Genitive of Numbers

Learn how to say things like "from 2:00 to 3:00," "until 22:00," "two students don't have..." by using numbers in the genitive case. You'll hear these forms often in conversation and in weather reports. NOTE: as mentioned by Andrei below, there's a typo at 2:14; it should read двена́дцати, with stress on the second syllable (it's pronounced correctly in the audio).

[@alejandrogutierrez5939]

No encontré una explicación de esto en todo KZbin, eres el único que lo explica, muchas gracias! Muy bien explicado.

[@russiangrammar]

Muchas gracias, Alejandro!

[@357QueenBee]

I thought cases were confusing. Until I came across numbers. Got to keep going...

[@negindipidy]

Love you and your lessons💜🌈

[@cmanpatrick]

is there a website that will let you plug in a sentence and it will highlight which parts/clauses are in which case? similar to what you're doing in these videos with organge/green text ?

[@francal2312]

Very helpful video! I always thought we only had to decline the last number - didn't realize that was because I was used to reading time expressions with the ordinals. You lay everything out so clearly. I hope you'll do the numbers in all the cases, and the ordinals too, unless that's too greedy!

[@russiangrammar]

We should probably be glad we don't have to decline every number when talking about years...! there is a video on ordinals here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZWQkKmbbMybZ9U - and their case forms for the last element will be like other adjectives, so nothing too new there. :)

[@HalfgildWynac]

To be fair, native speakers struggle with it sometimes, too. I do not think anyone would mess up "Стоимость изготовления - от сорока двух тысяч" but when we go in hundreds... That's where native speakers may deviate from the standard language because intuition fails them. How do you read "Мы недосчитались 582 книг" or "Проект был дополнен 874 страницами"? Theoretically the numbers are "пятисот восьмидесяти двух" and "восемьюстами семьюдесятью четырьмя" while in reality a native may fail to produce some of these forms in real time. I have actually heard "Свыше пятиста наименований" in an ad played in the Moscow subway (they occasionally play advertising from escalator speakers). If you consult the dictionary you'll the that the standard Genitives of 200-900 are двухсот, трёхсот, четырёхсот, пятисот, шестисот, семисот, восьмисот, девятисот-not двухста, трёхста, четырёхста, пятиста, шестиста, семиста, восьмиста and девятиста. I think the latter bunch have a good chance to become acceptable in the next few decades. If they become the new norm eventually, the declencion scheme will simplify quite a bit (i.e. пятьсот will then have only two forms, "пятьсот" for Nominative/Acc. and "пятиста" for all other cases) Linguists predict that some version of the "decline the last word" rule is going to gradually take over for cardinals. It already occasionally happens now and then. Declining every word is cumbersome and is only done because the numerals system was never challenged by the frequent need to use large and precise numbers. If you think about it, an average native speaker of most languages in the world rarely encountered numbers like 447 or 20 605 until recent times.

[@russiangrammar]

Спасибо, Halfgild - these comments are spot on. In many years of working with Russian I've never needed to say 964 in the instrumental. It is worth knowing the genitive forms, to talk about clock time, percentages, or temperatures; and the other case forms of smaller numbers, so you can say things like 'in two cities' (в двух городах) - those forms are commonly used. But I wouldn't want anyone to stress about using all the forms for large numbers.

[@juliangonzalezfernandez6222]

Amazing explanation. Thanks so much

[@altarf22]

Здравствуйте! While studying, I stumbled upon this sentence "Я ещё не видел этих двух новых домов" and I cannot understand why it requires the genitive case. Any help would be appreciated :)

[@russiangrammar]

Your question reminded me of a video I'd posted to my Russian Grammar Library recently; I've just made it public here too: kzbin.info/www/bejne/roXcXoObmtJ3jKc :) (hint: it has to do with negated direct objects)

[@altarf22]

@@russiangrammar Thank you very much! 🌺

[@user-wu7ye1pf9j]

Thank you Curtis. I have been studying numbers across cases a few weeks back. It can take a while to sink in, but examples help. In your next video, could you delay the english translation by a second or two, to give a chance to pause and read the russian phrases? Im looking forward to the next video in this series already. :-)

[@russiangrammar]

Excellent suggestion, I'll adjust the timing next time - thanks!

