Word
Какое сегодня число? Сегодня одиннадцатое января.
Meaning
What is the date today? Today is the eleventh of January.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Какое сегодня число? Сегодня одиннадцатое января.
какой
which/what kind of (m, sister forms: какая, какое)
сегодня
today
число
number, date
январь
January
Questions & Answers about Какое сегодня число? Сегодня одиннадцатое января.
Why do we use Какое (neuter) instead of какой or какая?
Какое means "which" or "what" and it has to match the noun it asks about. Here, it matches the neuter noun число (number/date).
Does число literally mean "date"?
It literally translates to "number," but in Russian, asking "what number is it today?" is the standard way to ask for the current day of the month.
Why does the word for "eleventh" (одиннадцатое) have a neuter ending?
In the answer, the word число (date) is understood even though it is left out. Одиннадцатое is a neuter ordinal number (which acts like an adjective) matching this hidden neuter noun: "Today is the eleventh [date] of January."
Why is January written as января instead of its dictionary form январь?
When you state the date, the month is put into the Genitive case because it translates to "the eleventh of January." Since январь is a masculine noun ending in a soft sign, it drops the soft sign and adds -я in the Genitive.