Numbers & Time
In a nutshell
- Оди́н agrees in gender (оди́н/одна́/одно́/одни́); два/две splits by gender too (два for masc/neuter, две for feminine) — every other number stays fixed.
- Numbers control the case of the noun that follows: 1 → nominative singular, 2–4 → genitive singular, 5+ (and 0) → genitive plural — and this depends on the last digit of the number, even in compounds like 21 or 102.
- Days use в + accusative; months use в + prepositional; dates use a neuter ordinal in the nominative or genitive depending on context.
- Age uses the same dative construction ("мне... лет") you saw in the Dative Case lesson — this lesson just adds the numbers to plug into it.
Cardinal numbers
| 0–10 | 11–20 | Tens | Hundreds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 — ноль | 11 — оди́ннадцать | 10 — де́сять | 100 — сто |
| 1 — оди́н | 12 — двена́дцать | 20 — два́дцать | 200 — две́сти |
| 2 — два/две | 13 — трина́дцать | 30 — три́дцать | 300 — три́ста |
| 3 — три | 14 — четы́рнадцать | 40 — со́рок | 400 — четы́реста |
| 4 — четы́ре | 15 — пятна́дцать | 50 — пятьдеся́т | 500 — пятьсо́т |
| 5 — пять | 16 — шестна́дцать | 60 — шестьдеся́т | 600 — шестьсо́т |
| 6 — шесть | 17 — семна́дцать | 70 — се́мьдесят | 700 — семьсо́т |
| 7 — семь | 18 — восемна́дцать | 80 — во́семьдесят | 800 — восемьсо́т |
| 8 — во́семь | 19 — девятна́дцать | 90 — девяно́сто | 900 — девятьсо́т |
| 9 — де́вять | 20 — два́дцать | 100 — сто | 1000 — ты́сяча |
| 10 — де́сять |
Compound numbers just stack the pieces together, same as English: два́дцать оди́н (21, literally "twenty-one"), три́дцать пять (35), сто два́дцать три (123).
Оди́н and два/две agree with gender
Most numbers are fixed words that never change no matter what they're counting. Оди́н ("one") is the big exception — it fully agrees with the gender of its noun, just like an adjective:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| оди́н | одна́ | одно́ | одни́ |
У меня́ оди́н брат. — lit. "At me one-masc brother." — "I have one brother."
У меня́ одна́ сестра́. — lit. "At me one-fem sister." — "I have one sister."
Два ("two") splits only by gender, not the full four-way split: два for masculine and neuter, две for feminine.
У меня́ два бра́та. — lit. "At me two brother-GEN.SG." — "I have two brothers."
У меня́ две сестры́. — lit. "At me two sister-GEN.SG." — "I have two sisters."
Три (3) and четы́ре (4) don't change for gender at all — only оди́н and два/две do.
Numbers control the case of the noun
This is the part that surprises English speakers most: the number itself decides what case (and sometimes number) the following noun takes. The rule has three bands:
- 1 (and any compound number ending in 1, like 21, 31, 101 — except 11) + nominative singular noun
- 2, 3, 4 (and compounds ending in 2, 3, 4, like 22, 23, 24 — except 12, 13, 14) + genitive singular noun
- 5–20, 0, and any number ending in 5–9 or 0 + genitive plural noun
| Number | Noun form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | nominative singular | одна́ кни́га — one book |
| 2–4 | genitive singular | две кни́ги — two books |
| 5+ | genitive plural | пять книг — five books |
| 21 | nominative singular | два́дцать одна́ кни́га — 21 books |
| 22 | genitive singular | два́дцать две кни́ги — 22 books |
| 25 | genitive plural | два́дцать пять книг — 25 books |
У меня́ два́дцать одна́ кни́га. — lit. "At me twenty one-fem book-NOM.SG." — "I have 21 books."
У меня́ два́дцать две кни́ги. — lit. "At me twenty two book-GEN.SG." — "I have 22 books."
У меня́ два́дцать пять книг. — lit. "At me twenty five book-GEN.PL." — "I have 25 books."
The key thing to notice: it's the last digit that decides the pattern, no matter how big the whole number is. 101 behaves like 1 (101 кни́га); 102 behaves like 2 (102 кни́ги); 111 behaves like the 5+ group — 11–14 are always genitive plural, even though 11 "ends in 1" — this is the one place the last-digit rule has a built-in exception, so learn 11–14 as a fixed genitive-plural zone.
This exact system — numbers governing genitive singular or genitive plural — is the same genitive mechanism from Lesson 4: Genitive's quantities section; this lesson is just applying it with real numbers attached.
Telling time (simplified)
At A2, you need the basics: "what time is it" and "at what time." Full quarter-past/quarter-to phrasing is more advanced and can wait.
Ско́лько сейча́с вре́мени? — lit. "How-much now time-GEN?" — "What time is it now?"
Сейча́с три часа́. — lit. "Now three hour-GEN.SG." — "It's three o'clock."
Сейча́с пять часо́в. — lit. "Now five hour-GEN.PL." — "It's five o'clock." (notice часа́ vs часо́в follows the same 2–4/5+ noun-case rule you just learned)
To say "at" a certain time, use в + accusative (which looks identical to nominative for hour numbers at this simple level):
В два часа́ я обе́даю. — lit. "At two hour-GEN.SG I dine." — "I have lunch at two o'clock."
