My Slavic Studies

This is a very simple but useful post.

In today’s post, we’ll be learning the days of the week, дни недели, in Russian.

Unlike in the USA where the week starts on Sunday, in Russia, and many other countries in the world, it starts on Monday.

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Days of the Week

Monday	понедельник
Tuesday	вторник
Wednesday	среда
Thursday	четверг
Friday	пятница
Saturday	суббота
Sunday	воскресенье

Since the verb to be isn’t used in the present tense, expressing what day it is will be easy as pie.

To ask what day of the week it is, use the following phrase:

Какой сегодня день? What day is it today?

Answering the question is easy:

Сегодня воскресенье. Today’s Sunday.

The following adverbs should prove useful.

вчера [yesterday]

сегодня [today]

завтра [tomorrow]

And these will occasionally pop up:

позавчера [the day before yesterday]

послезавтра [the day after tomorrow]

Please observe:

Вчера была суббота. Yesterday was Saturday.

Сегодня воскресенье. Today’s Sunday.

Завтра будет понедельник. Tomorrow will be Monday.

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Expressing on what day of the week something happens is also easy.

Use this construction:

в + acc. case

To learn more about the accusative case and its declensions, please click here.

on Monday	в понедельник
on Tuesday	во вторник
on Wednesday	в среду
on Thursday	в четверг
on Friday	в пятницу
on Saturday	в субботу
on Sunday	в воскресенье

Did you notice that в becomes во with вторник? This is done to avoid a clash of consonants.

What if you want to ask someone on what day they will be free?

В какой день ты будешь свободен? On what day will you be free?

В среду. On Wednesday.

More sentences:

Я поеду на концерт в четверг. I will go to a concert on Thursday.

Чемпионат начинается во вторник. The championship starts on Tuesday.

Что вы будете делать в пятницу? What will you be doing on Friday?

What if you wanted to express for example, on Friday evening?

These adverbs should help:

in the morning	утром
in the afternoon	днём
in the evening	вечером
at night [past midnight]	ночью

Just add them to the day of the week.

В пятницу вечером мы все будем на площади. On Friday evening, we’ll all be at the plaza.

Во вторник днём у нас будет собрание. On Tuesday afternoon, we’ll have a meeting.

В четверг утром я буду на работе. On Thursday morning, I’ll be at work.

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All so simple. Now what if the actions are habitual? Then, you need to say on Mondays, on Tuesdays, etc.

This key construction will serve you well:

по + dat. pl.

To learn more about the dative case in plural and its declensions, please click here.

on Mondays	по понедельникам
on Tuesdays	по вторникам
on Wednesdays	по средам
on Thursdays	по четвергам
on Fridays	по пятницам
on Saturdays	по субботам
on Sundays	по воскресеньям

So, if you wanted to ask someone on what days they are busy, you can use this question:

По каким дням Вы свободны? On what days are you free? (on a habitual basis)

Some example sentences:

По воскресеньям мы с семьёй ходим в церковь. On Sundays, my family and I go to church.

Я обычно занят по средам. I’m usually busy on Wednesdays.

По субботам она бывает на дискотеке. On Saturdays, she frequents the nightclub.

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Well, that’s all for today’s simple post.