Holidays and Events
Before we talk about specific dates, let's look at how to discuss celebrating a holiday (święto) or a big event (wydarzenie).
| to celebrate / to observe (an occasion, anniversary) | obchodzić |
When stating that something happens in a general month, you use the preposition w followed by the Locative case.
Expressing Exact Dates
To state exactly which day an event happens, you do not use a preposition like "on." Instead, you put both the ordinal number for the day and the name of the month into the Genitive case.
Since ordinal numbers act like adjectives, they take the masculine/neuter genitive ending -ego (for example, trzeci becomes trzeciego). The month also takes its genitive noun ending (like maj becoming maja).
Life Events and Anniversaries
You will use this exact date structure for personal milestones as well, such as a wedding (ślub) or an anniversary (rocznica).
Beginnings and Ends
When talking about the beginning (początek) or end (koniec) of a historical event (historyczne wydarzenie), a school year, or a project, the exact date rule remains exactly the same.
Notice how the general month requires w + Locative (w grudniu), but specifying the exact day switches the phrase to the Genitive case (piętnastego listopada):
