Russian declension
In Russian grammar, the system of declension is elaborate and complex. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, demonstratives, most numerals and other particles are declined for two grammatical numbers and six grammatical cases ; some of these parts of speech in the singular are also declined by three grammatical genders. This gives many spelling combinations for most of the words, which is needed for grammatical agreement within and outside the proposition. Also, there are several paradigms for each declension with numerous irregular forms.
Russian is more conservative in its declensions than many other modern Indo-European languages. The complexity of its declensions resembles older languages such as Latin and Ancient Greek more than most modern languages.
Note: In the tables [|below], the Accusative case appears between the Nominative and Genitive cases. Russian practice places the Accusative between the Dative and the Instrumental. See :ru:%D0%A0%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9 %D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA#%D0%98%D0%BC%D1%8F %D1%81%D1%83%D1%89%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B5|Russian version of this page.
Nouns
Nominal declension is subject to six cases – nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and prepositional – in two numbers, and absolutely obeying grammatical gender. Up to ten additional cases are identified in linguistics textbooks, although all of them are either incomplete or degenerate. The most recognized additional cases are locative, partitive, and several forms of vocative. The adjectives, pronouns, and the first two cardinal numbers further vary by gender. Old Russian also had a third number, the dual, but it has been lost except for its use in the nominative and accusative cases with the numbers two, three and four.Russian noun cases often replace the usage of prepositions in other Indo-European languages. Their usage can be summarised as:
- Nominative – the “subject” case
- Genitive – corresponding to the possessive case or “of + ”
- Dative – corresponding to “to + " or the indirect object
- Accusative – the “direct object” case
- Instrumental – denoting an instrument used in an action
- Prepositional – used with many common prepositions, such as “in”, “on” etc.
- The use of a direct object in the genitive instead of the accusative in negation signifies that the noun is indefinite, compare: "Я не ви́жу кни́ги" and "Я не ви́жу кни́гу".
- The use of the numeral one sometimes signifies that the noun is indefinite, e.g.: "Почему́ ты так до́лго?" – "Да так, встре́тил одного́ дру́га, пришло́сь поговори́ть".
- Word order may also be used for this purpose, compare "В ко́мнату вбежа́л ма́льчик" and "Ма́льчик вбежа́л в ко́мнату".
- The plural form may signify indefiniteness: "Вы мо́жете купи́ть э́то в магази́нах" vs. "Вы мо́жете купи́ть э́то в магази́не".
In Russian there are three declensions:
- The first declension is used for feminine nouns ending with -а/-я and some masculine nouns having the same form as those of feminine gender, such as "papa" or "uncle"; also there are common-gender nouns like "teaser" which are masculine or feminine depending on the person they refer to.
- The second declension is used for most masculine and neuter nouns.
- The third declension is used for feminine nouns ending in ь.
Nouns ending with -ий, -ия, -ие are written with -ии instead of -ие in Prepositional: тече́ние – в ни́жнем тече́нии реки́ "streaming – in lower streaming of a river". But if words and are representing compound preposition meaning "while, during the time of", they are written with -е: в тече́ние ча́са "in a time of an hour". For nouns ending in -ья, -ье, or -ьё, using -ьи in the Prepositional is usually erroneous, but in poetic speech it may be acceptable : Весь день она́ лежа́ла в забытьи́.
First declension
Most first-declension nouns are feminine, some masculine. The same endings apply for both genders.- After a sibilant or a velar consonant, и is written.
- After a sibilant, о is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
- After a soft consonant, ё is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
рабо́та – a work/job, ба́ня – a bathhouse, кни́га – a book, ли́ния – a line
Note: In the instrumental case, -ою and -ею instead of -ой and -ей endings may be encountered in the singular.
Second declension – masculine nouns
Nouns ending in a consonant are marked in the following table with –.Notes:
- After a sibilant or a velar consonant, и is written, or, for some words, а.
- After a sibilant, ей is written.
- After a soft consonant, ё is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
фильм – a film/movie, писа́тель – a writer, геро́й – a hero, коммента́рий – a comment
Second declension – neuter nouns
- After a sibilant, о is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
- After a soft consonant, ё is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
- For nouns ending in ие in the nominative singular, и is written.
- After a consonant use ей otherwise use й.
- Also: some masculine nouns ending in -о in the nominative singular ; there is only one masculine noun ending in -е in this declension: Journeyman.
