Уро́к 4
4.4 Language and Speech – Како́е сего́дня число́? (What’s the date today?)
Now we get to WHY you need to learn higher CARDINAL numbers and also ordinal numbers.
We need ordinal numbers to talk about dates and years in Russian. For example, to talk about today’s date we use ordinal numbers. In English we say, it’s July 4th! Or, today is the 31st of October. Russian does the same thing. We use ordinal numbers when talking about today’s date:
Како́е сего́дня число́? – What’s the date today?
Notice the question, како́е, is an adjective. This means the answer to this question should also be an adjective. A number that’s also an adjective? Ordinal numbers – first, second, third, etc. You just saw 1st – 31st in their dictionary, masculine forms. Notice число ‘date’ is what gender? Neuter. This all means that your answer is going to be neuter also.
Questions: Како́е сего́дня число́?
[VIDEO]
Наприме́р
| Како́е сего́дня число́? Сегондя четвёртое. |
What’s the date today? It’s the 4th. |
| Како́е сего́дня число́? Сего́дня пя́тое. |
What’s the date today? It’s the 5th. |
| Како́е сего́дня число́? Сего́дня двена́дцатое. |
What’s the date today? It’s the 12th. |
Because the noun число́ is neuter, any adjective that describes it, in this case the number, must also be neuter. Can you hear it? He gives the DATE (ordinal number) first followed by the month. Listen for the number. The Russian convention is DATE.MONTH.YEAR. The date is written for you in the bottom left of the screen. Listen and watch. Can you hear it?
