A Quick Guide To Counting In Russian

You’ve successfully navigated the “hello, how are you?” part of your interaction without offending the bartender. Now comes the moment of truth: can you ask for the correct number of drinks? Counting in Russian is not only a skill you should learn to count triple axels during figure skating competitions — it’s also one of your best allies against bartenders who don’t know how low your tolerance is at the moment.

Here’s a quick primer on how to name and pronounce any number ranging from zero to 100 in Russian. And once you’ve mastered your 1, 2, 3s, you can tackle more of the Russian language.

Counting From 0 To 20 In Russian

zero — ноль
one — один
two — два
three — три
four — четыре
five — пять
six — шесть
seven — семь
eight — восемь
nine — девять
ten — десять
eleven — одиннадцать
twelve — двенадцать
thirteen — тринадцать
fourteen — четырнадцать
fifteen — пятнадцать
sixteen — шестнадцать
seventeen — семнадцать
eighteen — восемнадцать
nineteen — девятнадцать
twenty — двадцать

The Numbers In Russian 1-100

thirty — тридцать
forty — сорок
fifty — пятьдесят
sixty — шестьдесят
seventy — семьдесят
eighty — восемьдесят
ninety — девяносто
one hundred — сто

How Do You Say 1, 2, 3 In Russian?

While you’d think counting to three would be as easy as, well, 1, 2, 3, it can be a little trickier because of some easy rules.

• One — The number 1 is special because один functions like an adjective, matching the gender of the noun it refers to. Therefore, it can be written as один (odin, masculine), одна (odna, feminine) or одно (odno, neuter).
• Two — There is also a feminine form for the number 2. When talking about two women, for example, you would say две (dve) rather than два (dva).
• Three — Once you get to три, you’re home free, because all larger numbers have a single form.

Russian Numbers Beyond 10

As you’ve probably already observed, the numbers 11 through 19 are formed by adding “надцать” to the numeral terms. However, in the case of 12, два changes to две. And when forming the number 14, the e at the end of четырe is dropped. When forming the numbers 15 through 19, the soft sign ь at the end of the numbers 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 is dropped.

Once you’ve memorized these rules, as well as the vocabulary terms for the rest of the multiples of 10, forming two-digit numbers is fairly straightforward. Simply combine the multiple of ten with the numeral, and express it as two words. So “twenty-one” would be двадцать один, and “forty-six” would be сорок шесть.