ме́сто – a place, мо́ре – a sea, зда́ние – a building
Third declension
The third declension is mostly for feminine nouns, with some masculine and neuter.- After a sibilant, а is written.
кость – a bone, мышь – a mouse, и́мя – a name
Irregular plural forms
There are various kinds of irregularities in forming plurals. Some words have an irregular plural form, but a few use suppletion, being substituted by a different root altogether. Historically, some of these irregularities come from older declensional patterns that have become mostly obsolete in modern Russian.- If the word лист has the lexical meaning "paper", then its declension is normal. If it has lexical meaning "leaf ", its declension is лист → лист.
Undeclined nouns
Personal names
Traditionally, full Russian name consists of a person name, patronym and a family name. All of these words have the same grammatical gender as biological one. Slavic, as well as Greek, Roman, Jewish and other person names of European or Semitic origin loaned centuries ago, have gender-specific versions of respective patronyms. To produce a patronym, suffixes -вич- and -вн- are used with final vowel addition or modification: -о for hard consonant, -ье for -ий, and -е for other cases. Some person names also have versions for both males and females.Additionally, Slavic names have short forms, usually meant for affectionate calls. Short forms by themselves can form "reemerging" vocative case ; it is used for calling a familiar person, substituting nominative singular by removing last vowel. For this reason, neo-vocative is not possible for male names that can't produce short forms with a final vowel. Likewise, there is a neo-vocative form for close relatives: мать – ма́ма – мам, оте́ц – па́па – пап. When replacing nominative plural, it can be used for collective calls: ребя́та – ребя́т, девча́та – девча́т.
Most family names in Russia are also gender-specific and declinable like most words. They can be divided in these categories :
- :ru:Русские фамилии|Russian origin, gender-specific, declinable as nouns: -о́в/-о́ва, -ев/-ева, -ёв/ёва, -и́н/-ина́ ;
- Russian origin, gender-agnostic, indeclinable: -ы́х, -и́х;
- :ru:Украинская фамилия|Ukrainian origin, gender-specific, declinable as adjectives: -ый/-ая, -о́й/-а́я;
- Ukrainian or :ru:Белорусские фамилии|Belorussian origin, gender-agnostic, indeclinable: -е́нко, -ко́;
- Ukrainian or Belorussian origin, gender-agnostic, declinable as masculine nouns for males and indeclinable for females: -у́к, -ю́к, -и́к, -е́ц, etc.;
- Other Slavic origin, gender-specific, declinable as adjectives: -ский/-ская, -цкий/-цкая;
- Other Slavic or non-Slavic origin, gender-agnostic, declinable as masculine nouns for males and indeclinable for females: -о́вич, -е́вич, -ер, -ман, -берг, etc.
| male | female | family or couple | |
| Nominative | Ю́ри | Валенти́н | Гага́рин |
| Accusative | Юри | Валентин | Гагарин |
| Genitive | Юри | Валентин | Гагарин |
| Dative | Юри | Валентин | Гагарин |
| Instrumental | Юри | Валентин | Гагарин |
| Prepositional | Юри | Валентин | Гагарин |
Here male name is composed of 2nd declension nouns, but there are exceptional endings for Instrumental. Female name is in 1st declension, but ending -ой is used for a family name in all oblique cases. Plural follows adjectival declension, except that Nominative is short -ы.
Adjectives
A Russian adjective is usually placed before the noun it qualifies, and it agrees with the noun in case, gender, and number. With the exception of a few invariant forms borrowed from other languages, such as беж 'beige' or ха́ки 'khaki', most adjectives follow one of a small number of regular declension patterns, except for some which provide difficulty in forming the short form. In modern Russian, the short form appears only in the nominative and is used when the adjective is in a predicative role; formerly short adjectives appeared in all other forms and roles, which are not used in modern language, but are nonetheless understandable to Russian speakers as they are declined exactly like nouns of the corresponding gender.Adjectives may be divided into three general groups:
- Qualitative — denote quality of the object; only adjectives in this group generally have degrees of comparison.
- Relational — denote some sort of relationship; unlikely to act as a predicate or have a short form.
- Possessive — denote belonging to a specific subject; have some declensional peculiarities.
Adjectival declension
- After a sibilant or velar consonant, и, instead of ы, is written.
