Types of numerals are simple, compound and complex. A selection of rules: numerals Words that include numerals

1. Cardinal numbers denote the number of items when counting ( two tables, one hundred rubles) or an abstract number ( two, one hundred) and answer the question how much?

2. Cardinal numerals change in cases.

    Cardinal numbers do not have gender and number.

    Wed: three people, three windows, three cans.

    Exception make up the numbers one and two.

    The numeral one changes by gender and number, like an adjective.

    One pear, one lemon, one apple, one cream.

    The numerals two and one and a half have two generic forms:

    • masculine and neuter - two, one and a half;

      Two tables, two windows, a day and a half.

      feminine - two, one and a half.

      Two paintings, one and a half baskets.

3. Declension of numbers:

    declension of numbers one two three four resembles the declension of adjectives;

    numbers from five to twenty and thirty are declined as nouns of the third declension (for example, as a noun steppe);

    numerals forty, ninety and one hundred, when declining, have only two forms:

    nominative and accusative forty, ninety, one hundred,
    other cases - forty, ninety, one hundred;

    when declining complex cardinal numbers 5-80, 200-900, each part of the word changes, although they are written in one word ( fifty - fifty). At the same time, the second part of the numerals 200-900 has archaic endings that do not coincide with the endings of the independent numeral hundred;

    Wed: one hundred rubles - three hundred rubles; there is no one hundred rubles - there are no three hundred □ rubles, to one hundred rubles - to three hundred rubles.

    in compound cardinal numbers, all words and all parts of compound words are declined.

    Five hundred forty-six - about five hundred and forty-six.

4. Examples of declension of numerals:

numeral ONE

Simple and complex numbers

Note!

1) In the nominative and accusative cases, numbers from 5 to 20 and 30 are written with ь at the end of the word.

Five, fifteen, thirty.

Numerals from 50 to 80 and from 500 to 900 - with ь in the middle of the word.

Fifty, six hundred, nine hundred.

2) In the middle of numbers: fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen- is not written.

3) The word eleven is written with a double consonant.

5. When combined with nouns, numerals either govern nouns or agree with nouns:

    if the numeral is in the nominative case (or in an accusative case similar to it), then the numeral governs the genitive case of the noun ( two tables, five books), and with numerals two three four, as well as compound numbers ending in two three four, the noun is singular ( two windows, twenty two windows), with all other numerals - in the plural ( five windows fifty windows fifty five windows);

    if the numeral is in any other case, then the main word is a noun, the numeral agrees with it.

    Wed: no five windows; to five windows, five windows, about five windows.

Note!

1) The words thousand, million, billion categorized differently by linguists. Some call them numerals, others call them nouns with the meaning of number. In any case, it should be remembered that these words in their morphological and syntactic features coincide with nouns.

Thousand - refers to the feminine gender and declines like a noun of the 1st declension: no thousand, with a thousand.

Million, billion- the words male and are declined as nouns of the 2nd declension: no million, with a million.

2) The words thousand, million, billion, like nouns, always govern the genitive form of the dependent noun, regardless of its own case.

Wed: a thousand rubles, no thousand rubles, with a thousand rubles, about a thousand rubles.

However, if these words are included in compound numbers, then there are general rules combinations of numerals with nouns.

No one thousand five rubles, to one thousand five rubles, with one thousand five rubles, about one thousand five rubles.

B) Collective numbers

1. Collective numbers denote a certain number of objects as one whole.

Two, three, five.

    In modern Russian, collective numerals can denote the number of objects as a whole in the range from two to ten. They are formed from cardinal numbers with the help of suffixes -оj- ( two → two, three → three) and -er- ( four → four, five → five, six → six, seven → seven, eight → eight, nine → nine, ten → ten).

    The word both (both) is characterized differently in different manuals. Some linguists classify them as numeral pronouns; other researchers - to the collective numerals.

2. Collective numbers (except for the word both) can be combined with a limited group of words:

    with nouns that have only a plural form;

    Two tongs, two scissors.

    with nouns children, children, people;

    Two children, three boys.

    with nouns denoting males;

    Two friends.

    with nouns denoting baby animals;

    Two kittens.

    with personal pronouns.

    There were three of us.

