Numbers and counting in Russian
57 words in Russian on the topic “numbers and counting”: один — one, два — two, три — three, четыре — four.
57 words on the topic
- одинodinoneAgrees like an adjective: odna chashka, odno okno, odnu vodu. A rare numeral that changes form at all.
- дваdvatwoAfter it the noun takes a special counting form: dva chasa, dve chashki. English "two" does not care; this one does.
- триtrithreeThree consonants in a row at the start, and no, that is not a typo. After it the noun takes the same counting form as after dva.
- четыреchetyrefourThe last number that uses the counting form: chetyre stola. From five on, the grammar of counting changes.
- пятьpyatfiveFrom five on the noun goes into the of-many form: pyat minut, pyat chashek — the border where newcomers stumble first.
- шестьshestsixThe soft sign at the end holds the whole second five of the counting row: pyat, shest, sem, vosem, devyat.
- семьsemsevenA cousin of the "seven" days of the week. After it the counting form returns: sem dney.
- восемьvosemeightStarts with a vowel, like octo and ocho — one ancient root across Europe. Vosem chasov — "eight o'clock".
- девятьdevyatnineWith devyat the row to ten is complete; the tens are built on desyat. After it: devyat dney.
- десятьdesyattenA cousin of decem and deka — one root for the whole of Europe. The stem desyat- is visible inside desyatok, "a group of ten".
- одиннадцатьodinnadtsatelevenLiterally "one-on-ten": odin plus the -nadtsat tail, the same build as eleven after its own fashion. The tail runs through nineteen.
- двенадцатьdvenadtsattwelve"Two-on-ten" by the same recipe. After this row the tens begin, built on the same small numbers.
- тринадцатьtrinadtsatthirteenTri ("three") plus -nadtsat: three-on-ten, one word.
- четырнадцатьchetyrnadtsatfourteenChetyre ("four") plus -nadtsat, with the e of chetyre dropping out in the middle.
- пятнадцатьpyatnadtsatfifteenPyat ("five") plus -nadtsat. Like the whole teen row it is followed by the of-many form of the noun: pyatnadtsat minut.
- шестнадцатьshestnadtsatsixteenShest ("six") plus -nadtsat, one long word.
- семнадцатьsemnadtsatseventeenSem ("seven") plus -nadtsat, the soft sign tucked in the middle.
- восемнадцатьvosemnadtsateighteenVosem ("eight") plus -nadtsat, with a v surfacing after the s.
- девятнадцатьdevyatnadtsatnineteenDevyat ("nine") plus -nadtsat — the last of the teens; from here the tens take over.
- двадцатьdvadtsattwentyBuilt on dva ("two") plus a worn-down tail. Tens and units are written as two words: dvadtsat pyat, "twenty-five".
- тридцатьtridtsatthirtyBuilt on tri ("three"); tens take the of-many form after them: tridtsat minut.
- сорокsorokfortyThe odd one out: not built on chetyre at all. Sorok once meant a bundle of forty sable pelts — the fur paid the taxes.
- пятьдесятpyatdesyatfiftyPyat ("five") plus desyat ("ten") glued together; the second half wears off to -desyat in every ten.
- шестьдесятshestdesyatsixtyShest plus desyat. Shestdesyat minut — "sixty minutes", a whole hour said in one word.
- семьдесятsemdesyatseventySem plus desyat, the soft sign dropping out in the middle.
- восемьдесятvosemdesyateightyVosem plus desyat, the m wearing away as the two words fuse.
- девяностоdevyanostoninetyThe strangest of the tens: devya-nosto, with no -desyat ending to be seen. Only two forms exist, and both end in -o.
- стоstoone hundredOne word where English uses two. Prices with it are said straight: sto rubley.
- тысячаtysyachathousandFeminine, and it behaves like a noun: tysyacha rubley, "a thousand of rubles". The plural tysyachi names whole thousands.
- миллионmillionmillionThe international word, stress on the end: mil-LION. Million rubley — the same of-form after it.
- нольnolzeroAlso noly for the figure on the scoreboard. U menya nol rubley — "I have zero rubles".
- первыйpervyyfirstThe ordinal that goes with odin — no shared stem between them, just like "one" and "first" in English. The word builds its own phrase: "the day number one".
- второйvtoroysecondBuilt on dva, "two": the one after the one. The phrase counts them aloud: "coffee number two".
- третийtretiythirdFrom tri with a softening -tiy. Tretiy etazh, bez lifta — "the third floor, no elevator".
- последнийposledniylastPosle etogo avtobusa net — "this is the last bus" — the word says: beyond this one there is no other; the school year ends with the bell of the same name.
- сколькоskolkohow much, how manyOne word for both "how much" and "how many": skolko chelovek v ocheredi — "how many people in the line?".
- параparaa coupleThe everyday "a couple of": para minut — "a couple of minutes", meaning "in a moment".
