NUMBERS IN RUSSIAN

Numbers in Russian is a tough topic even for B1 students, but here is what everyone should know

1. There are different ways of declining numbers, it’s not just one rule, there are different rules for different groups of numbers.
2. You should memorize declination of 1, 2, 3, 4, 40, 90, 100 separately, 5-20, 30, 50-80 as one group, and 200-900 as another group.
3. In compound numbers like 52 or 83 both parts of the number must be declined, not just the last number.
4. Declining numbers from 200-900, you should just decline the first part (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) the same way as it is if it’s a separate number and then just add -сот (Genitive), -стам (Dative), -стами (Instrumental), -стах (Prepositional).
5. In Nominative case you should care about numbers, because the following noun can be declined differently depending on what number precedes it: 1+ Nominative (один дом); 2-4 + Genitive singular (два, три, четыре дома), 5-20 + Genitive plural (пять, шесть,… одиннадцать,… домов). But when you start declining a noun with a numeral together, the numeral is declined according to the rule, and the noun is declined the same was as it would be without a numeral:

Nomintive: Здесь стоит три дома.

Genitive: Здесь нет трёх домов.

Dative: Он подошёл к трём домам.

Accusative: Я вижу три дома.

Instrumental: Сейчас строители работают над тремя домами.

Prepositional: Мои друзья живут в тех трёх домах.

And some Russian proverbs with numbers to cheer you up!

Один друг лучше новых двух – One old friend is better than two new ones

Одна голова хорошо, а две лучше – One head is good, but two are better

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