Asking and telling date in Russian
In this lesson, we will learn how to ask and tell date in Russian. To be able to follow the lesson, you need to know months in Russian, the Genitive case and how to decline ordinal Russian numbers.
Asking about a date in Russian
To ask what date it is today use the following question:
– Како́е сего́дня число́?
– What date is it today?
Число́ means number. So asking that question you are literally asking the number of the day of the month.
If you want to ask what date was yesterday or will be tomorrow, use the following questions:
– Како́е число́ бы́ло вчера́?
– What was the date yesterday?
– Како́е за́втра число́? or Како́е число́ бу́дет за́втра?
– What will be the date tomorrow?
Telling date in Russian
To answer any of the questions above, use the ordinal number for the date and the Genitive case for the month.
Examples:
– Како́е сего́дня число́?
– Второ́е ма́рта. / Сего́дня второ́е.
– What date is it today?
– March, 2d. / Today is the second.
– Како́е вчера́ бы́ло число́?
– Два́дцать восьмо́е февраля́.
– What was the date yesterday?
– 28th of February.
– Како́е за́втра число́?
– Пя́тое ноября́.
– What date is tomorrow?
– November, 5th.
Note that the ordinal numbers are used in neuter gender as the word число is neuter.
Specifying dates of events
Sometimes you need to know the date of a certain event. In this case, besides the usual question Когда? (When?) you can say:
– Како́го числа́ …?
– What date …?
Числа́ in the question above is the Genitive form of the word число́. So when you answer such a question, you need to put the ordinal number in the Genitive case as well:
– Когда́ у тебя́ день рожде́ния?
– Пятна́дцатого (15-го) ию́ня.
– When is your birthday?
– 15th of June.
– Како́го числа́ ты возвраща́ешься?
– Два́дцать второ́го, в пя́тницу.
– What date are you coming back?
– On 22d, Friday.
To learn more about how to use Russian days of the week in such context, have a look at one of our earlier lesson.
Do you need help with declension of Russian numbers? We have created a tool just for that! Check it out now!
And this is it for this lesson. We hope you enjoy learning Russian with us and find our lessons helpful.
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More lessons on Date and time in Russian
- Time in Russian
- Asking time, specifying the time of events
- Asking and telling date in Russian