3. Collective numerals are declined like plural adjectives:

4. The word both changes by gender: both are masculine and neuter (there is no wallpaper form!), both are feminine. The declension of this word resembles the declension of plural adjectives, with the masculine/neuter and female have different stems in indirect cases.

B) ordinal numbers

1. Ordinals denote the serial number of objects in the count, that is, ordinal numbers, indicating the serial number of the object, denote one thing.

First day, fifteenth day.

2. Ordinal numbers are formed from cardinal numbers, except for such ordinal numbers as first second.

Five → fifth, thirty → thirtieth.

3. Ordinal numbers, like full adjectives, change in numbers, genders (singular) and cases.

First, first, first, first.

    Their declension coincides with the declension of adjectives. That is why some linguists include ordinal numbers in adjectives.

    Wed: first - new, first - new.

4. When declensing compound ordinal numbers, only the last word changes (in contrast to the declension of compound cardinal numbers, where each word changes).

One thousand nine hundred and forty-five - in one thousand nine hundred and forty-five; two thousand and three year - from two thousand and three years.

D) Fractional numbers

1. Fractional numbers are not called whole numbers.

Two thirds, five tenths.

    By value, fractional numbers are adjacent to cardinal numbers.

2. In terms of composition, fractional numbers, except for the words one and a half, one and a half hundred, consist of a cardinal number (the numerator of a fraction) and an ordinal number in the plural (the denominator of a fraction).

Six seventeenths, three fifths.

    Fractional numbers can include nouns zero and integer. This is mixed numerals.

    Zero point five.

3. The numeral one and a half changes by gender:

    one and a half - masculine and neuter gender;

    A day and a half, an apple and a half.

    one and a half - feminine.

    One and a half bottles.

    The numerals one and a half ( one and a half), one and a half hundred, with declension, have only two case forms:

    nominative and accusative cases - one and a half, one and a half, one and a half hundred;
    other cases - one and a half, one and a half.

Emphasizing numerals

School grammarians note that there are three types of numerals in the Russian language: quantitative (one, two, twelve, one hundred twenty-three), ordinal (first, second, twelfth, one hundred and twenty-third) and collective (two, three, four, seven). The language also uses another group of numerals - numerals excretory. They are used in cases where it is necessary to isolate some part of this general from the general. For example: “A crowd gathered in front of the gate: some were shouting something, others were waving flags, others were silent; Two gentlemen were sitting in a carelessly cleaned apartment in St. Petersburg ... One was about thirty-five, and the other about forty-five years old ”(I. A. Goncharov, Obryv); “The room had two windows: one looked out onto the street, the other into a narrow lane” (A. Gaidar, School); “There are two main variants of the government structure. One is revolutionary, the other is not” (Izv.).

This category of numerals is composed by borrowing: the word “one” is taken from the category of cardinal numbers, the word “other” is from the class of adjectives, and the third and subsequent ones are from the category of ordinal numbers.

Keeping this in mind, one should not replace the word “other” with the word “second” in the excretory numerals, as is often done on the pages of the press: “One of the brothers was called Tomas, the second was Andreash, and the third was presumably Baland” (Izv.); " It's about first of all, about two laws: one - on the procedure for recalling deputies, the second - on local self-government ”(Izv.-yug); “These were 15-20-minute films - one about the Filippov family, the second about the Catoire family, the third about the Zimins” (Izv.). Less commonly, the word “one” is replaced by the ordinal number “first”: “History knows several ways to eliminate pirate republics. The first way can be called "Pompey's variant". Another way can be called "Morgan's variant" (Izv.).

Emphasizing numbers only highlight, while ordinal numbers indicate the order.

“Vika and Valya worked in different teams. The first is in the paint shop, the second is in the chemical laboratory” (here the “first” refers to Vika, and the “second” refers to Valya). “Vali has two troubles. The first is grief from the mind, the second is the lack of internal culture ”(Izv.). Here the importance of troubles is determined by their order. The main trouble is grief from the mind, in second place is the lack of internal culture. Replacing ordinal numbers (“first”, “second”) with excretory ones (“one”, “other”) does not allow us to establish which of them is more important.

