когда

Old Church Slavonic

Adverb

когда • (kogda)

1. Alternative form of къгда (kŭgda)

Russian

Alternative forms

• коды́ (kodý) — regional, colloquial
• када (kada) — colloquial

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): [kɐɡˈda]

  Audio:

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• (colloquial, casual, fast speech) IPA^(key): [kɐˈda] (phonetic respelling: кода́)
• Rhymes: -a

Adverb

когда́ • (kogdá)

1. when

   Когда́ вы прие́хали? ― Kogdá vy prijéxali? ― When did you arrive?

Conjunction

когда́ • (kogdá)

1. 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, Альпина Диджитал; 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

Russian terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷe- (0 c, 10 e)

Derived terms

• когда́-либо (kogdá-libo)
• когда́-нибудь (kogdá-nibudʹ)
• когда́-то (kogdá-to)
• не́когда (nékogda)
• никогда́ (nikogdá)