- When a masculine adjective ends in -ой, the -ой is stressed.
- After a sibilant consonant, neuter adjectives end in ее. This is sometimes called the хорошее rule.
- Accusative in the masculine singular, and in the plural for all genders, depends on animacy, as for nouns.
- Instrumental feminine ending -ой/ей for all adjectives has alternative form -ою/ею, which differs only stylistically from the standard form.
- Masculine adjectives ending in the nominative in ий and neuters in ее are declined as follows: его, ему, им, and ем.
- Feminine adjectives in яя are declined ей and юю.
- Plural adjectives in ие are declined их, им, ими and их.
- Case endings -ого/-его are to be read as -ово/ево.
Before 1917, adjectival declension looked quite different, at least in writing; for example, there were special feminine plural forms, as in French. In modern editions of classical poetry some elements of this system are still used if they are important for rhyme or metrics. A notable example is ending -ыя instead of -ой for genitive single female adjectives, which were considered bookish and deprecated even in the times of Alexander Pushkin but were still used by him in lines such as «тайна брачныя постели».
Comparison of adjectives
forms are usual only for qualitative adjectives and adverbs. Comparative and superlative synthetic forms are not part of the paradigm of original adjectives but are different lexical items, since not all qualitative adjectives have them. A few adjectives have irregular forms that are declined like ordinary adjectives: большо́й 'big' — бо́льший 'bigger', хоро́ший 'good' — лу́чший 'better'. Most synthetically derived comparative forms are derived by adding -ее or -ей to the adjective stem: кра́сный 'red' — красне́е 'more red'; these forms are difficult to distinguish from adverbs, which they probably are. Superlative synthetic forms are derived by adding suffix -ейш- or -айш- and additionally sometimes prefix наи-, or using a special comparative form with наи-: до́брый 'kind' — добре́йший 'the kindest', большо́й 'big' — наибо́льший 'the biggest'.Another method of indicating comparison uses analytical forms with adverbs бо́лее 'more' / ме́нее 'less' and са́мый 'most' / наибо́лее 'most' / наиме́нее 'least': до́брый 'kind' — бо́лее до́брый 'kinder' — са́мый до́брый 'the kindest'. This pattern is rarely used if special comparative forms exist.
Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives are used in Russian to a lesser extent than in most other Slavic languages, but are still in use. They answer the questions чей? чья? чьё? чьи? and denote only animated possessors. Alternative for possessive adjectives are possessive genitives which are used much more commonly. There are three suffixes to form them: -ов/ев, -ын/ин and -ий.Suffix -ов/ев is used to form adjective from a word denoting single human which is masculine and ends on consonant; selection depends on if the stem hard or soft. Suffix -ын/ин is similar but is attached to feminine words or masculine ending in -а/я. Both types are more common in spoken language than in literary and generally are forms of kinship terms, given names and their diminutives: ма́ма — ма́мин 'mom's', оте́ц — отцо́в 'father's', Са́ша — Са́шин 'Sasha's' /for diminutives from both Alexandr and Alexandra/. Words of this type also are common as Russian surnames, like Pushkin .
Adjectives on -ов and -ин are declined via mixed declension: some of their forms are nominal, some are adjectival, and some are ambivalent.
Adjectives on -ий are used for deriving adjectives mostly from animal species : лиса 'fox' — лисий 'of a fox', 'likely for a fox'. Declension of such adjectives is nominal in nominative and accusative and adjectival for other forms.
There exist many stable expressions which include possessive adjectives following either of the two declensions shown above: но́ев ковче́г, эвкли́дова геоме́трия, ма́рсово по́ле, а́вгиевы коню́шни, во́лчий аппети́т, крокоди́ловы слёзы, ка́ждый бо́жий день, etc. Notice how the latter two differ from the general rule: крокоди́лов has ending as if a crocodile were a male human, and бо́жий has ending as if God is treated as an animal or a crowd.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
- Russian is subject to T-V distinction. The respectful form of the singular you is the same as the plural form. It begins with a capital letter: Вы, Вас, Вам etc. in following situations: personal letters and official papers, and questionnaires, otherwise it begins with minuscule. Compare the distinction between du and Sie in German or tu and vous in French.
- When a preposition is used directly before a 3rd-person pronoun in oblique cases, н- is prefixed: у него, с неё, etc. Because the prepositional case always occurs after a preposition, the third person prepositional always starts with an н-.