Both categories of numerals can be used in the same text. Allocated objects are specified: One officer serves in the city military office. The other is in a closed isolated garrison. The first has an apartment in the city. The second one, a "construction worker", has a service apartment in the middle of nowhere. The first has no problems after retirement. The second one has all the same problems (Izv.).

A feature of the excretory numerals is, firstly, the ability not to use the word “one”, omitting it with a noun: “Under these conditions, the Magadans lived for a day, another, a week” (Pr.); “In Shifrin's small office, on the wall on top of the piano lid are portraits of Bach, Beethoven, a photograph of Shostakovich. On the other wall is a reproduction of Modigliani's painting" (Izv.).

Secondly, it is possible to skip the selected object: They pulled out one, the other (Ex.); There are two different labels on the bottles - one with a portrait of the Prince of Wales, the other with the image of Princess Diana (Izv.); Well, how to do without Peter the Great? - said one. And without Catherine and Suvorov? others wondered. Pyotr Stolypin without a doubt, - insisted the third (Izv.); One newspaper wrote one thing, another wrote another, a third wrote a third (Pr.).

Mistakes in the use of nouns

  • · With quantitative numerals, the word “man” is used in the singular form: three people, one hundred and twenty people, three million people; “About 40 people jumped out of the car” (Izv.); “Several thousand people took part in the procession” (Izv.).
  • · With nouns that have a quantitative meaning, the form of people is used: tens of people, hundreds and thousands of people. The same form is used with words with a similar meaning: group, crowd, mass, bunch, lot, darkness and others. It will be ungrammatical to use the word “man” with such nouns: “Two dozen people went to each other” (Izv.); “He and dozens of other people saw...” (Megapolis Express); “Three died there and more than a dozen people were injured” (Izv.); “The collapse of the banks has put hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of survival” (Izv.).
  • It is undesirable to use the words man, people with collective numerals: “There are four people in the family” (Izv.); “They put two people found in the wreckage here” (Izv.); “Suddenly three more people appeared”, “Three people died” (Izv.).
  • · Difficulties also arise when numerals are used with nouns in indirect cases: “38 people will be helped” (Arg. and f.); “Operation for heart transplantation to six people” (Izv.); “Each copy of a bestseller of this kind is read by eight people,” (Izv.); “Help several people live a little better” (Izv.); “The debt is calculated in dozens of people sheltered by Moscow” (Izv.).

The inconvenience lies in the fact that the word man does not have plural forms (people, people, people, about people). In order to avoid such combinations, it is necessary to make a stylistic correction: replace the words “man”, “people” with others that do not distort the content of the text. For example: several comrades, 38 tenants, six patients, ten readers, ten persons, several citizens.

Adverbs with a quantitative meaning (a lot, a few, a lot, etc.) in combination with nouns in a sentence are consistent with a predicate that has the form of the middle gender: “Did many of your employees search?” (Izv.), Therefore, the combinations are erroneous: “In the forest there were many birch trees uprooted” (Gaz. Dona); “Many houses flooded in Devon” (Izv.); “Several people decided to go on a hunger strike”; “Many people with the surname Engels live in Marx” (Izv.-South); “Almost half of the Kuban schoolchildren use drugs” (Izv.-Yug).

The Pravda newspaper once reported that "Klimuk completed the second space flight lasting 63 days." The question arises: how to pronounce the combination of the numeral "63" with the noun "day"? In order not to get into a ridiculous situation, the author of the text decided to use numbers instead of words, hoping that the reader would not pronounce (either aloud or mentally) this combination of a numeral with a noun, but would perceive it only visually. The difficulty in pronouncing such combinations is due to the fact that the word “day” does not have the singular form necessary for combination with the numerals 22, 23, 24, 32, 33, 34,182,183,184, etc., but is easily combined with the numerals one, two, three, four, five, ten, eleven, twelve, twenty-one, thirty-one, etc.: one day, two days, five days, twenty days, twenty-one days, thirty-one days, thirty-five days, etc. .

To eliminate the inconvenience, it is necessary to abandon the use of that numeral in the form of the nominative case and use another case: Klimuk completed the flight for (what? - gen. fall.) sixty-three days.

Another way to correct it is to replace the word "day" with the word "day", if this does not affect the scientific accuracy of the presentation: "duration 63 days."

