Russian Numbers

Do you know how to answer the questions “How much does it cost?” and “How old are you?” in Russian? How do you say when you were born, what time it is, and what date it is today in Russian? These questions and their answers require knowledge of Russian numbers. If you already have a good command of them, our congratulations to you! If not, we are here to help you become familiar with and master them!

Russian numbers may be cardinal or ordinal. The number один (one) has different gender characteristics according to the gender of the noun it modifies. The number два (two) has two forms in Nominative: два for masculine and neuter nouns and две for feminine ones. Russian numbers change according to the case they are used in (say, три (three) часа, трёх часов, трём часам…) and this, let’s face it, poses a challenge for foreign learners of Russian. After cardinal Russian numbers nouns may be used in the Nominative singular (with numbers ending in “один”, like 21), Genitive singular (with those ending in “два”, “три”,“четыре”, like in 22, 23, 24) and Genitive plural (with numbers ending in other figures: 5-20, 25-30 etc.). Ordinal Russian numbers change in gender, number, and case (первый день, первая любовь, первое свидание, первые стихи; с первого дня…).

These are just few peculiarities of the use of Russian numbers. They don’t seem very easy to master. But once you’ve learned them you can be proud of mastering one of the most challenging topics of Russian grammar!

Learn more:

Learn how to count in Russian with this online lesson.

This grammar table is also very helpful in learning Russian numbers.