- Like adjectives and numerals, letter г in genitive and accusative form is pronounced as в его/него ево/нево.
Demonstrative pronouns
Possessive adjectives and pronouns
Unlike English, Russian uses the same form for a possessive adjective and the corresponding possessive pronoun. In Russian grammar they are called possessive pronouns притяжательные местоимения. The following rules apply:- Possessive pronouns agree with possessor noun in case, gender, and number.
- The reflexive pronoun свой is used when the possessor is the subject of the clause, whatever the person, gender, and number of that subject.
- In literary Russian non-reflexive pronouns are not used for the 3rd person; the genitive of the personal pronoun is used instead: его́, её and их. Unlike other genitives used with a possessive meaning, in modern Russian these words are usually placed before the object of possession. In colloquial speech, however, sometimes "adjectived" forms are used: его́нный, и́хний ; they are declined as adjectives.
- Example of the difference between reflexive and non-reflexive pronouns:
- * “Он лю́бит свою́ жену́ = He loves his wife”;
- * “Он лю́бит его́ жену́ = He loves his wife” ;
- * “Он лю́бит его́ = He loves him/it”.
- Unlike Latin where a similar rule applies for the 3rd person only, Russian accepts using reflexives for all persons:
- * “Я люблю́ свою́ жену́ = I love my wife”;
- * “Я люблю́ себя́ = I love myself”.
- The ending -его is pronounced as -ево.
Interrogative pronouns
| кто | что | |
| Nominative | кто | что |
| Accusative | кого́ | что |
| Genitive | кого́ | чего́ |
| Dative | кому́ | чему́ |
| Instrumental | кем | чем |
| Prepositional | ком | чём |
- The ending -его is pronounced as -ево.
Numerals
- multiplicative adjectives and compound nouns: еди́нственный – single, двойно́й – double, учетверённый – quadrupled, трёхкра́тный – three-times, пятицили́ндовый – five-cylinder; однообра́зие – monotony, тро́йственность – triplicity, семибо́рье – heptathlon;
- multiplicative verbs: утро́ить/утра́ивать – triple, уполови́нить – halve ;
- multiplicative adverbs: вдвойне́ – doubly, впя́теро – five times, вполови́ну – half as;
- collective and repetition adverbs: втроём – three together; четы́режды – four times ;
- two interrogative and negative adverbs: ско́лько? – how much/many?; ниско́лько – none ;
- counting-system, ordinal and partitive adjectives: двои́чный – binary, шестнадцатири́чный – hexadecimal; перви́чный – primary; тро́йственный – three-sided ;
- two dual numerals: о́ба – both, о́бе – both ; but no single word for "neither";
- numeric-pronominal, indefinite quantity words: ско́лько-то, ско́лько-нибудь – some, as much; не́сколько – few; мно́го – much/many; ма́ло – little; много and мало are also used for compound words: малозна́чимость – small significance, многоу́ровневый – multilevel, малопоня́тно – vaguely ;
- nouns for a number itself or an object defined by it : едини́ца – number "1", unit; пятисо́тка – number "500" ; noun for masculine ноль is но́лик.
- multiple loaned numerals from Greek, Latin and Italian;
after "one".
| Cardinal Numbers | Ordinal Numbers | Collective Numbers | |
| 0 | ноль or нуль | нулево́й | — |
| 1 | оди́н, одна́, одно́, одни | пе́рвый | — |
| 2 | два, две | второ́й | дво́е |
| 3 | три | тре́тий | тро́е |
| 4 | четы́ре | четвёртый | че́тверо |
| 5 | пять | пя́тый | пя́теро |
| 6 | шесть | шесто́й | ше́стеро |
| 7 | семь | седьмо́й | се́меро |
| 8 | во́семь | восьмо́й | |
| 9 | де́вять | девя́тый | |
| 10 | де́сять | деся́тый |
Declension of cardinal numerals
Different Russian numerals have very different types of declension. The word оди́н is declined by number, gender and case. The word два is declined by gender and case, all other numbers have only case to decline by. The words for 50, 60, 70, 80, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 are unique for Russian, as they decline not only with ending in their end, but also with part of word in their middle : Nom. пятьдеся́т – Gen. пяти́десяти etc..Compound number phrases are created without any unions: сто пятьдеся́т три ры́бы "153 fishes". All numerals are declined contemporarily, albeit not always in the spoken language. If numeral is in Nominative or Accusative, ending of the noun is defined by the last numeral word, but this may not be true for an adjective attached to this noun.
