Breakdown of На день рождения бабушка принесёт свечи, а папа пообещал купить шарики.
купить
to buy
на
for
бабушка
the grandmother
а
and
Questions & Answers about На день рождения бабушка принесёт свечи, а папа пообещал купить шарики.
Why does the sentence start with На день рождения? What case is день рождения in?
На день рождения is a very common Russian expression meaning for the birthday or for the birthday celebration.
Here is the case breakdown:
- на often takes the accusative when it means movement toward an event, purpose, or destination.
- день is in the accusative singular. For an inanimate masculine noun like день, the accusative looks the same as the nominative: день.
- рождения stays in the genitive singular because день рождения is a fixed phrase meaning birthday literally day of birth.
So:
- день = accusative
- рождения = genitive
This whole phrase is idiomatic, so it is best to learn на день рождения as a chunk.
Why is it рождения and not рождение?