Kilo Lingo
Russian grammar Part of Chapter 2

CEFR A1

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Russian Days of the Week: понедельник to воскресенье

By Michael McGettrickUpdated 11 October 2026

The Russian week starts on Monday, and its seven days are written without capitals. Today is Monday is , with no preposition; on Monday is . The three days in -а change to -у after : , on Wednesday.

Quick check

Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Tap the mistake.

Days of the week

The days are coloured by gender, the same colours as Russian noun gender:

masculinefeminineneuterWhat do the colours mean?
RussianSay itEnglish
pa-ni-DYEL-nikMonday
FTOR-nikTuesday
sri-DAWednesday
chit-VYERKThursday
PYAT-ni-tsaFriday
su-BO-taSaturday
vas-kri-SYE-nyeSunday
A calendar strip of seven day cards, each with a coloured header and one activity: a book, a football, a shopping bag, music notes, a slice of pizza, a bicycle, and someone having a lie-in in bed.

The Russian week starts on Monday, so the lie-in falls on воскресенье, the last day.

None of them takes a capital letter unless it starts the sentence:

  • . - Tomorrow is Saturday.

Several names are numbers in disguise, counted from Sunday:

DayBuilt onMeaning
the second day
the fourth day
the fifth day
middlemidweek

is the day after , which once meant Sunday and now means week:

  • . - It was a good week.

Today is Monday: no preposition

To say what day it is, name the day. Russian has no is in the present and no preposition here:

  • . - Today is Monday.
  • . - Tomorrow is Friday.
  • ? - What day is it today?

On Monday: в plus the accusative

On a particular day is plus the accusative. Only the three feminine days in -а change, to -у; the rest look exactly as they do in the dictionary:

в среду: on Wednesday
DayOn that daySay it
f-pa-ni-DYEL-nik
va-FTOR-nik
f-SRYE-du
f-chit-VYERK
f-PYAT-ni-tsu
f-su-BO-tu
v-vas-kri-SYE-nye

Notice the stress in jumps to the first syllable. And Tuesday takes , because вт- is too many consonants to say:

  • . - I'm working on Saturday.
  • . - We're going to the cinema on Tuesday.

Every Monday: по plus the dative plural

For a habit, use and the dative plural, or and the accusative:

  • . - I work on Saturdays.
  • . - We have training on Mondays.
  • . - Every Friday, Grandma stays with us.

is one Saturday; is every Saturday.

Yesterday and tomorrow

RussianEnglishExample
yesterday . - Yesterday was Wednesday.
today . - Today is Thursday.
tomorrow . - Tomorrow is Friday.
Three calendar pages along a time arrow: on the left a grey page torn off the pad and lying tilted behind, showing a football and a tick (yesterday, done); in the middle the page on the pad, glowing yellow and showing an open book (today); on the right a dashed-outline page still to come, showing a bicycle (tomorrow).

Read the calendar left to right: the torn-off page is вчера, the page on the pad is сегодня, the one still to come is завтра.

In the past, was agrees with the day's gender: , , . The Russian past tense explains why.

The days off are :

  • . - At the weekend we're at home.

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
no capitals
. .today is: no preposition
on a day: accusative
в becomes before вт-
is for Monday

What to do next

  1. Say the seven days aloud with the stress, Monday first.
  2. Say what you do and what you do .
  3. Do the drill below, then months, dates and years.

Practise: test yourself

Sort into groups

0/6

On that day: does the word change after в?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Build the word

0/2

Build on that day.

  1. on Wednesday: в ___

    Type Latin letters or Cyrillic - spasibo works too

    Your word is empty.

  2. on Friday: в ___

    Type Latin letters or Cyrillic - spasibo works too

    Your word is empty.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Tap the mistake.

Complete the story

0/3

Choose the right form for each gap.

Masha's week

Сегодня . я работаю. А я дома.

Gap 1 of 3

Matching

0/4

Match each day to its English.

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Practice worksheets and infographics

Practice worksheets with answer keys built in, plus infographic and listicle formats. Open any one to view, print or save.

Infographics

  1. Key points infographic
  2. Days of the week
  3. Days of the week
  4. On Monday: в plus the accusative
  5. Yesterday and tomorrow
  6. Mistakes English speakers make

Other formats

  1. Listicle

More grammar on this course

Frequently asked questions

What are the days of the week in Russian?
(Monday), (Tuesday), (Wednesday), (Thursday), (Friday), (Saturday) and (Sunday). The week starts on Monday, and none of them takes a capital letter.
How do you say on Monday in Russian?
: plus the accusative. The days ending in -а change it to -у ( , , ); the others look the same as in the dictionary ( , ). Tuesday takes : .
How do you say every Monday in Russian?
Either or , which is plus the dative plural: , I work on Saturdays. is the habit; is one particular day.
Are Russian days of the week capitalised?
No. They are ordinary nouns and are written in lower case, unless one starts a sentence: , today is Monday. The same goes for the months.
What do the Russian day names mean?
Several are numbers: is the second day, the fourth and the fifth. is the middle of the week, the day after the week, the sabbath and resurrection.