Correct and incorrect, how to use the word "выходные"

Hello, dear student! Today I'd like to give consideration to one important topic. I would never have thought about it because we speak about such things as weekend (выходные) almost every day. But recently one of my foreign students has asked me a question and I've decided to write the article about it. I hope it will be useful for all Russian-language learners.

You can often hear in colloquial speech the word "выходной" or "выходные" [vykhadnoy] or [vykhadnye] - weekend or weekends/days off

Выходной день [vykhadnoy den'] a day off - is such day, when people do not work, do not do any activity and just have a rest. There are usually 2 days off in our country - суббота (Saturday) and воскресенье (Sunday). In colloquial speech we get used to omit the word "день" and thus, we have the phrase "выходной/выходные", depending on number of days, when we don't work or study. It doesn't seem difficult but the trouble is when we use this word in speech with prepositions. Many foreigners get confused, when native speakers say:

Я поеду на море на выходных [Ya paedu na more na vykhadnykh] - At the weekend I will go to the sea.

Or

Мы с мужем будем ездить на велосипеде в выходные [My s muzhim budim ezdit' na vilasipede f vykhadnye] - Both my husband and I will cycling at the weekend.

But which option is more correct and how to understand and decide, what to use in our speech?

The thing is that in Russian there is colloquial language and standard/official language which is more formal, follows the rules and it is usually in books and documents. If you want to strictly follow the rules, it's more correct to use the phrase "в выходные", but in colloquial speech, with friends and acquaintances you can use the option "на выходных":

На выходных Тане очень помогает йога [Na vykhadnykh Tane ochin' pamagaet joga] - Yoga is the right thing for Tanya at the weekends.

В свой выходной Андрей любит поваляться в постели [F svoj vykhadnoj Andrej lyubit pavalyatsya f pasteli] - At his weekend Andrey likes lying in bed.

To ask the question about weekend of a person, you should be very attentive, for example:

- Сколько дней у вас выходные? [Skol'ka dnej u vas vykhadnye?] - How many days-off do you have?

- Мало, по правилам, количество выходных дней не должно превышать двух. [Mala, pa pravilam, kalichestva vykhadnykh dnej ne dalzhno privyshat' dvukh] - A few days, the number of days-off shouldn't be more that two.

It would be a mistake, if you answer this way:

- Суббот и воскресений не должно быть больше двух [Subot i vaskrisenij ni dalzhno byt' bol'she dvukh] - There cannot be more than two Saturdays and Sundays.

As for weekend, we mean days when we do not work or study, but don't enumerate days of the week.

To wish good rest, you can say the following:

Анна, желаю Вам хороших выходных! [Anna, zhilaju vam kharoshikh vykhadnykh!] - Anna, wish you a good weekend!

Some students doubt what option is more correct, for example:

Никита удивился, зачем ждать выходных [Nikita udivilsya, zachem zhdat' vykhadnykh] - Nikita wondered why they should wait for weekend.

Or

Никита удивился, зачем ждать выходные

The first option is correct because here we turn to cases and should ask the question: ждать чего? Выходных ( Genitive case) - wait for what? Weekend

One more confusion is when a speaker suggests to meet at this or next weekend. It's rather difficult for foreigners to understand, what period of time we speak about, so there's a misconception:

Урок будет на следующих выходных [Urok budit na sleduyushikh vykhadnykh] - The lesson will be at the next weekend

На этих выходных мы запланировали вечеринку [Na ekhtikh vykhadnykh my zaplaniravali vichirinku] - At this weekend we are going to have a party.

Следующие выходные (next weekend) - means days off which will be in a week, for example, today is Wednesday, in one weekend it will be a working week and soon after it there will be Saturday and Sunday - this will be "следующие выходные".

Эти выходные (this weekend) - the weekend on this week, for example, today is Wednesday and in two days it will be Saturday - this will be "этот выходной".