In this post I want to talk about numbers and how they decline and which cases you use for which numbers. Because it's not exactly straightforward. So we all start from the beginning.





Number pronounced by native Russian speakers

A great way to achieve automatism in the auditory perception of Russian numbers is to use the Numbers Listening Trainer application.

The application uses the real voices of native speakers, and also allows you to track your progress.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.finchbird.nlt



1, Оди́н:

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2, Два:

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3, Три:

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4, Четы́ре:

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5, Пять:

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6, Шесть:

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7, Семь:

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8, Во́семь:

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9, Де́вять:

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10, Де́сять:

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11, Оди́ннадцать:

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12, Двена́дцать:

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13, Трина́дцать:

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14, Четы́рнадцать:

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15, Пятна́дцать:

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16, Шестна́дцать:

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17, Семна́дцать:

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18, Восемна́дцать:

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19, Девятна́дцать:

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20, Два́дцать:

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There are two ways of saying zero in Russian: ноль and нуль.

We used null for phone numbers, game scores and specific times when using a 24-hour clock or military time.

Ноль / нуль -> phone #s, game scores, + specific times when using 24-hr clock.

For example, the train departs from the station at 14:00 hours or 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

Поезд отходит в четырнадцать ноль ноль.

We use null for temperature and mathematics temperature.

нуль -> temperature, mathematics.

So the temperature fell below zero. So zero is pretty straightforward if you have any adjectives or nouns with the zero, with the number zero and all other numbers that end in zero like 20 and 100. You are going to put adjective and noun in the genitive plural.

Температура упала ниже нуля.

adjective + noun in the genitive plural

One, 1

Okay. So now let's look at one. Again that are quite a few words for one. Because one is not a typical number. It behaves like an adjective and it must agree in gender number and case with a noun that it's describing. We start off in the nominative case with:

Один, одна, одно, одни

We have masculine, feminine, neuter and plural it this number behaves like an adjective and must decline like an adjective. Cases or the endings that you have for adjectives with all the different cases are the things that you would have for number one.

- behaves like an adjective (+ must decline like an adjective) and it will agree in gender, number, + case w/ the noun it's describing.

And it will agree in gender, number meaning whether it's plural or singular and case with the noun it's describing. Just like an adjective rate adjective, describe nouns or modify nouns.

Let's look at some examples. In the accusative case:

Accusative case

Remember the accusative case you if it's a masculine anime noun it's going to have the genitive case ending.

Я знаю одну девушку.

We have the accusative case ending for both the number one and our direct object which is the girl.

Я смотрю на одно большое окно.

We see everything agrees: our adjectives agree with our noun.

All right now. Let's look at the genitive case:

Genitive case

Я стою около одного большого дома.

Because of ОКОЛО we need to use the genitive case.

Then we have the dative case:

Dative case

Я подошёл к одному большому окну.

Because of K, we need to use the dative case ОДНОМУ БОЛЬШОМУ ОКНУ.

Instrumental case

Библиотека находится рядом с одним большим домом.

We have РЯДОМ which requires С requires the instrumental in this case: ОДНИМ БОЛЬШИМ ДОМОМ.



Prepositional case

And finally a prepositional example:

Я говорю об одной девушке.

Because of all we're gonna use the prepositional: ОДНОЙ ДЕВУШКЕ.

Одни - plural one

We also have ОДНИ which is the plural version of one.

Plural one and we use ОДНИ when we're talking about nouns that are only in the plural.

Like НОЖНИЦЫ (the scissors) right same in English, it's plural - scissors.

With that, you don't have one scissor.

На столе были одни ножницы.

These are scissors right so on the table there is one pair of scissors

or it can mean:

"only" - На тарелке остались одни крошки.

On the plate that remained only crumbs.

Those are our ones.

Now let's move on to two, three and four.

Here's how two, three and four declines because they're typical numbers, unlike the one which behaves like an adjective and declines like an adjective.

You can look that over in your own time or copy it down. Also, textbooks and any kind of Russian grammar book will have how all of these numbers decline you know every single number.

Table. Russian Numbers 2,3,4 with Cases.

Two, 2 - Два masc./neut., две famine

Three, 3 - Три

Four, 4 - Четыре

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Noun in genitive singular, adjective is genitive plural (masc., neut.), nominative plural (fem.).

Nominative case

Let's write out some examples:

Дом

Два (три, четыре) больших дома.

We've got a masculine noun over here ДОМ.

A big multi-story house and then we have a feminine noun over here.

Дача

A cute little structure out in the countryside, a little country house.

We've got a masculine noun and feminine noun. Let's have some sentences or just do some numbers.

The ДВА because it's masculine БОЛЬШИХ ДОМА and over here with ДАЧА which is feminine we have

Две (три, четыре) новые дачи.

Our noun is in the genitive singular regardless of whether it's masculine, neuter or feminine.

We have ДОМ А and ДАЧ И .

Those are both the genitive singular endings and our feminine adjective is a nominative plural НОВЫЕ. Our masculine adjective is genitive plural. We can do one more example.

В этой комнате три больших окна.

ТРИ should be our noun in the genitive singular and it is and our adjective should be the genitive plural because this is a neuter noun ОКНО.

Он купил новые книги.

He bought new books.

We've got НОВЫЕ in the nominative plural because it's a feminine word КНИГА and that's in the genitive singular.

Hopefully, that's a little bit clearer.

Accusative case

The #s themselves (2, 3, 4) + the adjectives take the genitive plural if the noun is ANIMATE.

If the number the noun and the adjective are all in the accusative case the numbers themselves two three and four and the adjectives take the genitive plural

We always have to pay attention to whether the noun is animate or inanimate when we're talking about the accusative case but now it doesn't matter if it's masculine or feminine but we matter whether it's a table and not alive or if it's a little boy and alive.

