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:
Cardinal Numbers
Ordinal Numbers
1
один
1st
первый
2
два
2nd
второй
3
три
3rd
третий
4
четыре
4th
четвёртый
5
пять
5th
пятый
6
шесть
6th
шестой
7
семь
7th
седьмой
8
восемь
8th
восьмой
9
девять
9th
девятый
10
десять
10th
десятый
11
одиннадцать
11th
одиннадцатый
12
двенадцать
12th
двенадцатый
13
тринадцать
13th
тринадцатый
14
четырнадцать
14th
четырнадцатый
15
пятнадцать
15th
пятнадцатый
16
шестнадцать
16th
шестнадцатый
17
семнадцать
17th
семнадцатый
18
восемнадцать
18th
восемнадцатый
19
девятнадцать
19th
девятнадцатый
20
двадцать
20th
двадцатый
21
двадцать один
21st
двадцать первый
30
тридцать
30th
тридцатый
40
сорок
40th
сороковой
50
пятьдесят
50th
пятидесятый
60
шестьдесят
60th
шестдесятый
70
семьдесят
70th
семидесятый
80
восемьдесят
80th
восьмидесятый
90
девяносто
90th
девяностый
100
сто
100th
сотый
700
семьсот
700th
семисотый
800
восемьсот
800th
восьмисотый
900
девятьсот
900th
девятисотый
1,000
тысяча
1,000th
тысячный
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.
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: