Counting in Russian
Language overview
Russian (русский язык, transliterated as russkiy yazyk) belongs to the East Slavic group of the Indo-European family. Official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova, it also has the co-official status in other countries, and counts about 164 million speakers. Russian can be written in Latin alphabet or in Cyrillic alphabet.
Russian numbers list
- 1 – один (odin)
- 2 – две (dve)
- 3 – три (tri)
- 4 – четыре (četyre)
- 5 – пять (pâtʹ)
- 6 – шесть (šestʹ)
- 7 – семь (semʹ)
- 8 – восемь (vosemʹ)
- 9 – девять (devâtʹ)
- 10 – десять (desâtʹ)
- 11 – одиннадцать (odinnadcatʹ)
- 12 – двенадцать (dvenadcatʹ)
- 13 – тринадцать (trinadcatʹ)
- 14 – четырнадцать (četyrnadcatʹ)
- 15 – пятнадцать (pâtnadcatʹ)
- 16 – шестнадцать (šestnadcatʹ)
- 17 – семнадцать (semnadcatʹ)
- 18 – восемнадцать (vosemnadcatʹ)
- 19 – девятнадцать (devâtnadcatʹ)
- 20 – двадцать (dvadcatʹ)
- 30 – тридцать (tridcatʹ)
- 40 – сорок (sorok)
- 50 – пятьдесят (pâtʹdesât)
- 60 – шестьдесят (šestʹdesât)
- 70 – семьдесят (semʹdesât)
- 80 – восемьдесят (vosemʹdesât)
- 90 – девяносто (devânosto)
- 100 – сто (sto)
- 1,000 – тысяча (tysâča)
- one million – миллион (million)
- one billion – один миллиард (odin milliard)
Russian numbering rules
Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).
- Digits from zero to nine are specific words, namely ноль (nolʹ) or нуль (nulʹ) [0], один (odin) [1], две (dve) [2], три (tri) [3], четыре (četyre) [4], пять (pâtʹ) [5], шесть (šestʹ) [6], семь (semʹ) [7], восемь (vosemʹ) [8], and девять (devâtʹ) [9].
- Ten is десять (desâtʹ). Twenty and thirty are formed adding the suffix дцать (dcatʹ) to respectively two and three: двадцать (dvadcatʹ) [20], тридцать (tridcatʹ) [30]. Forty is irregular: сорок (sorok) [40] (it comes from a special unit to measure valuable furs). From fifty to eighty, tens are formed adding the word for ten (десять, desâtʹ) to the multiplier digit with no space: пятьдесят (pâtʹdesât) [50], шестьдесят (šestʹdesât) [60], семьдесят (semʹdesât) [70], and восемьдесят (vosemʹdesât) [80]. Finally, ninety is formed after the word for hundred (сто (sto)): девяносто (devânosto) [90].
- From eleven to nineteen, the compound numbers are built by saying the unit digit and a form of the word for ten (надцать, nadcatʹ) with no space: одиннадцать (odinnadcatʹ) [11], двенадцать (dvenadcatʹ) [12], тринадцать (trinadcatʹ) [13], четырнадцать (četyrnadcatʹ) [14], пятнадцать (pâtnadcatʹ) [15], шестнадцать (šestnadcatʹ) [16], семнадцать (semnadcatʹ) [17], восемнадцать (vosemnadcatʹ) [18], and девятнадцать (devâtnadcatʹ) [19].
- From twenty-one to ninety-nine, the compound numbers are built by saying the ten, then the digit separated by a space (e.g.: двадцать три (dvadcatʹ tri) [23], тридцать пять (tridcatʹ pâtʹ) [35]).
- Hundreds are built by setting the multiplier digit before the word for hundred which takes different forms: сто (sto) [100], двести (dvesti) [200], триста (trista) [300], четыреста (četyresta) [400], пятьсот (pâtʹsot) [500], шестьсот (šestʹsot) [600], семьсот (semʹsot) [700], восемьсот (vosemʹsot) [800], and девятьсот (devâtʹsot) [900].
- Thousands are built by setting the multiplier digit before the word for thousand (тысяча, tysâča) which takes a different form after the multipliers two, three and four: тысяча (tysâča) [1,000], две тысячи (dve tysâči) [2,000], три тысячи (tri tysâči) [3,000], четыре тысячи (četyre tysâči) [4,000], пять тысяч (pâtʹ tysâč) [5,000], шесть тысяч (šestʹ tysâč) [6,000], семь тысяч (semʹ tysâč) [7,000], восемь тысяч (vosemʹ tysâč) [8,000], and девять тысяч (devâtʹ tysâč) [9,000].
- When compound, the thousands are said before the hundreds, the hundreds before the tens, and the tens before the digits (e.g.: три тысячи, четыреста пятьдесят шесть (tri tysâči, četyresta pâtʹdesât šestʹ) [3,456]).
- The word for million is миллион (million), and the word for billion is миллиард (milliard).
Write a number in full in Russian
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Russian. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.
Books
The Everything Essential Russian Book: All You Need to Learn Russian in No Time
by Julie Stakhnevich, editors Adams Media (2014)
[ Amazon.com]
Russian: From Intermediate to Advanced
by Olga E. Kagan, Kudyma S. Anna, Frank J. Miller, editors Routledge (2014)
[ Amazon.com]
Schaum’s Outline of Russian Grammar
by James S. Levine, editors McGraw-Hill (2009)
[ Amazon.com,
Kindle - Amazon.com]
A Comprehensive Russian Grammar
by Terence Wade, editors Wiley-Blackwell (2000)
[ Amazon.com,
Kindle - Amazon.com]
Modern diccionario ruso-español
by Svetlana Leshchenko, editors CreateSpace (2014)
[ Amazon.com,
Kindle - Amazon.com]
El Ruso: Gramatica Practica
by I. Pulkina, editors Rubinos (2007)
[ Amazon.com]
Guide de conversation russe
by Elke Becker, editors Assimil (2010)
[ Amazon.com]
Dictionnaire français-russe et russe-français
by Paul Pauliat, editors Larousse (2008)
[ Amazon.com]
Aprender Russo - Textos Paralelos - Histórias Simples (Russo - Português)
editors Polyglot Planet Publishing (2014)
[ Kindle - Amazon.com]
Dicionário Russo-Português moderno
by Svetlana Leshchenko, editors CreateSpace (2014)
[ Amazon.com,
Kindle - Amazon.com]
Vocabulário Português-Russo - 9000 palavras mais úteis
by Andrey Taranov, editors T&P Books (2014)
[ Amazon.com]
Links
Language training and methods
- Learn the most useful words and phrases first so you can start speaking Russian fast with MOSALingua
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