Results 1 to 4 of 4
Like Tree1Likes
  • 1 Post By Боб Уайтман

Thread: Exception for genitive quantities rule?

  1. #1
    Новичок
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    4
    Rep Power
    0

    Exception for genitive quantities rule?

    In just a few weeks, I will be visiting Kiev. I intend to use Russian throughout my stay, as I do not know Ukrainian. There is one major issue, however--I realized that I do not know how to pluralize the Ukrainian currency. I am familiar with the pluralization rules for rubles (2-4=genitive singular, 5-20=genitive plural, etc.), but I am not sure if these apply to the гривня. I found out that the гривня is pluralized as гривні; is this regardless of how many (3 гривні vs. 10 гривні?) Since I will be speaking in Russian, should I change the ending to the Russian genitive singular, and Russian genitive plural, respectively?

  2. #2
    Старший оракул
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    937
    Rep Power
    16
    Quote Originally Posted by Novaya Zemlya View Post
    In just a few weeks, I will be visiting Kiev. I intend to use Russian throughout my stay, as I do not know Ukrainian. There is one major issue, however--I realized that I do not know how to pluralize the Ukrainian currency. I am familiar with the pluralization rules for rubles (2-4=genitive singular, 5-20=genitive plural, etc.), but I am not sure if these apply to the гривня. I found out that the гривня is pluralized as гривні; is this regardless of how many (3 гривні vs. 10 гривні?) Since I will be speaking in Russian, should I change the ending to the Russian genitive singular, and Russian genitive plural, respectively?
    Yes, you should. There are two different Russian translations: гривна and гривня. The former is used in Russia. Ukrainian officials insist on the latter one.
    Одна гривна (гривня)
    Две гривны (гривни)
    Пять гривен (гривен)
    Налево пойдёшь - коня потеряешь, направо пойдёшь - сам голову сложишь.
    Прямой путь не предлагать!

  3. #3
    Завсегдатай it-ogo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Ukraine
    Posts
    3,048
    Rep Power
    29
    The rules of making plurals in Russian and Ukrainian are very much the same, though there are differences in both pronunciation and spelling (even alphabets are not identical).
    "Россия для русских" - это неправильно. Остальные-то чем лучше?

  4. #4
    Старший оракул
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Russia
    Posts
    865
    Rep Power
    29
    If you speak Russian, then you just apply Russian inflection rules to any non-Russian names, like currency, place names, people names etc., regardless of where you are

    рубль - 1 (один - masc.) рубль, 2 (два - masc.) - 4 рубля, 5-20 рублей, 21 рубль, 22-24 рубля, 25-30 рублей etc.
    гривна - 1 (одна - fem.) гривна, 2 (две - fem.) - 4 гривны, 5-20 гривен etc.
    доллар - 1 (один - masc.) доллар, 2 (два - masc.) - 4 доллара, 5-20 долларов etc.
    квача - 1 (одна - fem.) квача, 2 (две - fem.) - 4 квачи, 5-20 квач etc. Квача — Википедия
    песо - 1 (одно - neut.) песо, 2 (два - neut.) - 4 песо, 5-20 песо etc. (Non-Russian nouns in -о, -е do not decline - Russian rule)
    лари - 1 (один - masc.) лари, 2 (два - masc.) - 4 лари, 5-20 лари etc. (All nouns in -и, -у, -э, -ю are non-Russian, and they do not decline - Russian rule) Грузинский лари — Википедия

    The same applies to place names:
    Ростов (Rus) - в Ростове (где?) - в Ростов (куда?) - из Ростова etc.
    Бостон - в Бостоне (где?) - в Бостон (куда?) - из Бостона etc
    Москва (Rus) - в Москве (где?) - в Москву (куда?) - из Москвы etc.
    Прага - в Праге (где?) - в Прагу (куда?) - из Праги etc.

    Foreign place names in -о, -е, -и, -у, -э, -ю never decline.

    The same applies to people's names:
    Джон - для Джона, к Джону, с Джоном
    Сара - для Сары, к Саре, с Сарой

    Foreign people's names in -о, -е, -и, -у, -э, -ю never decline.

    Foreign feminine names do not decline if they end in a consonant (not -а/-я):
    Элизабет - для Элизабет, к Элизабет, с Элизабет ...

    It does not depend on what declension rules exist in the source language (if any). You do not need to care about them unless you start speaking another language.

    BTW, for example, in Czech language they have a different pattern of declension:
    Praha - v Praze - do Prahy - z Prahy etc.
    There is a consonant mutation ("Praha" but "v Praze"). But you do not have to know about that when speaking Russian: "Прага" - "в Праге".
    Antonio1986 likes this.

Similar Threads

  1. What about suffixes: -ен, -но, -на? What is this rule?
    By triver in forum Grammar and Vocabulary
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: January 4th, 2012, 06:47 PM
  2. Spelling rule question
    By sapien in forum Pronunciation, Speech & Accent
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: May 6th, 2010, 02:16 PM
  3. Slayer Rule или Rules. Кто прав-то?
    By mishau_ in forum Learn English - Грамматика, переводы, словарный запас
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: December 14th, 2008, 11:23 PM
  4. Main Rule in Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian
    By stane37 in forum Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: January 22nd, 2008, 12:04 AM
  5. Genitive negated and plural genitive
    By ВМФ in forum Grammar and Vocabulary
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: April 29th, 2005, 01:17 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


Russian Lessons                           

Russian Tests and Quizzes            

Russian Vocabulary