In Russian language, there are two forms of number, that is cardinal and ordinal numbers. Previously, we discussed about ordinal numbers and the declension. You could look into these articles; Ordinal Numbers in Russian Language and Declension of The Russian Ordinal Numbers. Now, we will explain the cardinal numbers and declension of them. Cardinal numbers in Russian language define the quantity of things and answer the question of Сколько ‘how much’.
The tables of cardinal numbers have been presented in article Numbers in Russian Language – Basic Form. There are cardinal numbers from one to million numbers.
In cardinal numbers from 5-20 and 30, there is a hard sign ‘мягкий знак’ (Ь) which is located in the end of numeral. For examples, 7 – СЕМЬ and 13 – ТРИНАДЦАТЬ. Then, for the numbers 50-80 and 500-900, the hard sign is located in the middle of numeral. For examples, 500 – ПЯТЬСОТ and 700 – СЕМЬСОТ. The cardinal numbers could be divided into:
- Simple (Простые), it is consisted from one word: 2 – ДВА, 5 – ПЯТЬ, 100 – СТО.
- Complex (Сложные), it is consisted from two roots: 50 – ПЯТЬДЕСЯТ and 200 – ДВЕСТИ.
- Composite (Составные), it is consisted from several individual numbers: 1981 – тысяча девятьсот восемдесят один ‘one thousand nine hundreds eighty one’.
The Declension of Cardinal Numbers
There are ten types of declension in Russian cardinal numbers:
1. The numbers of один, одна, одно (one) are inclined like pronoun of Этот.
2. Declension of numbers 2 (два), 3 (три), and 4 (четыре) in cases:
| Именительный Падеж ‘Nominative Case’ | Два, Две | Три | Четыре |
| Родителтный Падеж ‘Genitive Case’ | Двух | Трёх | Четырёх |
| Дательный Падеж ‘Dative Case’ | Двум | Трём | Четырём |
| Винительный Падеж ‘Accusative Case’ | Два, Две | Три | Четыре |
| Творительный Падеж ‘Instrumental Case’ | Двумя | Тремя | Четырьмя |
| Предложный Падеж ‘Prepositional Case’ | О двух | О трёх | О четырёх |
3. Numbers of 40 ‘сорок’, 90 ‘девяносто’, and 100 ‘сто’ are changed based on the suffix into –A in all cases, except for accusative case that similar to nominative case.
4. The numbers from 5 to 30 that has hard sign (Ь) as a suffix, inclined like noun of тетрадь ‘notebook’.
5. In complex numbers of 50 to 80 (пятьдесят ‘fifty’, шестьдесят ‘sixty’, семьдесят ‘seventy’, восемьдесят ‘eighty’) are inclined like the noun of тетрадь ‘notebook’. For example: пятьдесят (nominative case and accusative case), пятидесяти (genitive case, dative case, prepositional case), and пятьюдесятью (instrumental case).
6. The complex numbers of двести ‘two hundreds’, тристa ‘three hundreds’ and четыреста ‘four hundreds’ have declension in these form:
| Именительный Падеж ‘Nominative Case’ | Двести | Триста | Четыреста |
| Родителтный Падеж ‘Genitive Case’ | Двухсот | Трёхсот | Четырёхсот |
| Дательный Падеж ‘Dative Case’ | Двумстам | Трёмстам | Четырёмстам |
| Винительный Падеж ‘Accusative Case’ | Двести | Триста | Четыреста |
| Творительный Падеж ‘Instrumental Case’ | Двумястами | Тремястами | Четырьмястами |
| Предложный Падеж ‘Prepositional Case’ | О двухстах | О трёхстах | О четырёхстах |
** The first part of numerals are inclined like две, три, четыре.
7. The complex numbers of 500 to 900 (пятьсот ‘five hundreds’, шестьсот ‘six hundreds’, семьсот ‘seven hundreds’, восемьсот ‘eight hundreds’, девятьсот ‘nine hundreds’). Example:
– Nominative case – пятьсот
– Genitive case – пятисот
– Dative case – пятистам
– Accusative case – пятьсот
– Instrumental case – пятьюстами
– Prepositional case – о пятистах
8. Numeral of Тысяча ‘one thousand’ is inclined like noun of Задача ‘task’.
9. The numbers of Миллион ‘million’ and Миллард ‘billion’ are inclined like noun of стол ‘table’.
10. In the composite numbers every part is inclined separately.
Example:
- Прибыл пароход с тремястами сорока пятью пассажирами.
pribyl prokhod s tremyastami soroka pyatyu passazhirami
The steamship arrived with three hundreds and forty five passengers.
Those are some explanations and examples of cardinal numbers in Russian Language. I hope, you could get the point and enjoy the lesson. See you in the next lesson. Never give up in learning Russian language. Have a nice day!