Russian has a very strange rule for nouns if they follow numbers.
Do you remember how strangely we speak about the time? We say:
- 1 час – 1 o’clock / 1 hour
- 2, 3, 4 часа – 2, 3, 4 o’clock / 2, 3, 4 hours
- 5 (and more) часов – 5 o’clock / 5 hours
So the rule of changing of words works not only for the word “час”. It also works for any noun following the numbers. For example:
- 1 телефон – 1 telephone
- 3 телефона – 2 telephones
- 10 телефонов – 10 telephones
So we don’t change words with the number 1.
- 1 дом, 1 машина (1 house, 1 car)
We put a noun into the genitive case singular form if it follows numbers 2, 3 or 4.
- 2 дома, 2 машины (2 houses, 2 cars)
We put a noun in the genitive case plural form if it follows any number more than 5 and till 20. After 20 the choice depends on the last number (1 – no change, 2-4 – genitive singular, 5 and more – genitive plural).
- 5 домов, 5 машин (5 houses, 5 cars)
Pay attention!
After the number 20 the choice depends on the last number:
21 дом, 22 дома, 25 домов.
Don’t forget that masculine and feminine nouns have different endings in the genitive case. This is why we say, “2 дома и 2 машины; 5 домов и 5 машин”.
So let’s see how you understand the rule. Here in the picture you can see some food:
- апельсин – orange
- персик – peach
- ананас – pineapple
- банан – banana
- гриб – mushroom
- яблоко – apple
- хотдог – hot dog
How many oranges, bananas, pineapples, peaches, mushrooms, hot dogs and apples do you see?
I hope you have said:
Я вижу:
- 2 апельсина,
- 4 персика,
- 1 хотдог,
- 5 ананасов,
- 8 грибов,
- 4 персика,
- 6 бананов
- 3 яблока.
Keep practicing with counting things and very soon you will be perfect with it!
