Thread: From 871,000 Rub.

Originally Posted by Cumulus

Hi there,

I came across a car ad when reading the news where it said:
"от 871 000 руб."

How do I read/write that?
Without the preposition, it would be read as follows: восемьсот семьдесят одна тысяча рублей
With the preposition, my guess would be: от восмьисот семьидесяти одной тысячи рублей

The reason why I'm asking is the fact that I have to deal with тысяча, which is fem. -

Am I right?
Thx in advance.

You are right (it is fem so the numeral takes the same gender), but the spelling is wrong, it is

От восьмисот семидесяти одной тысячи рублей.

Thx for your prompt help. Spelling fixed.

I want to add that declension of compound numerals is complicated in Russian, and many native speakers do not bother to decline them properly. Some less-educated Russians are even unable to.

So, yes, "от восьмисот семидесяти одной тысячи рублей" is the only correct way to read this numerical expression. If it is cited in a TV announcement, they would certainly pronounce it correctly. But if you just hear this expression somewhere in the street, I guess most likely it would sound as "от восемьсот семьдесят одной тысячи рублей" (I underlined the parts which are left undeclined). Although that is considered to be grammatically wrong, a lot of people say that way.

I am not telling that foreigners should learn that way. But at least they need to be aware of that fact, I think.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

I want to add that declension of compound numerals is complicated in Russian, and many native speakers do not bother to decline them properly. Some less-educated Russians are even unable to.

So, yes, "от восьмисот семидесяти одной тысячи рублей" is the only correct way to read this numerical expression. If it is cited in a TV announcement, they would certainly pronounce it correctly. But if you just hear this expression somewhere in the street, I guess most likely it would sound as "от восемьсот семьдесят одной тысячи рублей" (I underlined the parts which are left undeclined). Although that is considered to be grammatically wrong, a lot of people say that way.

I am not telling that foreigners should learn that way. But at least they need to be aware of that fact, I think.

Other variants are possible too. от восьмиста is also a frequent form.

Originally Posted by Marcus

Other variants are possible too. от восьмиста is also a frequent form.

Yeah, I'm sure that I'm more likely to hear:

от восьмиста семидясети одной тысячи рублей

than

от восемьсот семьдесят одной тысячи рублей

here