма, письма (genitive of письмо) indicates what is being sent. Russian often uses the genitive case after abstract nouns like отправка to show possession or the object of the action: “sending of a letter.”

Why do we use занимает instead of a verb like требует or берет?

All three verbs can express time consumption, but with subtle differences:

• занимает is neutral and very common: Отправка письма занимает минуту = “Sending a letter takes a minute.”
• требует (requires) sounds more formal: Отправка письма требует минуты.
• берёт (literally “takes”) is more conversational: Отправка письма берёт минуту. Choosing занимает gives a clear, neutral statement about duration.

Why is минуту in the accusative case without any preposition?

Russian expresses duration of time using the accusative case directly, with no preposition. So for one minute we say минуту (accusative singular of минута). This construction answers “how long?” (Сколько времени?) without extra words.

Could we add the numeral одну before минуту, and would it change the meaning?

Yes. Отправка письма занимает одну минуту is grammatically correct and emphasizes “one minute.” Including одну doesn’t change the factual meaning—it’s just more explicit about the exact count.

Why is it минуту (singular) and not минут (plural)?

Because the speaker indicates that the entire process lasts exactly one minute. If it were several minutes, you’d use the appropriate plural form and case, for example:

• занимает 2 минуты (genitive singular after 2)
• занимает 5 минут (genitive plural after 5)

Can we change the tense of занимает to past or future?

Absolutely. To speak about the past, use заняло:

• Отправка письма заняла минуту. (“Sending the letter took a minute.”) For the future, you can use a perfect aspect verb or an auxiliary, although time-taking statements in future are less common:
• Отправка письма займёт минуту. (“Sending the letter will take a minute.”)

Is it possible to use the verb отправлять instead of the noun отправка in this sentence?

Yes, but the structure changes:

• With the infinitive: Отправлять письмо занимает минуту.
• With the present participle: Отправляя письмо, вы тратите минуту. Using отправка simply turns the whole action into a noun-phrase subject, which is stylistically more compact and common in announcements or instructions.