Most numbers ending with "1" require Nominative singular for a noun: два́дцать одна́ маши́на, сто пятьдеся́т оди́н челове́к. Most numbers ending with "2", "3", "4" require Genitive singular: три соба́ки, со́рок два окна́. All other numbers require Genitive plural: пять я́блок, де́сять рубле́й. Genitive plural is also used for numbers ending with 11 to 14 and with inexact numerals: сто оди́ннадцать ме́тров ; мно́го домо́в. Nominative plural is used only without numerals: э́ти дома́ ; cf. три до́ма. These rules apply only for integer numbers. For rational numbers see below.
In oblique cases, noun and number take both this case, except that the numbers ending with "thousand", "million", "billion" etc., миллио́н, миллиа́рд ) in singular or in plural are regarded as nouns and always require Genitive case in plural: пятью́ ты́сячами маши́н ; cf. пятью́ маши́нами and пятью́ ты́сячами тремяста́ми маши́нами. Initial numeral "1" can be omitted in combinations ты́сяча, миллио́н, etc.
Nouns со́тня and па́ра can be declined and can form compound numerals: три со́тни, пять пар носко́в. Approximate numbers are colloquially formed by reversing word order, exchanging numeral and noun: мину́ты три. Ranges are also possible: пять-шесть дней, дней пять-шесть. The word ми́нус declines if standalone, but does not for negative numbers: минус три гра́дуса – minus three degrees ; however: три минуса – three minuses.
Dative, Instrumental and Prepositional cases for "zero" more often use нул- root instead of нол-. The numbers from 11 to 19 are: оди́ннадцать, двена́дцать, трина́дцать, четы́рнадцать, пятна́дцать, шестна́дцать, семна́дцать, восемна́дцать, девятна́дцать. They decline in the same way as 20.
| 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | |
| Nominative | два́дцать | три́дцать | со́рок | пятьдеся́т | шестьдеся́т | се́мьдесят | во́семьдесят | девяно́сто | сто |
| Accusative | два́дцать | три́дцать | со́рок | пятьдеся́т | шестьдеся́т | се́мьдесят | во́семьдесят | девяно́сто | сто |
| Genitive | двадцати́ | тридцати́ | сорока́ | пяти́десяти | шести́десяти | семи́десяти | восьми́десяти | девяно́ста | ста |
| Dative | двадцати́ | тридцати́ | сорока́ | пяти́десяти | шести́десяти | семи́десяти | восьми́десяти | девяно́ста | ста |
| Instrumental | двадцатью́ | тридцатью́ | сорока́ | пятью́десятью | шестью́десятью | семью́десятью | восьмью́десятью | девяно́ста | ста |
| Prepositional | двадцати́ | тридцати́ | сорока́ | пяти́десяти | шести́десяти | семи́десяти | восьми́десяти | девяно́ста | ста |
| 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 | 600 | 700 | 800 | 900 | |
| Nominative | две́сти | три́ста | четы́реста | пятьсо́т | шестьсо́т | семьсо́т | восемьсо́т | девятьсо́т |
| Accusative | две́сти | три́ста | четы́реста | пятьсо́т | шестьсо́т | семьсо́т | восемьсо́т | девятьсо́т |
| Genitive | двухсо́т | трёхсо́т | четырёхсо́т | пятьсо́т | шестьсо́т | семьсо́т | восемьсо́т | девятьсо́т |
| Dative | двумста́м | трёмста́м | четырёмста́м | пятиста́м | шестиста́м | семиста́м | восьмиста́м | девятиста́м |
| Instrumental | двумяста́ми | трeмяста́ми | четырьмяста́ми | пятьюста́ми | шестьюста́ми | семьюста́ми | восьмьюста́ми | девятьюста́ми |
| Prepositional | двухста́х | трёхста́х | четырёхста́х | пятиста́х | шестиста́х | семиста́х | восьмиста́х | девятиста́х |
| Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | ты́сяча | ты́сячи |
| Accusative | ты́сячу | ты́сячи |
| Genitive | ты́сячи | ты́сяч |
| Dative | ты́сяче | ты́сячам |
| Instrumental | ты́сячью, ты́сячей | ты́сячами |
| Prepositional | ты́сяче | ты́сячах |
| Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | миллио́н | миллио́ны |
| Accusative | миллио́н | миллио́ны |
| Genitive | миллио́на | миллио́нов |
| Dative | миллио́ну | миллио́нам |
| Instrumental | миллио́ном | миллио́нами |
| Prepositional | миллио́не | миллио́нах |
For numbers above 1,000 Russian is using modified short scale with these loaned words: миллио́н, миллиа́рд, триллио́н, квадриллио́н, квинтиллио́н, etc.. They decline in the same way as миллио́н. Russian uses words биллио́н and numerals with -ard endings only in historical texts or literal translations. Also, биллиа́рд is a noun meaning a cue sport.