Мы видели двух мальчиков и трёх девушек.

Everybody is in the genitive plural and you can refer back to this chart to see how 2 3 & 4 declines.

The numbers themselves are in the accusative animate which is the same as the genitive plural case and our boys are in the genitive plural and our girls with their ending are in the genitive plural.

But if you are talking about a compound number.

* 22, 34, 103 all compound numbers follow the rules of 5 + up numbers.

This rule this accusative animate rule is only true if you're talking about the number 2 3 or 4.

That's a little disclaimer.

Other cases

2, 3, 4 - modifying a noun in another case, they'll agree with that case.

Then if you have 2 3 or 4 and you're dealing with oblique cases or the other cases the rules change again and basically the numbers 2 3 & 4. If they're modifying a noun in another case they'll agree with that case or they'll be in that same case

Genitive case

ОНА прожила в Москве около (this will require the genitive) четырёх месяцев.

We have genitive plural because of ОКОЛО.

Prepositional case

Я говорю об эт их дв ух нов ых студент ах .

Dat.

ОНИ подошли к трём девушкам.

A group of people walked up to three girls and again we've got К ТРЁМ ДЕВУШКАМ because we're in the dative case the number and the noun are in the dative case.

Inst.

Она владеет тремя языками.

We've got instrumental endings alright

Now we're done with 1, 2, 3 & 4 and now let's look at 5 through 20 and all numbers and all numbers not ending in one okay

5 - 20 (+ all #s not ending in 1, 2, 3, 4)

Nom/Acc. both adjective + noun will be in the genitive plural . (doesn't matter animate or not).

На этой улице стоят шесть больших домов.

Мы посмотрели пятьдесять семь иностранных фильмов.

OTHER CASES

Gen. В его коллекции больше дв ух с от шест и десят и пят и русских фильмов.

Prep. Мы побывали в тридцат и тр ёх музе ях .

Dat. Я послала открытки двадцат и сем и хорошим друзьям.

The instrumental is in a class of its own and you're gonna have lots of times and use

Inst. Что делать с пят ью десят ью восем ью рублями?

What can you do with 58 rubles?

It's pretty complicated but it also starts to make sense and just the more you use each number or here each number you'll it'll fall into place you're probably already using some of these perfectly correctly and you haven't even had to study it or think about it

A chart illustrating how to use nouns with numerals.

Russian "lucky" numbers

3, Three

Three in the Russian tradition denotes a spiritual beginning. It symbolizes completeness and completeness. Honoring the Christian concept of the Trinity, which is a trinity, makes the three a designation of perfection and spirituality.

Man himself also has a trinity organization, including body, soul, and spirit. The geometric symbol of the troika is a triangle, and in the images of the All-Seeing Eye this figure becomes the designation of the Trinity. The significance of the troika is manifested in the familiar to us tales, legends and everyday traditions. In folklore, we met three bogatyrs who were to defeat the three-headed serpent-mountain. The hero had three desires, he was subjected to three trials, found himself at the crossroads of three roads. The three-time kiss for happiness has become a Russian symbol.

5, Five

Veneration of the Five in the Russian tradition also has Christian origins. The number often appears in the Gospel - five pieces of bread fed five thousand people, who received five talents multiplied by the other five, five wise and five foolish virgins became a symbol of readiness to meet the divine. The five penetrates into Christian architecture and iconography - the five-domed cathedrals built in honor of Christ and 4 evangelists, 5 rows of the iconostasis. This makes the five a symbol of the unity of the earthly church and God, the unity of man with the Almighty.

Figure 5 enters life and vocabulary with the words “penny”, “Friday”, “Fifth”, in symbolism - with a five-pointed star. Another symbol that is associated with the five is the Christian cross: five points form it. We also know about the five wounds of Christ crucified.

7, Seven

Seven - one of the most common numbers in the Russian tradition, a symbol of good luck. Mythology tells us about the seven gods of the ancient Russian pantheon, the seven heavens, the god Semargle. In the Orthodox numerical symbolism, the seven are more often met: seven sacraments, seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, seven virtues and mortal sins, seven Archangels, seven prophets, a seven-day fast and repentance. There is an icon of Our Lady “The Seven Mistress,” which symbolically depicts the sorrow of the Virgin Mary: seven arrows or swords pierce her heart. The number seven symbolizes the fullness of the suffering that the Mother of God underwent in mortal life.

9, Nine

Nine often appears in Russian legends, but it is also associated with the troika. A serpent in Slavic fairy tales has not only three, but three times three heads, which the hero has to cut down with a dun sword. The Farrow Kingdom is a distant magical land where many fabulous events take place. In Orthodoxy, we meet nine angel ranks. These are the Seraphim, the Cherubim, the Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Authorities, Principles, Archangels and Angels. There are nine fruits of the holy spirit — qualities that a true Christian should possess, and they are portrayed as a nine-pointed star. And one can not forget the nine commandments of bliss from the Sermon on the Mount.

21, Twenty one

The fabulous "three" multiplied by the happy "seven" - the number 21 was filled with sacred meaning in the ancient Russian tradition. It played an important role in Easter calculations, and, moreover, in ancient calendars, 21 days of each month was dedicated to the Mother of God.

35, Thirty-five

35 - the number of letters of the Slavic alphabet, as well as in Easter calculations, the “key of the borders” is the maximum time interval between the earliest and the latest Easter. In the “Book of Enoch” of the 13th century Slavic edition, there is a story about the sun moving in a chariot through the gate, and it can pass through them in 35 days. Thus, 35 is a symbol of the fullness of time, and also it expresses the idea of half of the earthly path traversed.