Russian Numbers: How To Count And Talk About Numbers In Russian

When learning Russian or any other language, one of the first things we learn to do is count. And while doing complicated math isn’t a part of most of our day-to-day lives, knowing our basic number definitely is.

So this article is all about Russian numbers!

You might not have noticed, but numbers in languages tend to be a bit strange. Think about how weird “eleven” and “twelve” are next to “thirteen“, “fourteen“, and “fifteen“.

Think about how simple “four” and “fourteen” are, but how weird “three” and “thirteen” might seem to a non-native speaker. 

So in this article you’ll get the rundown on for Russian numbers. That includes:

• Basic numbers
• The irregularities of Russian numbers
• The grammar of Russian numbers

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Basic Numbers In Russian

Let’s start with the numbers one to ten and then build up from there.

You may have noticed that “one” and “two” have multiple forms. This goes back to Russian’s gender system. So if you specify one or two of something the form needs to match the gender.

• один стол (one table)
  • два стола (two tables)
• одна тарелка (one plate)
  • две тарелки (two plates)
• одно полотенцо (one towel)
  • два полотенца (two towels)

Counting Versus Numbering

In most situations the word “one” is expressed with один/одна/одно. 

However, when counting, people always use the word раз instead. The term actually means “time” as in два раза (two times / two separate occasions). So if you hear a mic-check, it will sound like

• Раз, два, три….раз, два, три (One, two, three…one, two, three)

Numbers Larger Than Ten

For numbers between 11-19, Russian uses the suffix  -надцать at the end of a word in the same way that English uses the suffix -teen. What you might find tricky is that this causes a few spelling changes. 

The number “two” is ‘два’ but in the word “twelve” (двенадцать) the vowel changes from ‘а’ to an ‘е.’

Likewise, if the suffix -надцать is attached to a number that ends in the letter ь (мягкий знак / soft sign), that final letter will drop out. And the ‘e’ at the end of четыре falls off as well.

• Девять + надцать > девятнадцать
• восемь  + надцать > восемнадцать

*The spelling of these numbers change from the base form.

Higher Numbers

That takes care of numbers  going up to 19, so let's talk about multiples of ten (20, 30, 40, etc). While English has -ty (twenty, thirty, forty), Russian is a bit more irregular.

While the base for most numbers is recognizable, it’s probably best to learn each of these individually.

The Number Forty

While the base of these numbers may be apparent, the number сорок (forty) has nothing to do with четыре. This is a quirk of history, so you’ll need to learn forty as its own word.

Building On Russian Base Ten

Now that you know the base-ten numbers, adding on to them is simple and straightforward. As in English, you just put the small part of the number after the larger part.

• семьдесят + пять > семьдесят пять (seventy + five > seventy-five)

It’s worth noting that the first and second parts of these numbers are written as two separate words with a space (пробел) in between them. This good news because it means that you can just write them out without any worry about any extra spelling changes.

• двадцать шесть (twenty-six)
• тридцать один (thirty-one)
• сорок семь (forty-seven)
• девяносто девять (ninety-nine)

Russian Numbers Higher Than 100

Now that you know numbers going up to девяносто девять, you’ll want to discuss one-hundred (сто) of something and more.

Fortunately, Russian forms numbers larger than 100 in the same way as 20-99. You simply add the numbers together as you would in English with a space in between each part of the word.

Multiples Of One-Hundred

As with the multiples of ten, multiples of one hundred in Russian can be a bit unpredictable. Only the number 100, uses the form сто, while its multiples use some variation of it.

You can see all the forms in the table below. 

The good news is that making a larger number from these is just as simple as before. All you need to do is place each number in the same order as you would in English with a space in between.

• Двести сорок десять (two hundred forty-nine)
• Семьсот один (seven hundred and one)
• восемьсот четырнадцать (eight hundred and fourteen)

The Grammar Of Russian Numbers

Now that you’re more familiar with Russian numbers, things get a bit tricky one last time. You see, in Russian, the number of something can have an effect on the grammar.

In particular, a noun will often decline depending on the number that comes before it.

Russian Numbers And Noun Declension

Russian numbers can change the declension of the noun being counted. The important thing here is the final part of the number.

Numbers ending in один takes the nominative singular

• один стол (one table)
• одна тарелка (one plate)
• одно полотенцо (one towel)

Numbers ending in два, три, and четыре  use the genitive singular

• два стола (two tables)
• три тарелки (three plates)
• четыреполотенца (four towels)

And any number ending in 5-20 takes the genitive plural. So do multiples of ten and one hundred.

• Пять столов (five tables)
• Шесть терелок (six plates)
• Восемь полотенец (eight towels)
• Двенадцать книг (twelve books)
• Сто терелок (one hundred plates)

If a number is larger than двадцать (twenty), then just look at the last number. No matter how big a number is, the final part will tell how to decline the verb.

• один стол (one table)
• Сто один стол (one hundred and one tables)
• двадцать два стола (twenty two tables)
• Триста семьдесят три стола (three hundred seventy-three tables)
• Шестнадцать столов (sixteen tables)
• Тридцать восемь столов (thirty eight tables)
• Девятьсот девяносто девять столов (nine-hundred ninety nine tables)

Using Numbers In Russian

When you first look at them, Russian numbers can come across a bit intimidating. There are a few special and irregular forms to learn, but as will all things, knowing Russian numbers comes with time and practice.

And thanks to this article, you now know a bit about:  

• Russian numbers 
• The irregularities of Russian numbers
• How nouns decline with Russian numbers

Now that you know the basics, you should be able to form any Russian number up to 999. You can try practicing. Just pick a big number and start putting it in Russian. 

Listen out for the numbers as you watch Russian movies or read stories in Russian.

Happy counting and as always Удача из удач (best of luck)!

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.