| 5 meters | 94 meters | 3 19 meters | |
| Nominative | пятдеся́тn=a однn=a метрn=a | шестn=a ты́сячG девятстn=a со́рокn=a четы́рn=a ме́трg | три́дцатn=a двn=a ты́сячg стn=a девяно́стn=a семn=a ме́трG |
| Accusative | пятдеся́тn=a однn=a метрn=a | шестn=a ты́сячG девятстn=a со́рокn=a четы́рn=a ме́трg | три́дцатn=a двn=a ты́сячg стn=a девяно́стn=a семn=a ме́трG |
| Genitive | пятдесятg однg ме́трg | шестg тысячG девятстg сорокg четырg ме́трG | тридцатg двg ты́сG стg девяно́стg семg ме́трG |
| Dative | пятдесятd однd ме́трd | шестd ты́сячD девятстd сорокd четырd ме́трD | тридцатd двd ты́сячD стd девяно́стd семd ме́трD |
| Instrumental | пятдеся́тi однi ме́трi | шестi ты́сячI девятстi сорокi четырi ме́трI | тридцатi двi ты́сячI стi девяно́стi семi ме́трI |
| Prepositional | пятдесятp однp ме́трp | шестp ты́сячP девятстp сорокp четырp ме́трP | тридцатp двp ты́сячP стp девяно́стp семp ме́трP |
Note for superscript case notations: small letters denote singular forms, capitals denote plural. Метр is masculine ; both метр and тысяча are inanimate. Blue digits are indicatives of case endings, marked by blue letters.
Collective numerals
Collective numerals are used in Russian instead of usual cardinal ones in specific lexical and semantic situations. Russian collective numerals are different from the cardinal numerals in that the former emphasize ‘the totality’ or ‘the aggregate as a whole’, while the latter – ‘theindividuated quantity’. Only numerals from 2 to 7 are actively used nowadays, while 8 to 10 are seldom used and 11–13 are not normative; word is also considered to be collective numeral. In nominative and accusative, they always force the noun into genitive plural form : трое друзей на охоту пошли, вижу двоих мужчин, вижу двое саней. These numerals are seldom used in oblique cases, especially instrumental. Here comes a brief table of cases of their usage:
| Usage | Number | Case | Example | Notes |
| Mandatory | 2–4 | Pluralia tantum nouns in nominative case | двое ножниц, трое похорон | With paired objects, construction with classifier are preferred: две пары ножниц |
| Normative | 5–7 | Pluralia tantum nouns in nominative case | пятеро прений | With paired objects, construction with classifier are preferred: две пары ножниц |
| Likely mandatory | 3, 4 | Masculine nouns in | трое мужчин, о четверых судьях | |
| Preferred | 2–7 | Masculine and neutral nouns people, including common-gender | трое друзей, пятеро мальчиков, шестеро мужчин | Collective numerals are used to emphasize the cohesiveness of the group, while cardinal shows more individuality. In oblique cases, there is no preference to collective numerals. |
| Colloquial | 2–7 | Feminine nouns denoting people | трое подруг | Collective numerals are used to emphasize the cohesiveness of the group, while cardinal shows more individuality. In oblique cases, there is no preference to collective numerals. |
| Unlikely used | 2–7 | Terms of high rank | два министра, два короля | Collective numerals are used to emphasize the cohesiveness of the group, while cardinal shows more individuality. In oblique cases, there is no preference to collective numerals. |
| Prohibited | 2–7 | First names | три Коли, not *трое Коль | Collective numerals are used to emphasize the cohesiveness of the group, while cardinal shows more individuality. In oblique cases, there is no preference to collective numerals. |
| Preferred | 2–7 | With , especially about number in a family | У неё двое детей | 8–10 are seldom used; in oblique cases is optional |
| Preferred | 2–7 | With masculine substantivated adjectives | двое рабочих, пятеро учёных | Mostly in nominative |
| Preferred | 2–7 | With , ] | пятеро ребят, трое внуков | |
| Colloquial | 2–7 | With animal's cubs in | пятеро щенят | |
| Highly likely | 2–7 | As noun denoting people group or with personal pronoun | Нас было четверо. Шестеро бились против десятерых |
Dobrushina and Panteleeva, having analyzed usage of два/двое in a Russian corpus, summarize cases of usage of collective numerals in the following common rules:
- Collective numerals denote number of persons likely to have collective behaviour, i.e., existence in groups, not one by one: боевики́ 'militants', жи́тели 'inhabitants', пассажи́ры 'passengers', 'soldiers'.
