Days of the Week in Russian: Learning the Basics

Learning the days of the week in Russian is one of the basic skills you need to master the language. In this post, we discuss the vocabulary you need to arrange a meeting, book a table in a restaurant, or chat to a friend about your week.

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Days of the Week in Russian: From Monday to Sunday

Let’s start with the words “day” and “week.” In Russian they are “день” (den’ – day) and “неделя” (nedelya – week).

• Какой сегодня день? (Kakoi segodnya den’?) – What day is it today?

• На этой неделе я ухожу в отпуск. (Na etoi nedele ya ukhozhu v otpusk.) – This week I’m going on vacation.

Now let’s look at the names of the different days of the week:

• Понедельник (ponedel’nik) – Monday

• Вторник (vtornik) – Tuesday

• Среда (sreda) – Wednesday

• Четверг (chetverg) – Thursday

• Пятница (pyatnitsa) – Friday

• Суббота (subbota) – Saturday

• Воскресенье (voskresen’e) – Sunday

Remember that unlike in English, days of the week in Russian are not capitalized. Write them with lowercase letters unless they stand at the beginning of the sentence.

• Пойдем в музей в воскресенье? (Poidyom v voskresen’e v muzei?) – Let’s go to the museum on Sunday.

Be careful when pronouncing the word “пятница” (pyatnitsa – Friday). Don’t mix it up with the word “пьяница” (p’yanitsa – drunk). These two words are quite similar in pronunciation.

How to Use Days of the Week with Prepositions

We often use prepositions with days of the week, particularly “в” (on – on) and “с” (s – from).

• В понедельник (V ponedel’nik) – on Monday

• Во вторник (Vo vtornik) – on Tuesday

• В среду (V sredu) – on Wednesday

• В четверг (V chetverg) – on Thursday

• В пятницу (V pyatnitsu) – on Friday

• В субботу (V subbotu) – on Saturday

• В воскресенье (V voskresen’e) – on Sunday

You may have noticed that the ending of some of the words have changed. This happened because we used the accusative case. Yes, unfortunately, days of the week in Russian, like any other noun, change their endings to express a particular case.

There are six cases in Russian, and all of them will affect the noun endings. Look how days of the week change their endings when the genitive case is applied:

• С понедельника (S ponedel’nika) – from Monday

• Со вторника (So vtornika) – from Tuesday

• Со среды (So sredy) – from Wednesday

• С четверга (S chetverga) – from Thursday

• С пятницы (S pyatnitsy) – from Friday

• С субботы (S subboty) – from Saturday

• С воскресенья (S voskresen’ya) – from Sunday

You may also use the preposition “до” (do – until), and the endings of the days of the week will be the same as in the example above because the genitive case applies.

• Я буду занят до понедельника. (Ya budu zanyat do ponedel’nika.) – I will be busy until Monday.

When studying cases and the related declensions, learn the general rule instead of memorizing the different endings each time you learn a new word in Russian. To simplify complex concepts like cases, work with a Russian tutor.

Other Useful Russian Words and Phrases about Days of the Week

You can use several other words to talk about the days of the week:

• Рабочие дни (rabochie dni) – working days

• Будни (budni) – weekdays

• Выходные дни (vykhodnye dni) – weekend Какие планы на выходные? (Kakie plany na vykhodnye?) – What are your plans for the weekend?

You may omit the word “дни” (dni – days) in the phrase “выходные дни” (vykhodnye dni – weekend). When it comes to the weekend, everybody knows what you mean.