The combination of the words "man" and "people" with quantitative numerals in the dative, instrumental and prepositional cases "cuts the ear", is considered dissonant and is excluded from use. Therefore, the proposals are “unsuccessful”: Each copy of a bestseller of this kind is read by eight people (Izv.); 38 people will be helped (Arg. and f.).

For the same reason, the sentences “I told several people about what happened” (Limonov) are unacceptable; “Help a few people live a little better” (Izv.); “An operation to transplant six people with a heart” (Izv.).

The combination of a quantitative numeral, starting with two, with the word "man" is used only in the nominative, genitive and accusative cases: I., V.: seven people, R. - seven people. The remaining forms (D. to seven people, T. to seven people, P. about seven people) are not used due to the lack of plural forms in the word “man”. numbers.

The movement of the submarine is assumed manually by two people using gears (Week).

The inclusion of an adjective in the middle of a quantitative-nominal combination with the word "man" makes the combination ungrammatical. Compare: "10 people" and "10 sick people." “They found thirty living people in the ruins” (RTR).

Replacing the word "man" with the word "people" is impossible because the form "people" is used not with quantitative numbers, but with nouns that have a quantitative meaning: "A dozen living people."

In stable combinations like "young man" with cardinal numbers ending in 1, 2, 3, 4, the word "man" is preserved. Starting from the number “5”, the word “person” is replaced by “people”: 5 young people, 20 young people, etc.: In just one month, about 800 young people applied there (Izv.).

Collective numerals both, two, three, etc. are not combined with the words "man", "people". Therefore, their use in sentences is erroneous: The Yak-52 plane crashed. Both people on board died (Izv.); That's what those two people say Old man and an elderly woman (Izv.); Four people died (Rev.); Two people were brought here (Izv.).

It is not difficult to avoid such combinations. It is enough to replace the abstract words "man", "people" with concrete names of persons: two men, four doctors, three tailors, seven brave men, five drunkards, etc.

By tradition, the names of women are not combined with collective numerals. Therefore, it is not recommended to combine: three dressmakers, two women (but: both women), five old women, etc.

In texts with numerals, non-standard errors are allowed.

  • 1. About 9 people died from the explosion in the bus (Izv.).
  • 2. The State Duma in the absence of more than half of the deputies, she managed to overcome the president's veto on the Land Code (Izv.).
  • 3. Almost none of their texts could do without forbidden words (Koms. pr. on the Don).
  • 4. These proposals reduce the tax burden on small businesses by two or more times.
  • 5. For a normal state of society, it is necessary that each family should have 2.2 children (V. Zhirinovsky, Arg. i f.).
  • 6. In Pakistan, a third of all seats in the governing bodies are registered for women (Izv.).

1. The variant forms of the instrumental case of simple and complex numerals and combinations with them are equal: eight - eight, eighty - eighty, eight hundred - eight hundred.

In variants fifty - fifty, sixty - sixty etc. the former are normative, the latter are colloquial.

In control options with three hundred rubles - with three hundred rubles the first, in which the numeral, in accordance with the rule, agrees in case with the noun, is neutral, the second, in which the complex number two hundred, three hundred etc. governs a noun in the form of the genitive case, colloquial.

equal variant forms thousand - a thousand , but they imply different subsequent management; cf.: expenses are calculated not one thousand rubles (word one thousand with preceding numeral one treated as a noun and governs the genitive case of the next word) – came here with a thousand rubles(as a numeral word one thousand usually agrees with the following noun); a control connection is also possible with the form thousand, For example: thousand expensive trinkets(Mamin-Sibiryak); thousand violent and fiery voices(L. Andreev); thousand small injections(Korolenko); "Man with a thousand persons"(movie title).

2. At regulatory shape type with six hundred seventy-two rubles (in a compound numeral, all the parts forming it decline; this provision is mandatory for book and written speech); in colloquial use there is a simplified construction "with six hundred and seventy-two rubles" , in which only the last word is declined (sometimes also the first: "with two thousand six hundred and seventy-two rubles" , which is explained for the first words by the influence of the preposition, and for the last - by agreement with the subsequent noun).

