Thread: Simple question

Hi everybody!
I am very new to Russian though I know some words already. I have recently learned numbers from 1 to 12 and I want to use them with different words.
Probably my question is very basic. I'd like to make proper phrases like "1 book", "2 books", "3 words" etc.

Could anyone correct my spelling below?
1 book - odin kniga.
2 books - dva knigai. Is it correct to get plural by adding -i?
BTW, someone told me 2 is dvay. But I saw dva. What is the right spelling, dva or dvay? Or is it the same thing?
3 books - tree knigai.
1 word - odin slovo.
2 words - dva/dvay slovoi.
4 words - cheteree slovoi.
5 words - pyat slovoi.
6 words - shest slovoi.
1 chair - odin stul.
3 chairs - tree stuli
6 chairs - shest stuli
7 chairs - semi stuli
8 chairs - vosimi stuli
9 pens - deveet rushkai
10 pens - deseet rushkai
11 pens - odinaset rushkai
12 pens - dvanaset rushkai.

First of all, you need to learn Cyrillic because it's the only alphabet which is used in Russian language. Your exercise above is full of mistakes, but it's impossible to correct them since it's all written in Latin letters, that is all is wrong.

Originally Posted by Jeremiah New

Hi everybody!
I am very new to Russian though I know some words already. I have recently learned numbers from 1 to 12 and I want to use them with different words.
Probably my question is very basic. I'd like to make proper phrases like "1 book", "2 books", "3 words" etc.

Could anyone correct my spelling below?
1 book - odin kniga.
2 books - dva knigai. Is it correct to get plural by adding -i?
BTW, someone told me 2 is dvay. But I saw dva. What is the right spelling, dva or dvay? Or is it the same thing?
3 books - tree knigai.
1 word - odin slovo.
2 words - dva/dvay slovoi.
4 words - cheteree slovoi.
5 words - pyat slovoi.
6 words - shest slovoi.
1 chair - odin stul.
3 chairs - tree stuli
6 chairs - shest stuli
7 chairs - semi stuli
8 chairs - vosimi stuli
9 pens - deveet rushkai
10 pens - deseet rushkai
11 pens - odinaset rushkai
12 pens - dvanaset rushkai.

You need to use declension with numeral adjectives, and mind the gender. Книга (a book) is feminine, so:

1. Одна книга (Odnah kneegah)
2. Две книги (Dveh kneegee)
3. Три книги (Tree kneegee)
4. Четыре книги (Cheh-tyh-reh kneegee)
5. Пять книг (Pyat knig)

Слово (a word) is of neutral gender, so:
1. Одно слово (Od-noh slovoh)
2. Два слова (Dvah slovah)
3. Три слова (Thee slovah)
4. Четыре слова (Cheh-tyh-reh slovah)
5. Пять слов (Pyat slov)

Стул (a chair) is of masculine gener, so:
1. Один стул (Oh-deen stool)
2. Два стула (Dvah stoolah)
3. Три стула (Tree stoolah)
4. Четыре стула (Che-tyh-reh stoolah)
5. Пять стульев (Pyat stoolyev)

But it is only a brief example. The reality is much more complicated.

Originally Posted by Ramil

You need to use declension with numeral adjectives, and mind the gender. Книга (a book) is feminine, so:

1. Одна книга (Odnah kneegah)
2. Две книги (Dveh kneegee)
3. Три книги (Tree kneegee)
4. Четыре книги (Cheh-tyh-reh kneegee)
5. Пять книг (Pyat knig)

Слово (a word) is of neutral gender, so:
1. Одно слово (Od-noh slovoh)
2. Два слова (Dvah slovah)
3. Три слова (Thee slovah)
4. Четыре слова (Cheh-tyh-reh slovah)
5. Пять слов (Pyat slov)

Стул (a chair) is of masculine gener, so:
1. Один стул (Oh-deen stool)
2. Два стула (Dvah stoolah)
3. Три стула (Tree stoolah)
4. Четыре стула (Che-tyh-reh stoolah)
5. Пять стульев (Pyat stoolyev)

But it is only a brief example. The reality is much more complicated.

Thank you for your prompt reply! I am sorry for making so many errors, I am just a beginner in Russian.
I have a bit of upcoming questions. Could you explain it in more details?

1. Why did you write Одна книга (Odnah kneegah) but Одно слово (Od-noh slovoh)? I mean, why "one" is spelt differently? Is it because of that feminine and masculine issue? or due to a different reason?
2. How do I know that a book is feminine? Is there a general rule for that? Or should I remember every word?
3. I am confused why do you write Четыре книги (Cheh-tyh-reh kneegee) but Пять книг (Pyat knig)? Probably, a typo? And how to get the plural form - sometimes I see -ah in plural and sometimes in singular Shouldn't it be kneegah?

Thank you again for your help!

1. Because книга is feminine and слово is neutral (not masculine)
2. You should remember every word
3. Пять книг is not a typo: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17539

Originally Posted by Оля

1. Because книга is feminine and слово is neutral (not masculine)
2. You should remember every word
3. Пять книг is not a typo: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17539

Thank you for the link! There's a lot of new stuff for me to learn from there, I didn't expect it being so complicated.

