Russian Grammar
Agreement of Nouns with Numbers
Whether you are renting a hotel room or picking up some souvenirs for friends, you want to know the price. In Russian, it’s easy to ask how much something costs using one of the phrases below.
| Сколько стоит + [nominative singular noun] [SKOHL'-kah STOH-eet] |
How much is …? | |
| Сколько стоят + [nominative plural noun] [SKOHL'-kah STOH-yat] |
How much are …? |
Here are several examples that use the "how much" construction:
| Сколько стоит номер? [SKOHL'-kah STOH-eet NOH-mehr] |
How much is the room? | |
| Сколько стоит машина? [SKOHL'-kah STOH-eet mah-SHI-nah] |
How much is the car? | |
| Сколько стоят компьютеры? [SKOHL'-kah STOH-yat kahm-PYOO-teh-ri] |
How much are the computers? |
Changes in "ruble", "dollar" and "thousand"
In order to answer questions about quantity and understand others you should know how numbers agree with the nouns they describe. You have already learned the cardinal numerals in the Russian lesson 4. You have also learned the declension of the word РУБЛЬ in the lesson 5. Now let’s take a look at how the words ДОЛЛАР (dollar) and ТЫСЯЧА (one thousand) change depending on the amount of money.
Remember that any changes in the word "ruble" start with the singular nominative form "рубль" (aka dictionary form). All changes in the word "dollar" start with the singular nominative form "доллар". And changes in the word "thousand" start with the singular nominative form "тысяча".
Amount ends in |
Change in "рубль" |
Grammar explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | [один] рубль | (no change) |
| 2, 3, 4 | рубля | singular genitive |
| 5-20 or 0 | рублей | plural genitive |
Amount ends in |
Change in "доллар" |
Grammar explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | [один] доллар | (no change) |
| 2, 3, 4 | доллара | singular genitive |
| 5-20 or 0 | долларов | plural genitive |
Amount ends in |
Change in "тысяча" |
Grammar explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | [одна] тысяча | (no change) |
| 2, 3, 4 | тысячи | singular genitive |
| 5-20 or 0 | тысяч | plural genitive |
As you can see from the tables, singular nominative nouns do not change when used after the numbers один (one: masculine), одна (one: feminine), одно (one: neuter).
When used after the numbers два (two: masculine and neuter), две (two: feminine), три (three: all genders), четыре (four: all genders), nouns change their form to singular genitive.
When used after the number пять (five: all genders) and the rest of numerals, nouns change to plural genitive.
Examples of usage
Now that you know about agreement of nouns with numbers, answering and understanding the above questions should be a piece of cake:
| Сколько стоит номер? Номер стоит пятьсот рублей. [SKOHL'-kah STOH-eet NOH-mehr? NOH-mehr STOH-eet peet-SOHT roo-BLYEHY] |
How much is the room? The room costs 500 roubles. |
|
| Сколько стоит машина? Машина стоит десять тысяч рублей. [SKOHL'-kah STOH-eet mah-SHI-nah? mah-SHI-nah STOH-eet DYEH-seet' TI-seech roo-BLYEHY] |
How much is the car? The car costs 10,000 roubles. |
|
| Сколько стоят компьютеры? Компьютеры стоят сорок тысяч рублей. [SKOHL'-kah STOH-yat kahm-PYOO-teh-ri? kahm-PYOO-teh-ri STOH-yat SOH-rahk TI-seech roo-BLYEHY] |
How much are the computers? The computers cost 40,000 roubles. |
Mini Quiz #1
Use the following prices to answer the question “How much is this thing?”. Note that this exercise checks if you can find the proper forms of Russian nouns. You don't need to spell the numbers themselves, except when the number is expressed by the word "thousand".
For example:
11 (рубль) —> 11 рублей
6000 (доллар) —> шесть тысяч долларов
A: 11 (доллар)
B: 45 (рубль)
C: 52 (рубль)
D: 1000 (рубль)
E: 46 (доллар)
F: 743 (рубль)
G: 718 (рубль)
H: 56491 (доллар)
I: 597 (рубль)
J: 9576 (доллар)
K: 574 (рубль)
L: 83 (доллар)
M: 748 (рубль)
N: 654 (доллар)
O: 400 (доллар)
P: 60 (доллар)
Q: 569 (рубль)
R: 1560 (доллар)
S: 500 (рубль)
T: 6000 (доллар)
U: 500 (доллар)
V: 600 (доллар)
W: 200 (рубль)
X: 500000 (доллар)
Y: 2000 (доллар)
Z: 92 (рубль)
Answers:
A: 11 долларов
B: 45 рублей
C: 52 рубля
D: тысяча рублей
E: 46 долларов
F: 743 рубля
G: 718 рублей
H: 56491 доллар
I: 597 рублей
J: 9576 долларов
K: 574 рубля
L: 83 доллара
M: 748 рублей
N: 654 доллара
O: 400 долларов
P: 60 долларов
Q: 569 рублей
R: 1560 долларов
S: 500 рублей
T: шестьдесят тысяч долларов
U: 500 долларов
V: 600 долларов
W: 200 рублей
X: пятьсот тысяч долларов
Y: две тысячи долларов
Z: 92 рубля