Spans of years (с ... до ...)

"From" and "To"

When you want to define an exact span of time, you will use the prepositions с (from) and до (until/to). Both of these prepositions require the Genitive case.

Years in Russian are expressed using ordinal numbers. Just like adjectives, ordinal numbers take the ending -ого or -его in the masculine Genitive case. Remember that only the final word in the number changes: две тысячи пятый becomes две тысячи пятого.

The word for "year" (год) must also be in the Genitive case (года). When stating a span between two years, you only need to use the word года once, placing it at the very end of the phrase.

Talking About Duration

To discuss project timelines, organizational milestones, and historical eras, you will use verbs that describe things existing or being in effect over time. Some of the most common verbs for this include:

• длиться (to last)
• продолжаться (to continue)
• действовать (to be in effect)
• существовать (to exist)

Reading Years in Digits

In business texts and historical accounts, spans of years are very often written as digits. When reading them out loud, the exact same grammar rules apply. You must still pronounce the years as ordinal numbers in the Genitive case.