BTW, I am having my hard time with learning the alphabet. It's going on too slowly now.

Originally Posted by Jeremiah New

BTW, I am having my hard time with learning the alphabet. It's going on too slowly now.

Believe me, Russian language is much more difficult than the Cyrillic alphabet. If you can't master even the alphabet, you better give up right now.
The problem is that the transcription you used in your post above does not at all convey the Russian pronunciation. I mean, it was wrong throughout.

Originally Posted by Jeremiah New

Originally Posted by Ramil

1. Why did you write Одна книга (Odnah kneegah) but Одно слово (Od-noh slovoh)? I mean, why "one" is spelt differently? Is it because of that feminine and masculine issue? or due to a different reason?
2. How do I know that a book is feminine? Is there a general rule for that? Or should I remember every word?
3. I am confused why do you write Четыре книги (Cheh-tyh-reh kneegee) but Пять книг (Pyat knig)? Probably, a typo? And how to get the plural form - sometimes I see -ah in plural and sometimes in singular Shouldn't it be kneegah?

I suppose English is your native language. There are a number of concepts in Russian which you don't know from English and which may seem hard at first.

1: In Russian, nouns have different gender, they can be masculine, feminine or neutral. It's not like in English where grammatical gender is based on biological gender. Even items and abstract things may be masculine or feminine. Think of it like the reference to ships as 'she' in English. Adjectives and such words which accompany nouns have to agree with the noun they accompany as to gender. Один goes with a masculine word, одна goes with a feminine word, одно goes with a neutral word.

2: In contrast to for instance German, in Russian it is relatively easy to guess the gender of a noun. Most words ending in a consonant are masculine. Most words ending in -a or -я are feminine. Words ending in -o or -e tend to be neutral.

3: Here we're entering yet another area alien to speakers of English: cases. Nouns do not only have gender, but they are changed according to the role they have in a sentence. This is called declension. Russian knows six cases. English only has something of a genitive case ("father's" as opposed to "father", denoting possession) and something of a dative or accusative case in its pronoun system ("him" as opposed to "he").

Counting in Russian does something interesting: while you say 'one book' - одна книга, you literally say 'two, three, four of book' - две, три, четыре книги using genitive singular, but five, six, seven... of books - пять книг, that is the genitive plural form. When numbers after twenty end in 1, 2, 3, 4 the same applies, so you literally say 21 book, 22 of book, 25 of books.

But don't let that discourage you, it can be managed.

Robin

Jeremiah New,

You are not approaching learning Russian in a very constructive way. Numbers in Russian are complicated and you've not even mastered the alphabet yet. You need to know the alphabet to properly understand and change the endings of the nouns.

Originally Posted by Jeremiah New

2. How do I know that a book is feminine? Is there a general rule for that? Or should I remember every word?

Masc: ending consonant, й, ь
Fem: ending а, я, ь (note that both masc and fem can end 'ь', these you just have to learn)
Neut: ending о, е

And of course, there are always exceptions to these rules.

Originally Posted by Jeremiah New

3. I am confused why do you write Четыре книги but Пять книг

After 2,3,4 you use genitive singular (книги), after 5-10 use genitive plural (книг)

And regarding the alphabet, if you can't learn it in 1 week then you have a tough road ahead. You'll need another few days to learn the differences between cursive and print as well. Russian is a hard hard language.

First of all: Do not be discouraged!

Russian is complicated, but fun because of it. Everyone here is right: start with the Cyrillic alphabet. I use flash card software, Teach2000, to help me memorize everything, or, when away from my computer, traditional flash cards. Believe me, they work.

Next up, don't worry about numbers until you've mastered some of the other cases. The Genitive case, or "of" case as it were, is complicated. It's easier to familiarize yourself with some of the others first. The best way to do that is to order a book to lend a hand. I'm using The New Penguin Russian Course, which is available from Amazon. So far, it's worked wonders. In combination with the flash cards I've already built my vocabulary up to several hundred words and building.

On top of that, search around YouTube for videos of Russian. There are several that will help you learn Cyrillic and some useful words and phrases. The good news is that you already have two of the most important tools you will need to embark on your journey through the Russian language: a will to learn and these forums.

Good luck, and happy hunting!
-- CS
russian.glynshull.com

Hi, Jeremiah,

As you can see from the responses, your questions aren't simple at all. Allow me to suggest a book, “Essentials of Russian Grammar” by Maltzoff (http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Russia ... 824&sr=1-1). It's a good beginning reference grammar and can address your questions about numbers.

I think you will find people unwilling to answer questions posed in Latin transliteration; that's partly due to the fact that there are many systems for transliterating Cyrillic in Latin characters, and it's almost impossible for people who are not English-speaking Russian professionals to determine what system you are using, or indeed if you are just using a haphazard system. Do set about learning the Cyrillic alphabet. It's much more sensibly used in Russian than the Latin alphabet is in English, and it will reward you fairly rapidly.

All the best, Don.