# Dates



## farzam

Hi everyone,

I find saying the date in Czech rather confusing. I know it requires the genitive case but I haven't mastered the cases yet and I'd just like to be able to say dates correctly at this point.

How do you say the date when it is a compound numeral? 

The following example is very clear:

_It's 30 January._ *> Je třicátého ledna.*

However, how would you say :

_It's 13 July._

or 

_It's 25 December._

Can anyone clarify this to me by use of some examples, please?

Thanks!


----------



## jazyk

Using both ordinal and month in the genitive (more common):
Je třináctého července.
Je dvacátého pátého/pětadvacátého prosince.

Using both ordinal and month in the nominative (less common):
Je třináctý červenec.
Je dvacátý pátý/pětadvacátý prosinec.


----------



## farzam

jazyk said:


> Using both ordinal and month in the genitive (more common):
> Je třináctého července.
> Je dvacátého pátého/pětadvacátého prosince.
> 
> Using both ordinal and month in the nominative (less common):
> Je třináctý červenec.
> Je dvacátý pátý/pětadvacátý prosinec.



Thanks very much for your explanation! I had no idea that the nominative can also be used, though I'll be sticking to the genitive. 

Just to make sure I understand correctly, is this correct?

*Dnes je třetího července a zítra bude čtvrtého července.*
*Dnes je třetí červenec a zítra bude čtvrty červenec.*

Is that correct?


----------



## K.u.r.t

That's spot on! just use čtvrtý (note the long ý)


----------



## werrr

farzam said:


> Thanks very much for your explanation! I had no idea that the nominative can also be used, though I'll be sticking to the genitive.


That's not matter of sticking to something. These are two different grammatical constructions which in this case happen to coincide as for the meaning.



> *Dnes je třetího července a zítra bude čtvrtého července.*


The date in this sentence is adverbial. It is answer to the question "When?".

Czech uses the genitive to turn a noun denoting a period into corresponding adverbial:

druhého ledna
toho dne
toho léta
toho roku
dne druhého ledna tohoto roku​



> *Dnes je třetí červenec a zítra bude čtvrtý červenec.*


The dates in this sentence are substantival, these are answers to the question "What?".

The substantival use needn't be in nominative only. You can use it as object in any case (including vocative ).


In fact, it's the same in English - e.g. the word "today" could be either noun or adverb and any date could be either substantival or adverbial.


----------



## farzam

Hi Werrr, thanks for your reply!



werrr said:


> That's not matter of sticking to something. These are two different grammatical constructions which in this case happen to coincide as for the meaning.
> 
> 
> The date in this sentence is adverbial. It is answer to the question "When?".
> 
> Czech uses the genitive to turn a noun denoting a period into corresponding adverbial:
> 
> druhého ledna
> toho dne
> toho léta
> toho roku
> dne druhého ledna tohoto roku​



Would you be so kind to translate these examples? Could you explain how this sentence answers "When?" 




werrr said:


> The dates in this sentence are substantival, these are answers to the question "What?".
> 
> The substantival use needn't be in nominative only. You can use it as object in any case (including vocative ).
> 
> 
> In fact, it's the same in English - e.g. the word "today" could be either noun or adverb and any date could be either substantival or adverbial.




Could you elaborate on this, please? I'm still a total beginner at Czech so I might be missing something here. The Czech grammar I use only mentioned the genitive being used with dates.

Thanks.


----------



## werrr

farzam said:


> Would you be so kind to translate these examples?



druhého ledna = on January 2nd
toho dne = (on/during/by) that day
toho léta  = (on/during/by) that summer/year
toho roku = (on/during/by) that year
dne druhého ledna tohoto roku = on the day of January 2nd of this year​


> Could you elaborate on this, please? I'm still a total beginner at Czech so I might be missing something here. The Czech grammar I use only mentioned the genitive being used with dates.


In simple words, the date could be used either in place of an averb or in place of a noun. The first option is expressed using the genitive. A typical example of the adverbial usage:

Přijel jsem druhého ledna. (Kdy jsem přijel?) = I arrived on January 2nd. (When did I arrive?)​
When used as a noun, you treat the date as any other object, let's say a car:

*nominative usage:*
January 2nd is comming. = Druhý leden se blíží.
Car is comming. = Auto se blíží.

*accusative usage:*
I like January 2nd. = Mám rád druhý leden.
I like my car. = Mám rád své auto.​


----------



## farzam

werrr said:


> druhého ledna = on January 2nd
> toho dne = (on/during/by) that day
> toho léta  = (on/during/by) that summer/year
> toho roku = (on/during/by) that year
> dne druhého ledna tohoto roku = on the day of January 2nd of this year​
> 
> In simple words, the date could be used either in place of an averb or in place of a noun. The first option is expressed using the genitive. A typical example of the adverbial usage:
> 
> Přijel jsem druhého ledna. (Kdy jsem přijel?) = I arrived on January 2nd. (When did I arrive?)​
> When used as a noun, you treat the date as any other object, let's say a car:
> 
> *nominative usage:*
> January 2nd is comming. = Druhý leden se blíží.
> Car is comming. = Auto se blíží.
> 
> *accusative usage:*
> I like January 2nd. = Mám rád druhý leden.
> I like my car. = Mám rád své auto.​



Many thanks for the response! It's all clear to me now.


----------