- штукаshtukapiece, itemThe counting word for things: tri shtuki — "three of them". Chto za shtuka? — "what is this thing?"
- процентprotsentpercentThe international word, stress on the end: protsENT. Odin protsent — malo.
- каждыйkazhdyyeach, everyAgrees with the noun: kazhdyy den, kazhdaya nedelya. Ya yem yabloki kazhdyy den.
- двестиdvestitwo hundredOne word where English uses two. After hundreds the noun stands in the of-many form: dvesto rubley.
- тристаtristathree hundredTri ("three") glued to sto ("hundred"); the noun after it again takes the of-many form.
- четырестаchetyrestafour hundredThe oddest of the hundreds: related to chetyre ("four") but reshaped beyond recognition.
- пятьсотpyatsotfive hundredPyat plus sot, the of-form of sto. From here the hundreds follow one pattern all the way up.
- шестьсотshestsotsix hundredShest plus sot, the soft sign tucked in the middle.
- семьсотsemsotseven hundredSem ("seven") plus sot — hundreds take the of-form sot, not the plain sto.
- восемьсотvosemsoteight hundredVosem plus sot, the m wearing off in the middle.
- девятьсотdevyatsotnine hundredDevyat plus sot, the last of the hundreds; after it the thousands begin.
- четвёртыйchetvyortyyfourthOrdinals behave like adjectives and agree with the noun. Ya zhivu na chetvyortom etazhe — the floor number stands in the location form.
- пятыйpyatyyfifthFrom pyat with the t softened. Segodnya pyatyy urok — "today is the fifth lesson".
- шестойshestoysixthShest plus -oy, the soft sign melting away. Shestoy den nedeli — subbota: the week starts on Monday here.
- седьмойsedmoyseventhSem plus -oy. Sedmoy den nedeli — voskresenye, literally "resurrection day" for Sunday.
- восьмойvosmoyeighthVosem plus -oy. On vosmoy v ocheredi — "he is eighth in the line".
- девятыйdevyatyyninthDevyat plus -yy, softening the t. Moya kvartira na devyatom etazhe.
- десятыйdesyatyytenthDesyat plus -yy. Desyatyy den zimy — "the tenth day of winter".
- сотыйsotyyhundredthFrom sto with a fattened tail: sot-yy. Etot moy sotyy urok — "my hundredth lesson".
- числоchislonumber, dateBoth the abstract number and the date on the calendar: kakoye segodnya chislo? — "what is today's date?".
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How it sounds in a sentence
A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.
- Один чай и одна вода, пожалуйстаOdin chay i odna voda, pozhaluystaOne tea and one water, please
- Два кофе, пожалуйстаDva kofe, pozhaluystaTwo coffees, please
- Я жду три часаYa zhdu tri chasaI have been waiting for three hours
- Столик на четыре, пожалуйстаStolik na chetyre, pozhaluystaA table for four, please
- Пять минут, и мы тамPyat minut, i my tamFive minutes and we are there
- Магазин открывается в шестьMagazin otkryvaetsya v shestThe shop opens at six
What is worth knowing about these words
один (odin) — one. Agrees like an adjective: odna chashka, odno okno, odnu vodu. A rare numeral that changes form at all.
два (dva) — two. After it the noun takes a special counting form: dva chasa, dve chashki. English "two" does not care; this one does.
три (tri) — three. Three consonants in a row at the start, and no, that is not a typo. After it the noun takes the same counting form as after dva.
четыре (chetyre) — four. The last number that uses the counting form: chetyre stola. From five on, the grammar of counting changes.
Test yourself
Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “one” in Russian?
Agrees like an adjective: odna chashka, odno okno, odnu vodu. A rare numeral that changes form at all.
- How do you say “eight” in Russian?
Starts with a vowel, like octo and ocho — one ancient root across Europe. Vosem chasov — "eight o'clock".
- How do you say “fifteen” in Russian?
Pyat ("five") plus -nadtsat. Like the whole teen row it is followed by the of-many form of the noun: pyatnadtsat minut.
- How do you say “forty” in Russian?
The odd one out: not built on chetyre at all. Sorok once meant a bundle of forty sable pelts — the fur paid the taxes.
- How do you say “thousand” in Russian?
Feminine, and it behaves like a noun: tysyacha rubley, "a thousand of rubles". The plural tysyachi names whole thousands.
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
A price, the change, a house number, the time you agreed on, the floor. Numbers are the first thing you have to catch by ear — and the first thing people say fast.
A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- Study spread over days wins not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many timesMawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.
Frequently asked
How do you say “one” in Russian?
«один», read “odin”. Agrees like an adjective: odna chashka, odno okno, odnu vodu. A rare numeral that changes form at all. It is one of 57 words in the set “numbers and counting” — the rest are in the table above.
How many numbers do you need to start?
The whole set on this page is 57 words, but there is no need to start with all of it: the words you will need in the next few days are enough. Take them a few at a time — five to seven new ones per session.