3

I'm doing exercises and i found in the text, "через неделю" and in parentheses it says "in two weeks time". I looked up через, a preposition with the accusative case, and for the 'time' definition it said;

(time) in, after:

Я бу́ду петь пе́сню че́рез пять мину́т. I will sing a song after five minutes.

and;

че́рез день every other day

The latter implies a cycle of two, so to speak... But is "two" always associated with через? Apparently not in the sing a song example...

Isn't через just "in, after"? Where did the two come from?

PS. No tags for preposition? Nor accusative? Nor case? ?

V.V.
  • 21,696
  • 1
  • 31
  • 61
nate
  • 1,299
  • 7
  • 12

3 Answers3

8

That translation actually looks wrong to me. "In two weeks time" should be "через две недели", while "через неделю" does mean "in one week".

That being said, I'd say there are two different contexts for "через" that appear as examples in your question. Speaking about a single event in the future: "Я уеду через неделю" means "I am leaving in a week". Speaking about something repetitive: "Я езжу в Москву через неделю (каждую вторую неделю)" means "I visit Moscow every other week".

zipirovich
  • 421
  • 3
  • 5
5

In the context of time periods "через" means "after skipping"

For singular occurrences:

Я буду петь через 5 минут - I'll sing after 5 minutes

Я поеду в отпуск через неделю - I'll go on vacation in a week time (after skipping one week)

For recurring events:

Я плаваю в бассейне через день - I swim in the pool every other day. (i.e. I skip a day and swim on the second day.)

Наша группа собирается через неделю - Our group meets every other week (i.e. we meet one week, and then skip a week)

You can skip multiple periods:

Мы встретимся через 2 недели - We will meet after 2 weeks.

Community
  • 1
Vitaly
  • 3,129
  • 2
  • 15
  • 26
3

Look:

  • "через неделю" is "after (in) a (one) week", "after (in) a (one) week's time" and it should have been "in two weeks' time" or "in two weeks" for "через две недели"

And concerning the other two answers:

Speaking about a single event in the future: "Я уеду через неделю" means "I am leaving in a week".

  • Actually "I am leaving in a week" is closer to the Russian "Я уезжаю через неделю" and "I will leave in a week" means "Я уеду через неделю"!

Speaking about something repetitive: "Я езжу в Москву через неделю (каждую вторую неделю)" means "I visit Moscow every other week".

It is incorrect in Russian to say: "Я езжу в Москву через неделю". It should be:

  • "I visit Moscow every other week". Is equivalent to "Я посещаю Москву каждую вторую неделю (неделя через неделю)"
  • "Я езжу в Москву через неделю" would be "I ride to Moscow after a week"

Я поеду в отпуск через неделю - I'll go on vacation in a week time (after skipping one week)

  • It should be "I'll go on vacation in a week's time"

Я плаваю в бассейне через день - I swim in the pool every other day. (i.e. I skip a day and swim on the second day.)

Incorrect Russian, should be: "Я плаваю в бассейне сутки через сутки (каждые вторые сутки)"

Наша группа собирается через неделю - Our group meets every other week (i.e. we meet one week, and then skip a week)

  • "Наша группа собирается через неделю" will be "Our group is meeting after a week (in a week's time)"
  • "Our group meets every other week" is "Наша группа собирается каждую вторую неделю (неделя через неделю)"
SovereignSun
  • 196
  • 10