Весь and целый are two very similar Russian words that have slightly different meanings and uses. Generally, they mean “all,” “whole,” “entire,” “complete,” or “from the beginning to the end.”
Целый focuses on and emphasizes the size of the task. When you use целый you’re communicating that it’s a big deal that the entirety of this thing is being talked about or happened. Usually целый can be translated a “entire” in English. Весь, meanwhile, usually can be translated as “all” in English.
Examples of how to use весь and целый
1.
- Я учился весь день. = I studied all day.
- Я учился целый день. = I studied all day / I studied for the entire day (i.e. so much that it was unusual).
2.
- Я съел весь арбуз. = I ate the whole watermelon / all the watermelon.
- Я съел целый арбуз. = I ate the entire watermelon (i.e. wow, I ate it all!).
3.
- Я съел весь торт. = I ate all the cake (i.e. there's none left).
- Я съел целый торт. = I ate the entire cake (i.e. it was big and I ate it all by myself).
4.
- Я прочитал всю книгу на русском. = I read the whole book in Russian (i.e. all the way from beginning to end).
- Я прочитал целую книгу на русском. = I read the entire book in Russian (i.e. even the book was in Russian, I was able to read it fully).
5.
- Я весь год работал без отпуска. = I worked without vacation during the whole year.
- Я целый год работал без отпуска. = I worked an entire year without a vacation (emotionally stronger - poor me!).
How to decline весь and целый
How весь declines: весь, всё, вся, все
| Masc | Fem | Neut | Plural |
| Nom | весь | вся | всё | все |
| Acc | весь/всего | всю | всё | все/всех |
| Gen | всего | всей | всего | всех |
| Dat | всему | всей | всему | всем |
| Inst | всем | всей | всем | всеми |
| Prep | всём | всей | всём | всех |
How целый declines: целый, целая, целое, целые
- целый declines like a regular adjective
