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Today I would like to talk about some phrases which we use in order to indicate time in the Russian language. For example,
Сегодня жаркая погода [sivodnya zharkaya pagoda] - Today is a hot weather.
The word "сегодня" (today) is a key one because it demonstrates that an action happens today/now. But be careful, very often you can hear when your interlocutor says:
Сегодня была жаркая погода [sivodnya byla zharkaya pagoda] - Today was a hot weather.
So why the word "сегодня" (today) which denotes an action in the present, is used with the verb "была" (was), which denotes an action in the past? The answer is very simple – the point is that we use such sentence, when a day has come to an end but has not ended yet, for example, in the evening. The sun has been already down and it is not so hot outside – that's why an interlocutor uses the word "сегодня" (today) with the past tense verb "была" (was).
The second word which denotes an occurring action besides a verb is "вчера" (yesterday).
Вчера был сложный день [fchira byl slozhnyj den'] - Yesterday was a hard day.
The word "вчера" (yesterday) – is a key one – it demonstrates to an interlocutor that a speaker talks about past, about something that has already happened.
And finally, the third and last word – "завтра" (tomorrow). It is the most favorite word of lazy people.
Завтра будет больше возможностей, чем вчера [zaftra budit bol'she vazmozhnastej, chem fchira] - Tomorrow there will be more opportunities than it was yesterday.
Looking at the word "завтра" (tomorrow), a Russian-speaking learner should understand at a glance that it is all about future which has not begun yet.
I will write some sentences for practice, and you try to figure out which of these 3 times (present, past and future time) is used there. Pay your attention to marked words, they will be hints for you!
- Вчера я увидел красивую машину. Она мне так понравилась, что сегодня я проснулся утром рано и решил, что завтра я непременно куплю такую же в салоне авто.
- Сегодня солнце светит ярче, чем вчера.
- Завтра я пойду в университет и выучу все слова на русском языке.
