# from DAY to ANOTHER DAY



## macdevster

Ugh, prepositions always slay me in Russian.

To express "from" a particular day to "another" day, i.e., "He lives with his mother from Monday to/through Friday," would it be:

от понедельник к пятнице?
от понедельник через пятницу?

Thanks in advance!


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## rusita preciosa

C понедельникa  пo пятницу.


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## macdevster

Thanks for the fast reply!

So would that be *C* + _genitive singular_ and *ПО* + _accusative signular_?


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## rusita preciosa

Yes.
......


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## Manuel Lucero

'from Monday to Friday" will be "с понедельника до пятницы", "from Monday through Friday" will be "с понедельника по пятницу".


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## macdevster

Funny, but I'd be hard pressed to explain the difference between "Monday TO Friday" versus "Monday through Friday" in English. Is there much difference in Russian?  Do they essentially mean the same thing?


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## rusita preciosa

Same in Russian. To me, "с понедельника до пятницы" means exactly the same as "с понедельника по пятницу". 

I'd say the former is very slightly more colloquial than the latter (e.g. in an official document you would be more likely to see с понедельника по пятницу).


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## Manuel Lucero

I cannot agree that "с понедельника до пятницы" and "с понедельника по пятницу" (and likewise "from Monday to Friday" and "from Monday through Friday") mean the same thing. If I am not very badly mistaken the difference is that "до пятницы" ("to Friday") means "till some time on Friday" whereas "по пятницу" ("through Friday") means "till the end of Friday". Also, I do believe that "до пятницы" is the literary norm in Russian, whereas the expression "по пятницу" was invented, I think, by bureaucrats to satisfy their bureaucratic needs. It cannot be considered good, natural Russian.


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## Natalisha

macdevster said:


> Funny, but I'd be hard pressed to explain the difference between &quot;Monday TO Friday&quot; versus &quot;Monday through Friday&quot; in English. Is there much difference in Russian?  Do they essentially mean the same thing?


 
I would never say "с понедельника до пятницы". May be because I see the difference between the prepositions "до" and "по". "С понедельника по пятницу" means "including Friday", while "до пятницы" means "till Friday", "before Friday". But I should admit that there are a lot of people who don't distinguish between them.


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## Manuel Lucero

> I would never say "с понедельника до пятницы". May be because I see the difference between the prepositions "до" and "по". "С понедельника по пятницу" means "including Friday", while "до пятницы" means "till Friday", "before Friday". But I should admit that there are a lot of people who don't distinguish between them.


You are going to arrive at a place on Monday afternoon and leave on Friday afternoon. Would you say "Я там буду с понедельника по пятницу" или "со вторника по четверг"? I would say "Я там буду с понедельника до пятницы". "с понедельника" means "from some time on Monday", "до пятницы" means "till some time on Friday". In this sense the prepositions "c" and "до" are totally equivalent.


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## rusita preciosa

I think there's really no difference. That's why if someone needs to be more specific, they say “с понедельника по пятницу *включительно”*, meaning all of Friday included.

As far as “*с... по...”* being coined by some er... "bureaucrats" for their perverted "bueraucratic needs"  , I'm not sure about that either. May be some etymologists on this forum could pitch in?


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## Manuel Lucero

> As far as “*с... по...”* being coined by some er... "bureaucrats" for their perverted "bueraucratic needs"  , I'm not sure about that either.


Well, I defy you to produce any example of the usage of "по" in this sense from the pre-revolutionary Russian literature or from any good Russian literature, not tainted with ignorance and bad taste.


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## rusita preciosa

I'm afraid I do not have time nor interest to look for evidence you challenged me to, that is why I thought that foreros who have strong etymology background/resources could contribute.


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## Dmitry_86

As for me, I would choose *"с понедельника до пятницы" *when both Monday and Friday are encompassed. Actually, it can also mean that Friday is not included. If I heard someone say to me this, I would specify what exactly they mean, i.e. is Friday included or not. Otherwise the phrase seems to me ambiguous in spoken Russian.

As regards, *"с понедельника по пятницу", *I think here we do not consider Friday and therefore all the days from Monday till Thursday inclusive. "По" makes me think that by Friday they will have left the place where they have been staying.


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## Manuel Lucero

> As regards, *"с понедельника по пятницу", *I think here we do not consider Friday and therefore all the days from Monday till Thursday inclusive. "По" makes me think that by Friday they will have left the place where they have been staying.


You are leading our foreign friends astray. "с понедельника по пятницу" can mean nothing else but "from Monday through Friday", that is* "*from Monday till the end of Friday".


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## Natalisha

Dmitry_86 said:


> As regards, *&quot;с понедельника по пятницу&quot;, *I think here we do not consider Friday and therefore all the days from Monday till Thursday inclusive. &quot;По&quot; makes me think that by Friday they will have left the place where they have been staying.


 
In my previous post I wrote that I would never say "с...до...". And I never  use these two prepositions together (I just want to avoid ambiguity). When other people say "с...до..." I ask additional questions. But I could never imagine that "с...по..." can be misinterpreted.Well, I'll use "c...ПО..." + "ВКЛЮЧИТЕЛЬНО"!


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## Brian P

Natalisha said:


> In my previous post I wrote that I would never say "с...до...". And I never use these two prepositions together (I just want to avoid ambiguity). When other people say "с...до..." I ask additional questions. But I could never imagine that "с...по..." can be misinterpreted.Well, I'll use "c...ПО..." + "ВКЛЮЧИТЕЛЬНО"!


 
In BE it is Monday to Friday, in AE it is Monday through (sometimes spelled "thru") Friday.


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## Natalisha

Brian P said:


> In BE it is Monday to Friday, in AE it is Monday through (sometimes spelled &quot;thru&quot Friday.


 
Your comment is very useful. And I want to add that when British people want to be precise they can say "to...inclusive". But are we discussing the usage of English prepositions here?


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## Dmitry_86

Manuel Lucero said:


> You are leading our foreign friends astray. "с понедельника по пятницу" can mean nothing else but "from Monday through Friday", that is* "*from Monday till the end of Friday".


 
I am not leading anyone astray. Here we are communicating with each other via the present forum and we express our opinions and how we understand the usage of words in everyday life. I do not claim that my vesion is absolutely correct, but I wrote how I and some other people might understand the phrase.


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## macdevster

As a native speaker of English from the US, I can tell you that the difference between Monday to/through Friday is pretty minimal. Both sound inclusive of Friday to my ears, with "through" adding a nuanced emphasis on inclusiveness of Friday. But, honestly, it's not worth debating, at least not the English side of it. What I'm gathering, though, is that a similar debate could be had for the Russian as well. 

At the very least it shows how interesting and complex language can be, and how tough these subtleties can be for language
learners.


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