Days of the Week and Months in Russian

Lesson Objective:

By the end of the lesson, learners will be able to identify and pronounce the days of the week and months of the year in Russian, use them in basic sentences, and understand their usage in everyday contexts.

Vocabulary List:

Days of the Week:

• понедельник (ponedelnik) - Monday


• вторник (vtornik) - Tuesday


• среда (sreda) - Wednesday


• четверг (chetverg) - Thursday


• пятница (pyatnitsa) - Friday


• суббота (subbota) - Saturday


• воскресенье (voskresenʹye) - Sunday

Months of the Year:

• январь (yanvar') - January


• февраль (fevral') - February


• март (mart) - March


• апрель (aprel') - April


• май (may) - May


• июнь (iyun') - June


• июль (iyul') - July


• август (avgust) - August


• сентябрь (sentyabr') - September


• октябрь (oktyabr') - October


• ноябрь (noyabr') - November


• декабрь (dekabr') - December

Grammar Point:

In Russian, the words for days of the week and months are not capitalized unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence. Days of the week are masculine except for среда (Wednesday), which is feminine, and воскресенье (Sunday), which is neuter.

To say “on Monday,” “on Tuesday,” etc., the day is put into the accusative case with the preposition "в":

• в понедельник – on Monday


• в среду – on Wednesday (note the change to feminine accusative)


• в воскресенье – on Sunday (no change needed because it's neuter and ends in -e)

Examples:

• Я работаю в понедельник. – I work on Monday.


• У нас встреча в апреле. – We have a meeting in April.

Exercises:

Reading Comprehension:

Read the following dialogue:

Анна: Привет, Павел! Когда у тебя день рождения?

Павел: Привет! Мой день рождения в июле. А твой?

Анна: У меня в январе. Ты работаешь в воскресенье?

Павел: Нет, я не работаю в воскресенье. Я отдыхаю.

Questions:

• When is Pavel's birthday?


• When is Anna's birthday?


• Does Pavel work on Sunday?

Listening Comprehension:

Listen to an audio recording of a person talking about their weekly schedule. Write down which days they go to work and which days they rest. (Instructor will provide audio.)

Speaking Practice:

Practice with a partner:

• Ask each other when your birthday is.


• Say which days of the week you work or study.


• Say which month is your favorite and why.

Summary:

• Russian days of the week and months are not capitalized in mid-sentence.


• Use "в" + accusative case to say “on Monday”, “in July”, etc.


• Wednesday (среда) and Sunday (воскресенье) have different gender endings and change accordingly.


• Now you know how to talk about time and dates in Russian!

Homework:

• Write five sentences using different days of the week.


• Write a short paragraph about your favorite month and what you usually do that month (in English, using as many Russian month names as you can).


• Memorize all the days of the week and months in Russian.