Breakdown of Посмотри на циферблат: уже десять минут девятого!
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
десять
ten
минута
minute
посмотреть
to watch (perfective) / to look at (perfective)
уже
already
девятый
ninth
циферблат
clock face
Questions & Answers about Посмотри на циферблат: уже десять минут девятого!
Why does the Russian sentence say девятого (ninth) when the time is ten minutes past eight?
In traditional Russian time-telling, for the first half of the hour, you state how many minutes you are into the upcoming hour. At 8:10, you are ten minutes into the ninth hour of the day (the hour between 8:00 and 9:00). So, "ten past eight" becomes десять минут девятого (literally "ten minutes of the ninth").
What case is девятого in, and why?
It is in the genitive case. The complete implied phrase is десять минут девятого часа (ten minutes of the ninth hour). In everyday Russian, the word часа (hour) is almost always dropped, leaving just the ordinal number (девятого) in the genitive case.
Why is на циферблат in the accusative case instead of the prepositional case?
The verb посмотреть (to look) paired with the preposition на requires the accusative case because it indicates the direction of an action. You are directing your gaze onto the clock face. You only use the prepositional case with на to state a static location, like на стене (on the wall).
What exactly is a циферблат? Could the speaker have just said Посмотри на часы?
Yes, Посмотри на часы is the standard, everyday way to say "look at the clock" or "look at your watch." The word циферблат specifically means the "dial" or "clock face" (borrowed from German). The speaker uses it here to draw specific, dramatic attention to the physical display of the time.
Why use the perfective verb Посмотри instead of the imperfective Смотри?
Посмотри focuses on a single, quick, completed action: "Take a look at the clock face right now to see the time." If the speaker used the imperfective Смотри, it would imply an ongoing action like "Watch the clock face," or it would act as a general conversational exclamation like "Look here!"
Learn Посмотри на циферблат: уже десять минут девятого and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free