Tatiana
What is the difference between the Russian words "целый" and "весь"? Quite often in textbooks and in colloquial speech you can find the phrase "весь день" and "целый день". Many foreigners are interested in knowing and understanding whether there is a difference between them, whether they are interchangeable. «Целый» is an adjective and «весь» is a pronoun. This is the first difference. When we say «весь», we mean from beginning to end or from first to last. And the adjective "целый" means that nothing has been diminished from the object, no one has divided it into parts. Also, the adjective "целый" has an emotional connotation, indicating a very large number. "Весь день" is more emotionally neutral, "целый день" indicates what the speaker wants to convey, to tell how long it seemed to him. Nevertheless, the pronoun "весь" is not used with the words "секунда", "минута", "час", "вечность". And the adjective "целый" is not used with the days of the week (not «целый понедельник», but «весь понедельник»), the names of the months (not «целый сентябрь», but «весь сентябрь») and with the word "время".
May 28, 2021 10:21 PM