От/До and С/В(На) disambiguation

Question

The terms от/до and с/в(на) are used to convey the idea "from/to" in different settings. Are there guidelines about when one pair is used instead of another that would work well in practice? (Somewhat related: с/по is used for intervals of time, and if there is a reason for using по instead of до other than "that's the way it is", I'd be interested to hear that too.)

This question came up when I thought the translation of the old movie "From the Earth to the Moon" would be "От Земли до Луны" (isn't a trip from New York to Los Angeles от Нью-Йорка до Лос-Анджелеса?) but I found out that it is С Земли на Луну.

Answer 1

Let me start with the first part of your question (about terms с/по).The fact is that actually we mostly use the preposition pair с/до when talking about daytime intervals, whereas with months and dates we use the pair с/по.

For example :

• с утра дó ночи ( from morn to night );
• с часу до двух (from 1 p.m till 2 pm);
• с вечера до полудня (from evening till noon);

But:

• с сентября по декабрь (from September till December);
• с 15 по 21 марта (from the 15 to the 21 of March);

This explanation is general, for more precise rule and nuances you can check this link:

http://learnrussian.rt.com/grammar-tables/prepositions-to-denote-time-frames-s--po---s--do---ot--dor/

As for the second pair с/на - от/до, the usage depends on whether you mean distance or direction.

• Расстояние от Земли до Луны примерно 384401 км. - The distance between the Earth and the Moon is approximately 384401 km.
• Первый пилотируемый полет с Земли (куда?) на Луну состоялся в 1969 году. - The first piloted flight from the Earth to the Moon was in 1969.

There is,however, one more issue. There is an extra rule for usage of pairs с/на and из/в that are equivalent, but used with different categories of nouns.

• towns, districts, republics, countries, states - we use the pair "в-из": в Петербург - из Петербурга, в Щелковский район - из Щелковского района, в Тульскую область - из Тульской области, в Данию - из Дании etc.

Exception : на Украину.

• mountains, mountain areas,planets/stars/satellites,islands, peninsula - we use the pair "c/на": с Урала - на Урал, с Алтая - на Алтай,с Кавказа- на Кавказ,с Венеры - на Венеру, с Луны - на Луну, с Сахалина - на Сахалин, с Ямала - на Ямал.

The correct way to translate a trip from New York to Los Angeles is therefore "путешествие из Нью-Йорка в Лос-Анджелес".