Breakdown of Вы очень пунктуальный гость: сейчас ровно десять минут третьего.
вы
you (plural)
очень
very
сейчас
now
десять
ten
минута
minute
гость
guest
ровно
exactly
третий
third
пунктуальный
punctual
Questions & Answers about Вы очень пунктуальный гость: сейчас ровно десять минут третьего.
Why does десять минут третьего mean 'ten minutes past two' if третьего means 'third'?
In Russian, to express time in the first half of the hour (minutes 1 through 29), you say how many minutes you are into the upcoming hour. So, десять минут третьего literally means 'ten minutes of the third hour'. Because the second hour has already finished at 2:00, being ten minutes into the third hour means it is 2:10.
What grammatical cases make up the phrase десять минут третьего?
The number десять (ten) is in the Nominative case. The word минут (minutes) is in the Genitive plural, which is required after the number 10. Finally, третьего (third) is an ordinal number in the Genitive case, expressing 'of the third'.
How does ровно change the meaning here?
The word ровно usually means 'smoothly' or 'evenly', but when talking about time or measurements, it means 'exactly' or 'sharp'. Adding it here emphasizes that the guest arrived precisely at the agreed-upon moment.
Why is there a colon (:) instead of a period joining these two phrases?
In Russian, you often use a colon between two independent clauses when the second half provides the reason, proof, or explanation for the first half. The fact that it is exactly 2:10 is the proof that the person is a punctual guest.
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