Я встаю́ в семь часо́в. — lit. "I get-up at seven hour-GEN.PL." — "I get up at seven o'clock."
Days of the week
Days use в + accusative case.
| Russian | English |
|---|---|
| понеде́льник | Monday |
| вто́рник | Tuesday |
| среда́ | Wednesday |
| четве́рг | Thursday |
| пя́тница | Friday |
| суббо́та | Saturday |
| воскресе́нье | Sunday |
Я рабо́таю в понеде́льник. — lit. "I work on Monday-ACC." — "I work on Monday."
Мы встреча́емся во вто́рник. — lit. "We meet on Tuesday-ACC." — "We're meeting on Tuesday." (в becomes во before the consonant cluster вт-, purely for pronunciation ease)
Months
Months use в + prepositional case.
| Russian | English |
|---|---|
| янва́рь | January |
| февра́ль | February |
| март | March |
| апре́ль | April |
| май | May |
| ию́нь | June |
| ию́ль | July |
| а́вгуст | August |
| сентя́брь | September |
| октя́брь | October |
| ноя́брь | November |
| дека́брь | December |
Мой день рожде́ния в ма́е. — lit. "My birthday in May-PREP." — "My birthday is in May."
Мы бы́ли в Росси́и в январе́. — lit. "We were in Russia in January-PREP." — "We were in Russia in January."
Ordinal numbers 1st–10th
Ordinals decline like adjectives — the table below shows the masculine nominative form as a reference point.
| Cardinal | Ordinal |
|---|---|
| 1 | пе́рвый |
| 2 | второ́й |
| 3 | тре́тий |
| 4 | четвёртый |
| 5 | пя́тый |
| 6 | шесто́й |
| 7 | седьмо́й |
| 8 | восьмо́й |
| 9 | девя́тый |
| 10 | деся́тый |
Dates and years
For "what's today's date," Russian uses a neuter ordinal in the nominative (dates agree with the implied word число́, "date/number," which is neuter):
Како́е сего́дня число́? — lit. "Which today number-NOM?" — "What's today's date?"
Сего́дня пе́рвое января́. — lit. "Today first-neut January-GEN." — "Today is January 1st." (the ordinal is neuter nominative; the month name switches to genitive, "of January")
For "in what year," use в како́м году́ + the ordinal in the prepositional case:
В како́м году́ ты роди́лся? — lit. "In which-PREP year-PREP you were-born?" — "What year were you born in?"
Я роди́лся в две ты́сячи пя́том году́. — lit. "I was-born in two thousand fifth-PREP year-PREP." — "I was born in 2005."
This is one of the trickiest constructions in the whole numbers system — for now, focus on recognizing the pattern (year expressed as an ordinal, in prepositional case, after в) rather than producing complex years fluently.
Age: the dative construction, recapped
You met this construction's grammar in the Dative Case lesson — age in Russian is expressed as "to me [there] are ___ years," using the person in dative and a number + word for "year(s)."
Мне два́дцать лет. — lit. "To-me twenty year-GEN.PL." — "I'm twenty (years old)."
Ему́ три́дцать лет. — lit. "To-him thirty year-GEN.PL." — "He's thirty."
Ей два́дцать оди́н год. — lit. "To-her twenty one year-NOM.SG." — "She's twenty-one."
Notice год/го́да/лет follows the exact same 1 / 2–4 / 5+ pattern as every other counted noun: оди́н год (nominative singular), два го́да (genitive singular), пять лет (genitive plural — irregular-looking, but лет is simply the genitive plural of год that's used here by convention).
Practice
- Say "one sister" with correct agreement (одна́/оди́н/одно́ + сестра́).
- Say "two brothers" with correct agreement (два/две + брат in the right form).
- What case/number does the noun take after 5, 6, 7...? Give an example with кни́га.
- Fill in the blank: У меня́ два́дцать три ___ (кни́га — correct form).
- Fill in the blank: У меня́ два́дцать одна́ ___ (кни́га — correct form).
- Translate: "It's four o'clock now."
- Translate: "I work on Fridays." (use в + пя́тница)
- Translate: "My birthday is in September." (use в + September)
- Give the ordinal form for "3rd" (masculine nominative).
- Translate: "What's today's date?"
- Translate: "I'm thirty years old." (use dative construction)
- Explain why 11–14 don't follow the "last digit" rule the way 21–24 do.
Answers
- одна́ сестра́ — feminine agreement of оди́н.
- два бра́та — masculine noun, so два (not две); брат takes genitive singular.
- Genitive plural — пять книг.
- У меня́ два́дцать три кни́ги. — ends in 3, so genitive singular.
- У меня́ два́дцать одна́ кни́га. — ends in 1, so nominative singular.
- Сейча́с четы́ре часа́. — часа́ (genitive singular) after 2–4.
- Я рабо́таю в пя́тницу. — days take в + accusative.
- Мой день рожде́ния в сентябре́. — months take в + prepositional.
- тре́тий — irregular-looking ordinal for 3rd.
- Како́е сего́дня число́? — fixed idiom asking for the date.
- Мне три́дцать лет. — dative subject + genitive plural лет.
- 11–14 are a fixed exception zone — they always take genitive plural regardless of their final digit, unlike 21–24 (and other compounds), which follow the last-digit rule normally.