ког датума / који је датум

Dates

Level 2Sounds Like datum: kog datuma; koǰi ǰe datum

To ask or state what date it is today, use the nominative ordinal number (e.g., пети мај). To say on what date an event takes place, use the prepositionless genitive (e.g., петог маја).

How It Works

Expressing calendar dates in Serbian requires distinguishing between identifying a date and using a date as a time adverbial.

1. Naming the Date (Predicative Identification)
When identifying today's date with the copula бити у презенту (је):
• Question: Који је данас датум? (What is today's date?) Note: Do not confuse this with Који је данас дан?, which asks for the day of the week (e.g., понедељак).
• Structure: Masculine singular ordinal number in the Nominative modifying the month name (which is masculine in Serbian, e.g., октобар) or agreeing with датум, followed by the month in the Nominative.
• Example: Данас је петнаести октобар. (Today is October 15th.)
• Note that month names in Serbian are written with a lowercase initial letter (октобар, мај).

2. Locating an Event (Temporal Adverbial)
When specifying on what date an action occurs (answering када or ког датума):
• Question: Ког(а) датума? or Којег(а) датума? (On what date?)
• Structure: Prepositionless temporal Genitive. Both the ordinal day and the month take masculine genitive singular endings: -ог(а) / -ег(а) for the ordinal, and -а for the month.
• Example: Стижем петог маја. (I arrive on the 5th of May.)

3. Multi-word Compound Numbers
When dates contain compound numerals (e.g., 21, 25, 31):
• Preceding tens and hundreds stay in their cardinal form.
• Only the final digit takes the ordinal ending and inflects: двадесет први мај (Nom) vs. двадесет првог маја (Gen). See compound number agreement.

4. Specifying the Year
Years are formed with ordinal numbers. In date expressions, the year appears in the genitive as an adnominal attribute specifying the date, often modifying the noun године (genitive singular of година):
• првог октобра две хиљаде двадесет шесте године (on October 1st, 2026).
When stating the year alone in a sentence, it can be in the nominative in naming contexts (Ово је две хиљаде двадесет четврта година), or as an adverbial using either the genitive (2024. године) or the prepositional construction у + locative (у 2024. години).

5. Written Orthography
When writing dates in Arabic numerals, ordinal numbers (day, month, year) are followed by a period and a space:
• 15. 10. 2024. or 15. октобар 2024.
• Standard Serbian does not use leading zeros in dates: write 5. 5. 2024. rather than *05. 05. 2024.
• Note: If the month is written as a Roman numeral, it does not take a period (e.g., 15. X 2024.).
• If a punctuation mark such as a comma, dash, or an immediately adjoining closing bracket directly follows the year, the trailing period on the year is dropped to avoid punctuation stacking (e.g., 15. октобра 2024, а не... or (2024), but retained before an opening parenthesis separated by a space: 1983. (година нафтне кризе)).
Never attach case endings directly to digits (forms like 15-og or 1-og are incorrect).

Examples (4)

  1. — Који је данас датум? — Данас је петнаести октобар.

    — What is today's date? — Today is the fifteenth of October.

    Word by Word: — Which is today date? — Today is fifteenth October.

    Asking for and stating the date using the nominative masculine singular ordinal number and nominative month.

  2. — Ког датума путујеш на море? — Путујем двадесет трећег јула.

    — On what date are you traveling to the seaside? — I am traveling on the twenty-third of July.

    Word by Word: — Which date are-traveling to sea? — I-travel twenty third July.

    Locating an event in time uses the bare genitive: 'двадесет трећег јула' without any preposition.

  3. Испит из српског језика имамо осмог јуна.

    We have the Serbian language exam on the eighth of June.

    Word by Word: Exam from Serbian language we-have eighth June.

    The temporal adverbial answering 'when' ('осмог јуна') takes genitive endings on both the ordinal number and the month.

  4. Школа почиње првог септембра две хиљаде двадесет шесте године.

    School begins on the first of September, 2026.

    Word by Word: School begins first September two thousand twenty sixth year.

    In a full date with a year, day, month, and year all take genitive forms, ending with 'године'.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding a preposition such as 'у' or 'на' before the date to translate English 'on'.

    Стижем на пети мај.
    Стижем петог маја.

    Unlike days of the week which use 'у' + accusative (у петак), specific calendar dates strictly take the bare genitive without any preposition.

  • Using the nominative case when specifying when an event happens.

    Путујем двадесет први октобар.
    Путујем двадесет првог октобра.

    The nominative is only used to state what date it is today. To say when an action occurs, both the ordinal day and month must be in the genitive.

  • Declining every word in a compound number instead of just the final digit.

    Виђамо се двадесетог петог маја.
    Виђамо се двадесет петог маја.

    In multi-word numerals, preceding digits remain cardinal (двадесет); only the final digit receives ordinal and case inflections (петог).

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

ког датума / који је датумLevel 2Dates

Learn This First

To state or ask for the date in Serbian, learners need to use ordinal numbers with the verb 'to be' in the nominative (Који је данас датум? Данас је пети мај) and the genitive case endings to specify when an event occurs (Ког датума? Петог маја).

Words in This Pattern

датумкоји