Wed normative form: weight load one thousand five hundred tons (not "one thousand five hundred tons" ). But (in ordinal): in nineteen ninety-three (not "in nineteen ninety-three" ).

3. When combining a compound number, ending in two three four (22, 23, 24, 32, 33, 34... 102, 103, 104 etc.), with nouns having only plural forms ( day, sleigh, scissors ), there is a syntactic inconsistency: one cannot say neither "twenty-two days", nor "twenty-two days", "not twenty-two days" (The last option, which seems to the speaker the only way out of a difficult situation, reflects colloquial use and cannot be considered normative, since only cardinal numerals enter the compound numeral without including at least one collective numeral in the construction). In such cases, depending on the context, either lexical editing is carried out (replacing a word, inserting another word), or grammatical restructuring of the sentence (replacing one construction with another). For example: instead of "22 days" you can say: twenty two days (if the text is not related to the terminological use of the word day, for example, in a medical history), within twenty two days etc. Wed in business style: twenty-two pieces of scissors; purchase a sleigh in the amount of twenty-two pieces.

4. In normative speech management of words is strictly delimited both and both in all cases: both brothers both sisters; That's why: with both sides, by both parties etc.

Combinations are also colloquial "at both gates", "at both clocks" that do not meet the grammatical norm, since the form of the indirect case is formed from a non-existent initial form (there is no form of the nominative case "both – both gates”, “both - both hours due to the absence of the category of gender in nouns that are used only in the plural form). Possible edit: at both gates (hours).

5. Use of the word pair in meaning "two" inherent in colloquial speech, for example: buy a couple of apples, a couple of pears. The use of the said word in the meaning "some" , For example: a couple of days, a couple of trifles, a couple of words, a couple of lines.

6. In combinations two (three, four) or more... the controlled noun is put in the genitive singular: two or more options, three or more difficult forms, four or more valuable sentences, those. noun is dependent on numerals two three four, not from the word more (cf. permutation possibility: two options or more ).

7. Pretext on in the so-called distributive(distributive) meaning governs the dative and accusative case of the numeral. Wed:

a) one ruble, a thousand books, a million inhabitants, a billion rubles (with numerals one, thousand, million, billion );

b) two pencils, three notebooks, four sheets of paper; two scissors; ninety kopecks each, one hundred tickets each, three hundred rubles each (with numerals two, three, four, two, three, four, ninety, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred ); previously encountered book forms of the type ninety kopecks, one hundred rubles are now regarded as archaic.

Other cardinal numbers ( five, six... ten, eleven, twelve... twenty, thirty, forty, fifty... ) allow two forms in the construction under consideration: with the dative case (book version with a hint of obsolescence) and with the accusative case (in neutral use), for example: five kopecks each - five kopecks each, ten times - ten times, forty places forty seats, seventy rubles each - seventy rubles each.

The same options are possible with numerals: twenty five rubles - twenty-five rubles, forty-seven kopecks each - forty-seven kopecks etc. But if there are words in the compound number two, three, four, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred, then the whole counting combination is put in the form of the accusative case, for example: twenty-two kopecks, two hundred and thirty-five rubles each.

The use of constructions with the accusative case becomes predominant. This is especially true for numbers. five hundred nine hundreds , which, in combination with the preposition on not the usual shape dative case (five hundred ), and the special five hundred (the first part of the compound word is in the form of the dative case - five , and the second retains the initial form - honeycomb ); it brings together possible options, and the form clearly dominates five hundred, six hundred, seven hundred etc.

8. The constructions are correct. 35.5 percent (not ...percent ), 12.6 kilometers (not ...kilometers ), i.e. in a mixed number, the noun is ruled by a fraction, not an integer. Also: 45.0 (forty five and zero tenths) seconds, 6 7 / 8 (six and seven eighth) meters etc.

9. Paired with with fifteen people - with fifteen people the first construction is normative: numeral one and a half in all cases, except for the nominative and accusative, it is combined with the plural form of the following noun.

The correct design is one and a half kilometers from the regional center (not one and a half miles... ): numeral a hundred and fifty combined with nouns in the same way as one and a half, those. agrees in all cases except nominative and accusative (cf.: one and a half kilometers ).

§167. The use of collective nouns

1. Collective numbers two, three, four (other numerals of this type are rarely used; cf. the usual five days instead of "five days" ) are combined:

1) with masculine and common nouns that name persons: two friends, three orphans;

2) with nouns that have only plural forms: two sledges, three scissors, four days;

3) with nouns children, guys, people, with a noun face in meaning "Human" : two children, three boys, three young people, four strangers;

4) with personal pronouns we you they; there are two of us, three of you, there were five of them.

Collective nouns are used in the meaning substantiated numerals: two entered, three in gray overcoats; seven do not wait for one.

In colloquial and colloquial speech, the range of compatibility of collective numerals is wider. They match:

a) with female names For example: The Zinenkov family consisted of father, mother and five daughters (Kuprin); He would not have had enough money to educate numerous children five girls and three sons(Paustovsky); At the [military] school, I went to ease the worries of my father, who had more my three sisters (V. Peskov). As the examples show, this usage is more common in oblique cases, less often in the nominative case, for example: three women in home(G. Nikolaeva); type combinations "three dressmakers", "four students" etc. not recommended even in colloquial speech;

b) with the names of baby animals, For example: two cubs, three puppies;

in) with the names of paired objects, For example: two mittens, three boots in meaning "so many couples"; combination is normal two trousers (but not "two pairs of trousers" , defiant idea of ​​four items, since trousers are counted not in pairs, but in pieces); combinations a pair of trousers, a pair of scissors are conversational;

G) with other words in stylized speech: Three border guards six eyes yes motorboat(Bagritsky); three horses (Paustovsky).

2. With synonymy, constructions with quantitative and collective numerals of the type two friends - two friends you can choose one of the options.

The use of collective numbers is preferred:

1) with substantiated masculine adjectives: two passers-by, three sick, four escorts;

2) with masculine nouns ending -a : two men, three boys.

In some cases, on the contrary, collective numbers are not used, as they bring a reduced connotation of meaning, for example: two professors, three generals (not "two professors", "three generals" ).

3. In combination with animate nouns, collective numerals are used both in the nominative and in oblique cases: three children, mother of three.

In combination with inanimate nouns, as a rule, only the nominative-accusative form is used: two sledges, three scissors, four days. In indirect cases, the forms of the corresponding cardinal numbers are used: to two sledges, with three scissors, about four days.

At the word clock (device) collective noun is used one watch, two hours ) or add the word thing (missing five watches ). Expression "couple of hours" has a spacious character.

§168. Numerals in compound words

1. Equivalent variants of compound words, which includes the element: two - two-, For example: two vocal two voice, two bottomtwo bottom, two cooltwo cool, two summertwo summer, two fulltwo full, two pitchedtwo pitched, two complicatedtwo complicated, two trunktwo stem, two sidelinesstwo sideliness.

Difficult words two onboard, two leader, two hryvnia, two single, two vein, two significant, two prong, two splitting, two multiple, two private, two finger, two horny, two meaningful, two foot, two carbonic, two member, two lingual and some others do not allow spellings with two-.

But the main array of such compound words is written with the element two- : two atomic, two annual, two chamber, two anniversary, two local, two deck, two percentage, two ply, two centennial, two daily, two stroked, two languid, two hourly, two colored, two storey and etc.

The delimiting role is played by the phonetic-orthoepic difference: before vowels (including iotated ones), as a rule, is used two- to avoid the confluence of two vowels, for example: twoa ktny, two sleepy, two b I Russian, dvuhe elemental, but there are exceptions: two kitty, dvu carbonic, two shrill and some others.

2. numeral floor-, significant "half" , in the modern literary language is not used as an independent word (see § 45).

Numerals in compound words floor- with nouns in the genitive case, in oblique cases (except accusative) takes the form semi-, ex: half an hour, behind floor hours, at semi hour walk, floor year, during semi of the year.

In the nominative and accusative cases, the numeral floor- in compound words, it agrees with the plural adjective, for example: every floor years, in the first floor hours, difficult floor way, for the last floor century ("for the last half a century" - inappropriate use); with a verb predicate or a short participle, it agrees in the plural or neuter form: measured out floor century- measured floor century, passed floor hours- Half an hour passed.

