Russian Numbers & Counting
Ten words get you to ten; six more get you to a hundred. Then comes the famous Russian counting rule — which, once you see the pattern, is friendlier than its reputation.
0–10: The Foundation
One quirk right away: один agrees with gender — один стол, одна книга, одно окно. All other numbers stay fixed.
11–100: Building Bigger Numbers
The teens add -надцать ("on ten"); the tens mostly add -дцать or -десят:
Compound numbers just stack, no "and": двадцать три (23), сорок пять (45), девяносто девять (99).
The 2-3-4 Rule
Here's the famous part. The noun after a number changes form depending on the last digit:
Один рубль, два рубля, пять рублей.
One ruble, two rubles, five rubles.
Note: The classic counting chant. Every Russian price follows it.
Don't memorize the case names yet — memorize the chant pattern for a few key nouns: час/часа/часов (hours), год/года/лет (years), рубль/рубля/рублей (rubles). The pattern will become second nature long before the theory does.
Age & Prices
Age uses the dative pronoun + the год/года/лет chant:
Мне двадцать пять лет.
I am 25 years old. (literally: To me, 25 years.)
Note: Мне = to me. Last digit 5 → лет.
Ей тридцать два года.
She is 32 years old.
Note: Last digit 2 → года.
Сколько это стоит? — Сто рублей.
How much does it cost? — A hundred rubles.
Note: Сколько стоит…? works for any shopping situation.
💬 At the market
Common Mistakes
- Using the plain plural after numbers. Два столы is wrong — два стола. Numbers have their own rules.
- Forgetting лет. With 5+, "years" is лет, not годов: пять лет.
- Regularizing 40 and 90. Сорок and девяносто refuse to follow the pattern. Just memorize them.
- Translating "I am 25". Russians say "to me 25": Мне двадцать пять лет, never Я есть 25.
What You Can Do Now
You can count to 100, say your age, ask prices, and understand the answer. The 2-3-4 chant will keep paying off — it's the same genitive logic the case lessons will formalize later.