Numbers and Ages in Russian Language Documents

While Arabic numerals have been used in the former Russian Empire since the 1600s, Russian language documents often spell numbers out, especially when referring to dates. With different names and endings for the various numbers depending on context and grammar, important numbers like ages or dates can be tricky to decipher. This page—as well as the pages about Dates and Times and Calendars—is designed to guide you through the various forms of numbers you will encounter, providing the vocabulary that will help you to accurately interpret the key genealogical information held in the documents you read.

Numbers

Similar to how English uses the word “one” in some contexts and “first” in others, different words are used for the cardinal and ordinal numbers of the Russian language.

Cardinal numbers—the basic number set used for counting items (such as one, two, three, etc.) --are used in Russian language documents to describe the ages of individuals. These numbers act like nouns and take on noun endings when they are declined.

Just two cardinal numbers have different endings depending on the gender of the noun they go with: один (one) and два (two). Один appears as один with masculine nouns, одно with neuter nouns, or одна with feminine nouns. Два has two forms, два and две. Две is used with feminine nouns, while два is used with masculine and neuter nouns.

Ordinal numbers—the number set used for putting items in a specific order (such as first, second, third, etc.) --are used in Russian language documents to describe dates. These numbers act like adjectives and take on adjectival endings when they are declined.

Review the table below to compare these two forms:

Note that in numbers expressed in more than one word (such as 22nd), only the last word is an ordinal number. Rather than being written as двадцатый второй, the ordinal version of 22 would be двадцать второй.

Cyrillic Numerals

Prior to the 18th century, a system of Cyrillic numerals was commonly used in Russia. It was replaced when Peter the Great's civil script reforms standardized the use of Arabic numerals, which had been growing in popularity throughout the 1600s. Because you may encounter these numerals in your research, both in early Russian documents and later documents in Church Slavonic, it is important that you familiarize yourself with how they work. See the Cyrillic Numerals page for more information.

Ages

Three different words are used to express the idea of “years” in Russian language documents when referring to ages:

• Год is used for ages that end in the number 1 (not including 11) 
• Года is used with an age ending in the numbers 2-4 (not including the teens ending in those numbers) 
• Лет is used for ages that end in numbers larger than 4, ages that end in 0, and ages in the teens. 

Use the rules above to determine why each of the words for "year" are used in the following examples:

1. Тридцать один год (31 years) 
2. Двадцать два года (22 years) 
3. Сорок шесть лет (46 years) 
4. Девятносто лет (90 years) 
5. Четырнадцать лет (14 years) 

• Image: Russian Government, 500 ruble - 1912 - front side, Photograph, Digital Image, Wikimedia Commons, (https://commons.wikimedia.org : accessed 25 June 2024). This image is in the public domain.