In variant forms of the genitive case lacks semi hourslacks floor hours last option is colloquial.

Options floor boots, floor a portion in the presence of regulatory semi boots, semi a portion belong to the commonplace.

3. In words like 2500th anniversary two methods were used - the formation of compound words, the first element of which is a quantitative numeral, the form of the genitive case of a numeral without a connecting vowel (cf .: triennial, quintuple ) and a form with a connecting vowel (cf.: millennium ); the result is two thousand five hundred years .

In Russian, simple and complex numerals are expressed in one word. As a result, there are many difficulties in determining the category of the name of the numeral. This article describes the distinguishing features of simple and complex numerals, the features of their declension with examples.

Just like simple, complex numbers are expressed in one word. That is why many people have difficulty distinguishing between the words of these two categories. In order to accurately determine the category of a numeral by value, it is necessary to be able to see the composition of the word.

What is the difference between simple and complex numbers?

The number of simple numerals is not so great that it would be impossible to remember all of them. These include numbers from 0 to 20, as well as a word that stands for the number 30.

There are also few complex numbers. These are numbers from twenty to ninety and from two hundred to nine hundred. Complex quantitative and ordinal numbers have two roots, which are written together: thirty + twenty - thirty, five + ten - fifty.

In some simple numerals, historically, two roots can also be distinguished. These words include the names of numbers from 11 to 20 and 30. They include the full first part of the word one, two, four etc., preposition on the(in words 11 to 19) and an abbreviated version of the word " ten» – twenty. This is twenty has already lost its original meaning and has grown together with the first root of the word.

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Another difference between simple and complex numbers is the declension feature. The first ones are easy to change in cases: they change in the same way as nouns of the 3rd declension (daughter, oven, night).

Wed: seventeen(simple numerals in R. p.) - daughters(noun in R. p.).

In complex numerals, both bases change during declension: eight b ten_ - eight mi ten ti- eight ew ten ew; eight b hundred_ - eight and st am- eight ew st ami.

It is this feature of complex numerals that causes difficulties in their use in oral speech and in writing. In order to avoid mistakes when declensing such words, you should remember literally two patterns of their declension.

case

First base

End of the first base

Second base

End of the second base


AT.

P.

case

First base

End of the first base

Second base

End of the second base


D.
P.

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Numeral- one of the simplest parts of speech in Russian. It’s easy to find out the numeral - just ask the question “how much” or “which”, and if the word answers it, then it belongs to this group.

But within a large group, numerals are divided into several varieties. Consider the main ones and find out how to attribute a part of speech to a particular type.

What are the prime numbers?

Main hallmark numeral - this is the ability to write a word in numerical form, that is, in numbers. But the records can be very different from each other in terms of appearance and by reading - for example, the words "ten", "three hundred and twelve" and "one thousand six hundred and seventy-eight."

  • The group of prime numbers includes mostly prime numbers that are written with just one word - “six”, “nine”, “four”.
  • It happens that the numeral consists of two or more digits - “twelve”, “one hundred”, “million”. It still remains simple, since there is only one word - and most importantly, only one root.

Compound numbers

But such words as "sixty", "eighty" or "seven hundred" are no longer simple. Although they are written in one word, there are more roots here. For example, the word "sixty" consists of the stems "six" and "ten", the word "seven hundred" consists of the stems "seven" and "one hundred". Such words are usually called complex, and it is very important not to confuse them with simple ones.

Compound - numerals from several words

The main difference between compound numbers and the previous two groups is their spelling in several separate words. Examples are "one thousand sixty-eight", "four hundred and twenty-three", "eight hundred and forty-one", "twenty-two". Almost all fractions also belong to this group - if you write them in words, not numbers, you always get a whole phrase.

For example - "one point six", "five ninths", "two thirds". The only exception is the word "one and a half" - it can be used to express the number "one point five".

The rules for declension of compound numerals deserve special mention. They differ depending on the situation. Sometimes the expression is declined completely, for each word - for example, "pay for the purchase of three hundred and forty-three rubles." But in some cases, only the last part of the compound number is transformed. For example, you can take "in one thousand nine hundred and forty-five." As we can see, here the case is changed only for the last part - all the rest remain in the nominative case.