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I am going over some dates because im bad at remembering them but am struggling with the following.

If I say 先月何日会社を休みましたか。。。四日(よっか)休みました

Since ついたち、ふつか、みっか refer to day 1,2,3 etc. Im saying here "I am taking four days off this month" right?

What about if I want to say: "I took off the fourth of this month" how would this change? would I say よんび?

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  • Does this answer your question: japanese.stackexchange.com/a/74639/9831 / japanese.stackexchange.com/a/7010/9831
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented Aug 8 at 9:08
  • @chocolate.. I think so, so basically the days 1-10 in japanese can refer to both the time duration of X days and day X depending on context right?
    – Bing Chilling
    Commented Aug 8 at 15:49
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    Except 1! 😃 Day 1, 2, 3... ⇒ ついたち、ふつか、みっか・・・ 1, 2, 3 days... ⇒ いちにち、ふつか、みっか・・・
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented Aug 9 at 0:58

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"先月何日会社を休みましたか？" itself is quite vague in this manner, as it can be translated into both "how many days did you take day offs last month?" and "what date did you take a day off last month?" depending on the context.

If you want to specify "how many", question should contain something like "何日間" or "どのくらい". If "what date", use "いつ" or "何日に" instead of "何日" for question. For answer, "四日" can be used in both cases, but if you want to specify, "四日間" (sometimes mean "in a row") or "四日分" ("in total") for "how many", and "四日目" for "what date".

The sentences would be like this:

Boss: 先月いつ休みましたか？ (When did you take a day off last month?) Me: 四日です。 (Day 4.)

Boss: 先月どのくらい休みましたか？ (How many days did you take day offs last month?) Me: 四日です。 (4 days.)

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  • OK. In both of those cases are they pronounced よっか? So tsuitachi,futsuka, etc can mean both X days, or day X?
    – Bing Chilling
    Commented Aug 8 at 15:45
  • I have never heard _N_日 used for "number of days"; it must have ～間 attached. Is this a regional thing?
    – istrasci
    Commented Aug 8 at 16:12
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    @istrasci 「いちにち待ってください」「ふつかかかりました」「みっかやすみました」とか、標準語でも関西弁😃でもいうと思います。もちろん「ふつかかんやすみました」「みっかかんやすみました」でもいいです（「いちにちかん」は言わないですね）。「Day X に休んだ」と言うときは「ふつかにやすみました」とかなんか助詞を使えばわかりやすいかなと
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented Aug 9 at 1:07
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    @BingChilling Yes, both pronounce "よっか". As chocolate says, "一日" is an exception.
    – NON
    Commented Aug 9 at 11:56
  • @chocolate: 関西弁って記憶力いいやんな！なるほど、確かに「一日」の使い方はその通り。
    – istrasci
    Commented Aug 9 at 17:30

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