Breakdown of География начинается в половине девятого.
в
on / during (a time period)
начинаться
to begin (of an event)
девятый
ninth
половина
half
география
geography
Questions & Answers about География начинается в половине девятого.
Why does this sentence use the word for "ninth" (девятого) to mean half past eight?
In traditional Russian time-telling, you look ahead to the next hour. Девятого is the genitive form of девятый (ninth). You are literally saying "at half of the ninth hour." Because the eighth hour is over, 8:30 is exactly halfway into the ninth hour.
Why is it в половине instead of just в половина?
To say that an event happens at a specific half-hour, you use the preposition в followed by the Prepositional case. The noun половина (half) is feminine, so its -а ending changes to -е, making it в половине.
Why does the verb начинается have the -ся ending here?
Начинаться is the reflexive version of the verb "to start". We use it when the subject starts on its own without a direct object. Here, the geography class isn't starting something else, it is just beginning. If a teacher were starting the class, you would use the non-reflexive verb начинает.
Why does девятого end in -ого and how is it pronounced?
Девятого is in the Genitive case because the phrase translates to "of the ninth". A very important pronunciation rule to remember is that the grammatical -ого and -его endings in Russian are always pronounced with a "v" sound instead of a "g", so this word sounds like "девятово".
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