Learn Hardcore Russian: Сегодня у меня меньше времени, чем вчера.

Russian usually expresses ownership with the construction у + person in genitive (literally “at someone”) rather than with a possessive adjective plus a form of быть.

So:

У меня есть время. – I have time. (literally: At me there is time.)

In your sentence, the idea is “Today I have less time …”, so Russian naturally uses у меня:

Сегодня у меня меньше времени…
Literally: Today at me (there is) less time…

If you said моё время here (e.g. Сегодня моё время меньше), it would sound strange or mean something different, like “my time (period) is shorter today” in a very unusual, almost abstract sense. For everyday “I have time / I don’t have time”, use у меня.

Why is there no verb like есть or есть у меня? In English we say “I have”.

In Russian, the verb быть (to be) is normally omitted in the present tense in simple statements like this. It’s understood from context.

Full, very explicit version would be:

Сегодня у меня (есть) меньше времени, чем вчера.

but native speakers drop есть in such sentences unless they want to emphasize existence/availability in a special way.

So:

Сегодня у меня меньше времени…
means
Today I have less time… (literally: Today at me (there is) less time…).

Including есть here (Сегодня у меня есть меньше времени…) is grammatically possible but sounds clumsy and not natural in this context.

Why is it времени and not время?

Времени is the genitive singular form of время (time).

The noun время is an irregular neuter noun that declines like this (singular only):

Nominative: время – time (subject form)
Genitive: времени
Dative: времени
Accusative: время
Instrumental: временем
Prepositional: о времени

After quantity words like много, мало, меньше, больше, Russian uses the genitive:

много времени – a lot of time
мало времени – little time
меньше времени – less time
больше времени – more time

So меньше + времени is required by grammar: the quantifier меньше governs the genitive.

What exactly is меньше here? Is it an adjective, an adverb, or something else?

Меньше is the comparative form of мало (little, not much). It behaves like a quantitative word (a “comparative quantifier”) rather than a normal adjective.

мало времени – little time
меньше времени – less time (literally: “littler amount of time”)

You don’t need to match it in gender/number with the noun the way you would with a normal adjective:

меньший is the adjective (e.g. меньший дом – the smaller house)
меньше is the quantifier/comparative used with nouns in the genitive: меньше времени, меньше денег, меньше людей.

So here, меньше = less (of).

Why is it меньше времени, чем вчера and not меньше, чем вчера, времени?

Russian prefers to keep the comparative word (меньше) next to the noun it modifies (времени), and then add the comparative clause with чем:

меньше времени, чем вчера – literally: less time than yesterday.

The alternative меньше, чем вчера, времени is not strictly ungrammatical, but it sounds unnatural and awkward. The natural pattern is:

[меньше/больше + noun in genitive] + чем + [comparison]

Examples:

У меня больше денег, чем у него. – I have more money than he does.
Сегодня у меня меньше дел, чем обычно. – Today I have fewer things to do than usual.

Can I say Сегодня у меня меньше времени, чем было вчера? Is that better or worse?

Yes, Сегодня у меня меньше времени, чем было вчера is correct and natural. Here you explicitly add было (there was / I had), so it becomes:

Today I have less time than I had yesterday.

Both versions are fine:

Сегодня у меня меньше времени, чем вчера.
Сегодня у меня меньше времени, чем было вчера.

The first one simply omits было, because it is clear from context. In informal speech and everyday writing, the shorter version (without было) is more common and completely normal.

Why do we use чем here? I’ve seen comparisons with just genitive case instead of чем.

Russian has two main ways to form comparisons with comparatives:

Comparative + чем + noun/pronoun
- меньше времени, чем вчера – less time than yesterday
- выше, чем он – taller than him
Comparative + noun/pronoun in genitive (without чем)
- выше его – taller than him
- старше брата – older than (my) brother

With words like меньше, больше, лучше, etc., both patterns exist, but:

When you compare with a full clause or an adverb like вчера, you normally use чем:
- меньше времени, чем вчера – here вчера is an adverb (yesterday), so you need чем.
- You cannot say меньше времени вчера to mean “less time than yesterday”.

So чем вчера is the correct and natural comparison phrase here.

Could I say Сегодня у меня меньше времени, чем у тебя instead of чем вчера?

Yes, that’s a different comparison, but grammatically it’s the same structure.

Сегодня у меня меньше времени, чем вчера. – Today I have less time than (I had) yesterday.
Сегодня у меня меньше времени, чем у тебя. – Today I have less time than you (do).

The pattern is:

меньше + [noun in genitive] + чем + [comparison]

Where the comparison can be:

another person with у: чем у тебя, чем у него
a time adverb: чем вчера, чем обычно, чем раньше
or even a full clause: чем я думал, чем планировалось, etc.

Is the word order fixed? Can I say У меня сегодня меньше времени, чем вчера?

The word order is flexible in Russian, and shifting words mostly changes the emphasis, not the basic meaning.

All of these are possible and natural:

Сегодня у меня меньше времени, чем вчера.
Neutral: emphasizes “today” at the start.
У меня сегодня меньше времени, чем вчера.
Still neutral; a very common order; slight emphasis on “I / for me”.

Both are good translations of “Today I have less time than yesterday.”

More unusual orders (like Меньше времени у меня сегодня, чем вчера) are possible in certain contexts (poetic, emphatic), but in normal speech the first two are best.

Why is it меньше времени (singular) and not something like меньше времён (plural)?

In Russian, время in the sense of “time” as a general, uncountable concept is used in the singular and quantified with words like много, мало, больше, меньше + genitive singular:

много времени – a lot of time
мало времени – little time
меньше времени – less time

The plural времена refers to epochs, periods, times (historical eras), not to units of time you “have” today:

трудные времена – hard times
в те времена – in those days

So for “I have less time”, you must use времени (genitive singular), not a plural.

How would this sentence change in the past or future tense?

The comparative part stays the same. What changes is mostly the time adverb or the context, not the structure of меньше времени.

Past (e.g. comparing yesterday and the day before):

Вчера у меня было меньше времени, чем позавчера.
Yesterday I had less time than the day before yesterday.

Future:

Завтра у меня будет меньше времени, чем сегодня.
Tomorrow I will have less time than today.

Note that in past and future you often include the verb быть (было / будет), while in the present you usually omit есть:

Present: Сегодня у меня меньше времени. (no есть)
Past: Вчера у меня было меньше времени.
Future: Завтра у меня будет меньше времени.

Is there a softer or more polite way to say this than using меньше?

Yes. Instead of directly saying “less time”, you can use expressions like:

Сегодня у меня не так много времени, как вчера.
Today I don’t have as much time as yesterday.
Сегодня у меня немного меньше времени, чем вчера.
Today I have a bit less time than yesterday.

The basic grammar stays similar:

не так много времени, как вчера – not as much time as yesterday
немного меньше времени, чем вчера – a little less time than yesterday

These versions sound a bit softer or more polite, especially if you’re declining an invitation or explaining why you can’t spend as much time on something.