Counting to 100 and Beyond

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In our last lesson, we navigated the complexities of the genitive plural. You learned how to say you have нет книг (no books) or that there are много студентов (many students). Today, we'll put that knowledge on standby as we build the other essential component for discussing quantity: the numbers themselves.

This lesson focuses on counting from 21 up to 100 and beyond. Mastering this is a fundamental, practical skill that you'll use constantly. We'll break down the logic of how Russian numbers are constructed, which is often quite systematic.

1. The Building Blocks: Counting in Tens (20-100)

First, let's learn the words for the tens: 20, 30, 40, and so on up to 100. Much like in English, once you know these, you can construct most other numbers.

Pay close attention to the patterns. For example, двадцать (20) and тридцать (30) are based on два (2) and три (3). From 50 to 80, you'll see a pattern with -десят. However, be ready for a couple of exceptions, like сорок (40), which you'll just need to memorize.

Counting Numbers 1-100 | Russian Language

Let's watch a segment from the 'Be Fluent in Russian' channel that clearly explains the structure and pronunciation of these 'tens'.

Watch from 08:51 to 14:55. Focus on the words for 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100. The instructor points out the logic behind their formation (e.g., 'two tens' for 20) and highlights the important exceptions like 40 and 90.

Here is a summary of the tens for your quick reference:

20 - два́дцать
30 - три́дцать
40 - со́рок
50 - пятьдеся́т
60 - шестьдеся́т
70 - се́мьдесят
80 - во́семьдесят
90 - девяно́сто
100 - сто

2. Creating Compound Numbers (21-99)

Now for the easy part. Forming a number like "twenty-one" or "fifty-nine" in Russian is exactly like in English: you simply state the ten, then the unit.

двадцать (20) + один (1) → двадцать один (21)
тридцать (30) + два (2) → тридцать два (32)
семьдесят (70) + пять (5) → семьдесят пять (75)

Let's see this in action. The next part of the video you just watched explains this simple combination.

Counting Numbers 1-100 | Russian Language

This short clip demonstrates how to combine the tens with single-digit numbers.

Watch from 14:55 to 16:30. The instructor shows how to form a number like 59 by simply saying the word for 50 followed by the word for 9.

3. Practice: 21-100

Let's practice. Try writing out the following numbers in Russian. Don't worry about perfect spelling yet; focus on applying the pattern.

Click for answers

двадцать восемь (двадцать + восемь)
сорок три (сорок + три)
шестьдесят один (шестьдесят + один)
девяносто девять (девяносто + девять)

4. Beyond 100: Hundreds and Thousands

Counting beyond 100 also follows a system, but with a few new forms to learn. You already know сто (100). The structure for 200, 300, and 400 is slightly different from 500-900.

двести (200) - Notice it's based on две (the feminine form of 2).
триста, четыреста (300, 400) - Here, the ending is -ста.
пятьсот, шестьсот... (500, 600...) - Here, the ending is -сот.

This next video gives a very clear, structured breakdown of the hundreds and the word for "thousand".

Russian Numbers 1-1000 | How to count in Russian | Russian language #learnrussian #studyrussian

This video from 'Russian From Zero' is excellent for learning the hundreds and thousands.

Watch from 08:58 to 10:52. Pay close attention to the three different patterns for hundreds: 'сто', 'двести' / 'триста' / 'четыреста', and the '-сот' ending for 500-900. Also, learn the word for 1000: 'тысяча'.

Putting it all together to form a large number like 352 is again logical: триста пятьдесят два (three hundred fifty-two).

5. A Handy Reference

Numbers involve a lot of memorization. This chart is a great visual summary of everything we've covered, from 0 to 1,000,000. It's a perfect "cheat sheet" to save for future reference.

Russian Numbers Chart — A colorful chart showing Russian numbers with their Cyrillic spellings, grouped by tens, hundreds, thousands, and millions.

For more practice with pronunciation, this webpage is a great resource. You can click the little play icon next to each number to hear it spoken.

Russian Numbers - Russian Language Lesson 2

This webpage provides a clear list of numbers with accompanying audio. It's a great tool for pronunciation practice and quick reference.

Scroll to the section 'Russian numbers: 20 and onwards'. Look over the lists for tens and hundreds. Try clicking the play icon next to numbers like 'пятьдесят' (50) and 'пятьсот' (500) to hear the difference in pronunciation and stress.

Conclusion

You've made great progress today! You now have the tools to understand and form almost any number in Russian.

Key Takeaways:

Counting from 21-99 is systematic: just combine the word for the "ten" (e.g., двадцать, тридцать) with the unit (e.g., один, два).
Memorize the exceptions: сорок (40) and девяносто (90).
The hundreds have their own pattern: сто (100), двести (200), -ста for 300/400, and -сот for 500-900.
The word for a thousand is тысяча.

Preview of the next lesson:
Now that you can say the numbers, the next step is to use them with nouns. We will explore how to say "2 cats," "4 books," or "22 students." This will directly connect to the genitive case you learned, as you'll see that numbers 2, 3, and 4 behave differently from numbers 5 and up.