Breakdown of Задержка составляет часов десять, ожидание ужасное.
десять
ten
час
hour
ужасный
terrible
задержка
delay
составлять
to amount to (impf.)
ожидание
wait
Questions & Answers about Задержка составляет часов десять, ожидание ужасное.
Why is the order часов десять instead of десять часов?
This is the numerical approximation trick! In Russian, you can express 'about' or 'approximately' just by swapping the noun and the number. So while десять часов means exactly ten hours, часов десять means 'about ten hours.'
Does swapping the word order change the case of the noun?
No, the grammar rules remain exactly the same. The number десять always requires the genitive plural, so we use часов. You simply figure out the case as if it were a normal number-noun phrase, and then flip the order.
Why use the verb составляет here? Couldn't we just skip the verb like we usually do for 'is' in Russian?
You could skip it, but составлять (which literally means 'to constitute' or 'to amount to') is the standard verb in Russian when stating official durations, prices, amounts, or sizes. It is very common in announcements and formal speech.
What is the exact difference between задержка and ожидание in this sentence?
Задержка refers to the 'delay' itself (an event, like a flight or train schedule being pushed back), whereas ожидание is a noun built from the verb ждать (to wait) and refers to 'the wait' or the personal experience of waiting.
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