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когда. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
когда, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
когда in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
когда you have here. The definition of the word
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Old Church Slavonic
Adverb
когда • (kogda)
- Alternative form of къгда (kŭgda)
Russian
Alternative forms
Etymology
Inherited from Proto-Slavic *koda, from which the following words also were derived: Old Church Slavonic къгда (kŭgda), Bulgarian кога (koga), Polish kiedy, gdy, Serbo-Croatian када / kada, Slovene kdaj, Czech kdy, Lower Sorbian gdy. Originally the word was probably *koda; compare Lithuanian kada (“when”), Latvian kad, Old Indic and Sanskrit कदा (kadā), Avestan kadā. From *koda came *kъdа, possibly under the influence of *kъdе, kъtо. On the other hand, one may perceive in когда́ (kogdá) the old instrumental singular *godō of the word год (god) (the old meaning of which was “time, period”) with the interrogative particle ко-, making a genitive singular form *kogo goda (which time?). Thus the -гда ending may have derived from the genitive of год (god, “period of time”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key):
- (colloquial, casual, fast speech) IPA(key): (phonetic respelling: кода́)
- Rhymes: -a
Adverb
когда́ • (kogdá)
- when
- Когда́ вы прие́хали? ― Kogdá vy prijéxali? ― When did you arrive?
Conjunction
когда́ • (kogdá)
- when
- Я не зна́ю, когда́ э́то бы́ло. ― Ja ne znáju, kogdá éto býlo. ― I don’t know when it was.
1979, Эдуард Лимонов, “Глава первая. Отель «Винслоу» и его обитатели”, in Это я — Эдичка; English translation from S. L. Campbell, transl., It's Me, Eddie, 1983:Он звонит людям, которых он один раз в жизни видел, и просит денег, и очень обижается, когда ему отказывают.- On zvonit ljudjam, kotoryx on odin raz v žizni videl, i prosit deneg, i očenʹ obižajetsja, kogda jemu otkazyvajut.
- He calls up people he has seen once in his life and asks for money, and is very offended when they refuse him.
Usage notes
- Both the subordinate clause with the conjunction когда and the main clause can have either an imperfective or a perfective verb. However, the whole context of the respective sentences could be different due to the difference of the aspects.
- Chiefly in colloquial language, the conjunction когда can be moved to any position in the dependent clause including the final one; this typically occurs in short introductory clauses that recall or specify being in the middle of things of a situation.
Related terms
Derived terms