GrammarMore about Numbers
More about Numbers
Mathematical Operations
You use: [A] [operation] [B] равно́ [Dative].
Addition: плюс
2+3=5 →
Subtraction: ми́нус
10-4=6 →
Multiplication: умно́жить
2*3=6 →
Multiplication II: 2*3=6 → (twice three is six)
Division: раздели́ть
6/3=2 →
Results in ...: Use равно́ followed by Dative, or simply state the result, for example два плюс три - пять.
Approximations - The word order trick
If you want to say "about five," you have two options:
The formal way: Use the preposition о́коло + Genitive.
- - about five hours
The native/colloquial way: Just reverse the word order.
- - Exactly 5 hours
- - About 5 hours
The Word "Both" (о́ба / о́бе)
о́ба: For masculine and neuter nouns: , .
о́бе: For feminine nouns: , .
Treat о́ба / о́бе like a special adjective meaning “both” that must agree in gender and case.
Indefinite Quantifiers (Number-ish Words)
Words that don't have a specific digit but behave like numbers grammatically:
- Мно́го - many/much
- Ма́ло - few/little
- Не́сколько - several/some
- Ско́лько - how many
These always require the Genitive Singular for uncountable nouns and Genitive Plural for countables:
- Uncountable nouns → Genitive Singular
- - much water
- - little time
- - how much sugar?
- Countable nouns → Genitive Plural
- - many people
- - several books
- - how many students?
"All Three / All Five" (Все три / Все пя́теро)
When you want to emphasize a complete group, you use все (all) followed by the number.
For objects use the standard cardinal number: - All three books.
For people it sounds much more natural to use collective numbers: - All three friends.
Collective adverbs ("The Two of Us")
This is how Russians describe how a group is performing an action. These are very handy for making plans or describing a scene.
- вдвоём: The two of us / together as a pair.
- втроём, вчетверо́м, впятеро́м, вшестеро́м, всемеро́м: The three/four/five/six/seven of us.
- - We went to the cinema together (just the two of us).
- - Let’s meet the three of us.
- - They worked as a group of four.
These forms only work with people (or animate groups), not objects. You can't use them for "two cars" or "three books".
Distributive: One each / Two each
If you are giving out items or describing a sequence, you use the preposition по + number.
- - One each.
- - Two each.
- - Three tickets each.
- - Give one glass of water each.
With два, три, четы́ре the number after по stays in the Accusative: по два биле́та (two tickets each). With other numerals a bookish Dative exists, but everyday speech uses the simple form there too.
- - two tickets each
- (everyday) / (bookish) - five rubles each
One by one - оди́н за други́м / друг за дру́гом
- - People entered one by one.
For when events/things happen sequentially. - - The cars drove one after another.
For people or objects physically following each other.
Nouns for Groups (Sets)
Russian has specific nouns that represent a quantity, similar to the English word "dozen."
Па́ра: A pair or a couple. Very common in everyday speech.
- - Give me a couple of minutes.
Деся́ток: A set of exactly ten or about ten, common in shopping and informal counts, very common when buying eggs.
- - I bought ten eggs.
Со́тня: A group of a hundred, can be exactly or roughly.
- - There were about a hundred people at the concert.
Дю́жина: A dozen (bookish or old-fashioned, less common now, but still used in literature).
- - He ordered a dozen oysters.
Frequency and Multipliers
Frequency: The word раз - times.
- - I’ve been there three times.
Multipliers: Words like двойно́й (double) or тройно́й (triple), четверно́й (quadruple).
- - Double portion, please.
"Twice as much"
When comparing quantities, Russians use a specific "In [number] times" structure.
Double:
- - My salary is twice as much as yours.
Triple:
- - There are three times as many of them.
Half as much: or shorter
- - This car costs half as much.
Using fillers
Russians use certain large numbers to describe something vague or "somewhere in that range":
- With extra: You use this after any larger number to mean "and then some.":
- - A hundred-something rubles.
- - He is forty-something years old.
- An "N-th" amount: Borrowed from algebra, this is used in daily speech to mean "a certain, unspecified number of things."
- - I have a bunch of things to do.
- - He spent some amount (not small).
This grammar
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