- Collective numbers are used while denoting several persons to emphasize unity, cohesion of this group.
- Contexts of nominal groups with collective numerals have properties showing their individualization and dedication: referentness, empathy, definiteness; they are unlikely to be out of focus.
Ordinal numerals
Fractions
are formed as:, expressed by cardinal number in case of the phrase, plus, expressed by ordinal number; the construction is formed as like it were related to word "part", which is usually omitted. Noun to such construction always comes in Genitive single, also as like it belonged to word часть: девяно́сто две пятидеся́тых то́нны "92/50 tons". If an integer precedes a fraction, it is bound to it usually with the conjunction, while the noun remains in Genitive: два и три восьмы́х оборо́та "2 3/8 turns".Fractions 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 have proper names : полови́на, треть and че́тверть, which are used instead of ordinal numbers. They are also often added with preposition с, while form of noun appears to be related to the integer part rather than to the fraction: де́сять с че́твертью оборо́тов "10 1/4 turns". Prefixes and полу- are used for "half" of something: пол-лимо́на, полчаса́ ; полуме́сяц. Words with пол- are not declined, and there is a set of rules for writing with or without dash.
For "1 1/2" there is a special word : полтора́ я́блока – 3/2 apples. It can be used with larger numbers and, for approximate values, with smaller numbers. There was also now-outdated form for exactly 150. As with other single-word numerals, it's possible to form nouns and multiplicative adjectives, associated with "1.5": полу́торка, полтора́шка ; полу́торный.
To read decimal fractions, convert them to simple ones: 2,71828 = 2+71828/100000 - два и се́мьдесят одна́ ты́сяча восемьсо́т два́дцать во́семь стоты́сячных. After integer in such cases is often used word це́лая : 3,14 – три це́лых четы́рнадцать соты́х ; word це́лая can appear also in naming non-decimal simple fractions: 2 3/8 – две це́лых три восьмы́х. Zero before comma is often read: 0,01 = 0+1/100 – ноль це́лых одна́ со́тая. Informally, decimal fractional part can be read more conveniently as sequence of simple digits and numbers: два и семь-восемна́дцать-два́дцать во́семь. Same method is used to read long numerals unrelated to a noun, grouping two or three digits: 123406 – сто два́дцать три четы́реста шесть, двенадцать три́дцать четы́ре ноль шесть.
Count form
Russian also has so-called "count form", mainly with units of measure : во́семь бит, шестна́дцать байт, две́сти два́дцать вольт, пять килогра́мм. But: коли́чество ба́йтов, изба́виться от ли́шних килогра́ммов.Count form also exists for paucal numbers ; usually it coincides with genitive singular, but has notable exceptions with stressed endings: два часа́, but середи́на ча́са ; два́дцать два шара́, but объём ша́ра ; три ряда́, but вы́йти из ря́да ; четы́ре шага́, but полша́га. Полчаса́ is additional exception; other nouns with пол- prefix does not have stressed -а ending.
Some nouns totally change for their genitive plural forms: 4 го́да, but 5 лет ; 3 челове́ка, but 30 люде́й/челове́к. Count forms for adjectives and nouns with adjectival declension after numerals require genitive plural and nominative plural: два лу́чших игрока́ "2 best players"; три зелёные прямы́е lit. "3 green strait_lines", but три зелёных прямы́х штриха́ lit. "3 green strait strokes".