[@valkonrad]

Very clear and helpful, as usual, but I have just learned that Russian has even more forms of the numbers to torture us with. Someone corrected my три человека into something really horrible, but thankfully I forget what it was.

[@russiangrammar]

Yeah, there are forms for the other cases, and человек is challenging on its own, with its plural form люди and other issues. Don't feel bad, I've seen native speakers get into involved discussions of how to manage that word. :)

[@valkonrad]

Actually, it was the "two" word that was strange. I can't really remember, but I think they guy said the Russians use special words for twosomes or threesomes of things. As I said, I don't really remember (and, if I am honest, don't really want to know. There are enough problems in Russian, interesting though they are. Thanks again for your attention ;-)

[@russiangrammar]

He probably was thinking of collectives (собирательные) - двое, трое, четверо, etc - used in only a very few (though reasonably common) contexts. I'll do a video on them at some point, and if you're curious, there's a good summary here: blogs.transparent.com/russian/трое-в-лодке-collective-numerals-in-russian/

[@valkonrad]

Thanks for your helpful response;-)

[@marianoyalour]

Maybe this is a silly question, but what about the number one? I know that the genitive form is одного, but I looked up "until one o'clock" and I found "до часу". Is that correct? Excellent video, as usual!

[@russiangrammar]

Спасибо за интересный вопрос! Час is an interesting case, where an older genitive ending in -у still hangs on, leading to alternate forms and some confusion - even among native speakers. One source says до часа, до часу (and около часа, около часу) are both fine; which is preferable can depend on context, or even who you ask. A while back the administration of Yekaterinburg had a project called "Yekaterinburg Speaks Correctly," in which they touched on this question: bit.ly/2xqPIlV

[@marianoyalour]

Russian grammar Вау! Спасибо за объяснение!

[@Son_of_aesthetics]

I salute you brother🌸

[@arulkws]

it's like learning math, then they suddenly adds the alphabet

[@mehdiveisi6338]

Sir would you please give us the spelling of the numbers of 2 3 4 In all forms (I.e. instrumental, genitive, dative and accusative )? And any idea as to how and why we use Russian collective numbers? ((((:

[@russiangrammar]

I'll do a video on collectives with more details, but in the meantime: двое/трое/четверо etc are often used with male persons (двое мальчиков), nouns that are always plural (двое часов - two clocks), and children (двое/трое детей), and expressions like нас было трое 'there were three of us.' Here's a link to a chart (the 2nd table on the page) with the declension of два/три/четыре: nsportal.ru/shkola/russkiy-yazyk/library/2016/04/30/tablitsa-sklonenie-chislitelnyh

[@mehdiveisi6338]

@@russiangrammar Thank you very much sir. I would be gladly waiting till you do a video on that topic and thank you very much for your consideration and competence درود بر شما بخاطر لطف و ملاحظه یتان

[@onthesearch5]

Спасибо тебе ! Тоже интересно смотреть на число ноль ! Термометр стоит на нуле...результат равен нулю...

[@andreirice6138]

2:14 - двена́дцати, not две́надцати.

[@russiangrammar]

Ой. Спасибо! Ненавижу, когда делаю такие опечатки.

[@clarkt5439]

Holy crap! I need to start over. So many minute variations that only native speakers will ever get right. Frustration +

[@russiangrammar]

Deep breaths... Don't worry about getting it all at once; you might start with practicing (aloud!) to yourself or with a friend, с ча́са до двух, с двух до трёх, с трёх до четырёх, с четырёх до пяти... up to двенадцати. Do that enough times and the forms will start to just sound right, so you can forget the rules. :)

[@clarkt5439]

Thank you! Will do my best and follow your advice.

[@jeffreyd508]

02:15 and to just further your pain, Russians use 24hr clock....not 12.....sigh..

[@caioferrari1744]

"even native speakers avoid declining really large numbers" even russians are afraid of their language bro 😭

[@russiangrammar]

And the funny thing is, they never complain about two of the most challenging things for learners: aspect and verbs of motion! 🤔