Breakdown of Я не помню, во сколько вылетает наш рейс.
Questions & Answers about Я не помню, во сколько вылетает наш рейс.
In Russian, the present tense can be used for scheduled future events, very much like English:
- English: Our flight leaves at 7. (present, but future meaning)
- Russian: Наш рейс вылетает в семь.
So вылетает here is grammatically present tense, but context (it’s a schedule) gives it a future meaning. This is completely normal with things like:
- Поезд отправляется в 9:30. – The train leaves at 9:30.
- Фильм начинается в восемь. – The movie starts at eight.
You could also say во сколько вылетит наш рейс, but that sounds more like asking about a one‑time event without emphasizing the timetable/schedule nature. For flights, вылетает is very typical.
Both can be used, but they differ slightly:
- вылетает – imperfective aspect, present tense
– Neutral, often used for scheduled departures, like on a timetable. - вылетит – perfective aspect, future tense
– Focuses on the single complete action of “will take off / will depart.”
In questions:
- Во сколько вылетает наш рейс? – At what time does our flight leave? (as per schedule)
- Во сколько вылетит наш рейс? – At what time will our flight (actually) take off?
In your sentence, вылетает sounds the most natural, because you’re talking about the scheduled departure time.
Because во сколько вылетает наш рейс is a subordinate clause (an indirect question) dependent on я не помню.
Structure:
- Main clause: Я не помню – I don’t remember
- Subordinate clause: во сколько вылетает наш рейс – what time our flight leaves
Russian almost always separates such subordinate clauses from the main clause with a comma:
- Я знаю, когда он придёт. – I know when he will come.
- Я не помню, где мы встретились. – I don’t remember where we met.
So the comma is mandatory here.
Сколько by itself means how much / how many and also what time in the question Сколько времени? (What time is it?).
In во сколько, the preposition во + сколько together mean at what time:
- во – a form of в (in/at)
- сколько – how much / what time (in this context)
So:
- Сколько времени? – What time is it?
- Во сколько вылетает рейс? – At what time does the flight leave?
You need the preposition во here because you’re asking at what time (something happens), not just “how much / how many.”
Russian uses во instead of в mainly for ease of pronunciation, typically before words starting with two consonants or certain consonant sounds.
Compare:
- в
- вторник → во вторник
- в
- все → во все
- в
- сколько → во сколько
Saying во сколько is simpler and more natural to pronounce than в сколько. It’s the same preposition; во is just a phonetic variant of в.
Yes, that is also correct:
- Я не помню, во сколько вылетает наш рейс.
- Я не помню, во сколько наш рейс вылетает.
Both are grammatical and natural. The most neutral and common order is probably the one you have (…во сколько вылетает наш рейс), but putting наш рейс before вылетает is fine and doesn’t significantly change the meaning.
Russian word order is relatively flexible; here it’s more about rhythm and slight differences in focus than about strict grammar.
Yes, but the meaning shifts slightly:
- когда вылетает наш рейс – when does our flight leave? (can be date, part of the day, etc.)
- во сколько вылетает наш рейс – at what exact time does our flight leave?
So:
- Я не помню, когда вылетает наш рейс. – I don’t remember when our flight leaves.
- Я не помню, во сколько вылетает наш рейс. – I don’t remember what time our flight leaves.
If you specifically mean clock time, во сколько is more precise.
In the subordinate clause во сколько вылетает наш рейс, the noun рейс is the subject of the verb вылетает:
- (Кто? Что?) рейс вылетает – The flight departs.
Subjects of verbs are in the nominative case in Russian, so:
- наш рейс – our flight (nominative, subject)
- наш рейс вылетает – our flight leaves
The main clause Я не помню doesn’t change the case of рейс, because наш рейс belongs to the inner clause, not directly to помню.
They are close, but not identical:
- Я не помню – I don’t remember
– Implies you knew the information before, but it has slipped your mind. - Я не знаю – I don’t know
– Implies you don’t (and maybe never did) have that information.
So:
Я не помню, во сколько вылетает наш рейс.
– I once knew the departure time, but I forgot it.Я не знаю, во сколько вылетает наш рейс.
– I don’t know the departure time (and maybe never did).
Both are possible; the original sentence specifically expresses forgetfulness.
Both can be translated as I don’t remember / I forgot, but there’s a nuance:
- Я не помню – I don’t remember (neutral, focuses on current state of not remembering).
- Я забыл – I forgot (focuses on the act of forgetting in the past).
In many contexts they’re interchangeable, but:
- Я не помню, во сколько вылетает наш рейс. – Very natural, common.
- Я забыл, во сколько вылетает наш рейс. – Also possible; emphasizes that at some point you forgot.
Я не помню often sounds a bit softer and is more general; Я забыл can feel more like you’re blaming your own memory.
Yes, both are possible, but there’s a nuance:
Я не помнил, во сколько вылетает наш рейс.
– Literally: I didn’t remember what time our flight leaves.
– Russian often keeps the present (or “normal” form) in subordinate clauses when talking about facts or schedules, even if the main verb is in the past. This is quite natural.Я не помнил, во сколько вылетал наш рейс.
– Literally: I didn’t remember what time our flight was leaving.
– Here the subordinate clause is also set in the past; it can sound more like a narrative about a specific past situation.
In everyday speech, …во сколько вылетает наш рейс is very common even after past verbs like я не помнил.
Yes:
- Я не помню, во сколько вылетает наш рейс. – I don’t remember what time our flight leaves.
- Я не помню, во сколько вылетает рейс. – I don’t remember what time the flight leaves.
If it’s obvious from context which flight you are talking about, dropping наш is fine. Наш just adds a bit of clarity/personal connection (“our flight” as passengers on that flight).