Breakdown of Шестнадцатое сентября — важный день.
день
day
важный
important
сентябрь
September
шестнадцатый
sixteenth
Questions & Answers about Шестнадцатое сентября — важный день.
Why does the date use the neuter form шестнадцатое?
In Russian, when we state the date, we are actually leaving out the word число (number or date), which is a neuter noun. So, шестнадцатое (sixteenth) takes the neuter ending -ое to match this invisible word.
Why is September written as сентября instead of its dictionary form сентябрь?
Сентября is in the genitive case, which is used to show possession or the English word "of". Literally, this translates to "the sixteenth [date] of September".
Why is there a dash (—) in the middle of the sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb "to be" (is, am, are) is almost always left out. When a sentence links a subject (the date) to a noun describing it (an important day), a dash is used in writing to represent that missing "is".
Since the first part of the sentence is neuter, why is важный (important) in the masculine form?
Adjectives must always match the noun they are directly describing. While the date is neuter, важный describes the word день (day). Since день is a masculine noun, the adjective takes the masculine ending -ый.
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