I have a question!
What's the difference between сейчас and теперь ? :0
Hi! This is one of the most frequent questions I get -- the words are very common, yet confusing.
I can give you another word with nearly the same meaning: нынче.
So, сейчас, теперь, and нынче.
Сейчас means “just now” and “right away”. It is the most recent and immediate of all the three.
Мне сейчас позвонил банк, говорят, кто-то с моей карточки деньги снять пытается! I just got a call from the bank, saying someone is trying to withdraw money from my card!
Не волнуйся, я сейчас разберусь! Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it! (it is not even in the translation, but in Russian, it creates the sense that I am going to deal with the issue immediately).
In these examples, you can not replace сейчас with any other words.
The other meanings of сейчас overlap with теперь and нынче, and are “now” as in 1) presently or 2) then (we’ve done that, now let’s do this)
Теперь has exactly those two meanings: nowadays, and then as setting up an order of events.
Теперь у всех смартфоны. Everyone has a smartphone now (= nowadays)
Ты приготовил ужин? Теперь вымой сковородки. Did you make dinner? Now wash the pans.
Нынче means only “these days” and has no other meanings.
Нынче никто не покупает дома за наличные. Nobody buys houses with cash these days.

















