Collective Numbers in Russian

In Russian, collective numerals are used to talk about a group of people or animals as a whole. There are not many collective numbers in Russian. Some of them are:

двое - two [DVOH-yeh]
трое - three [TROH-yeh]
четверо - four [CHYET-vee-rah]
пятеро - five [PYAH-tee-rah]
шестеро - six [SHYES-tee-rah]
семеро - seven [SYEH-mee-rah]

Learning collective numbers will help you expand your Russian vocabulary and further improve your understanding of the Russian grammar. To notice the difference in meaning between the cardinal and collective numbers, let's look at the following example:

Два друга живут в разных домах.	Двое братьев живут в одном доме.
(Two friends live in separate houses.)	(Two brothers live in one house.)
Use cardinal numeral: because the friends live separately	Use collective numbers: because the people are brothers and live in one house

Forming the Collective Numbers

Russian collective numbers are formed from corresponding cardinal numbers with the help of such suffixes as -о- and -ер-. For example:

два --> двое [DVOH-yeh]
три --> трое [TROH-yeh]
четыре --> четверо [CHYET-vee-rah]

All collective numbers in Russian change by cases (i.e. decline). Let's take a look at how the numbers двое and четверо decline.

Declension of двое and четверо
(stressed vowels are underlined)

Case	Numeral двое	Numeral четверо
Nominative	двое	четверо
Genitive	двоих	четверых
Dative	двоим	четверым
Accusative	двоих - animate двое - inanimate	четверых - animate четверо - inanimate
Instrumental	двоими	четверыми
Prepositional	(о) двоих	(о) четверых

Using the Russian Collective Numbers

The Russian grammar has several rules about proper usage of the collective numbers. The collective numbers can be used:

With masculine nouns

четверо учеников - four students
четверо отдыхающих - four holiday-makers (vacationers)
трое гостей - three guests
With nouns designating children and young animals

двое детей - two children
семеро ребят - seven children
семеро козлят - seven small goats
четверо волчат - seven small wovles
With nouns which are always plural

трое людей - three people
двое суток - two days
четверо ножниц - four scissors
двое очков - two pairs of glasses

Collective numbers are not used with feminine nouns (except обе). You should always say две сестры (two sisters), четыре реки (four rivers), etc.

There are two more collective numbers you should know about: оба and обе. Unlike the rest of the collective numbers, these numbers can be used with nouns of all three genders.

The number оба is used with the masculine and neuter nouns. It has the letter o in the stem when you decline it.

Declension of оба
(stressed vowels are underlined)

Case	Numeral оба (both boys)
Nominative	оба мальчика
Genitive	обоих мальчиков
Dative	обоим мальчикам
Accusative	обоих мальчиков
Instrumental	обоими мальчиками
Prepositional	(об) обоих мальчиках

The numeral обе is used with feminine nouns and has the letter e in the stem when you decline it.

Declension of обe
(stressed vowels are underlined)

Case	Numeral обe (both girls)
Nominative	обе девочки
Genitive	обеих девочек
Dative	обеим девочкам
Accusative	обеих девочек
Instrumental	обеими девочками
Prepositional	(об) обеих девочках

This concludes the lesson about Russian collective numbers. You may want to study the following grammar lessons to better understand how to use the numbers in Russian.

Related lessons

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