words for numbers in Slavic languages

words for numbers in Slavic languages

Like English, the Slavic

languages

derive most of their words for integers from a few words for the numbers 1 to 9 and selected powers of 10.

Also like English, the teens

10

<

n

<

20

get their own irregular words which don’t follow the pattern established for

20

<

n

<

100

. However, these words are irregular in different ways among the different languages. Note also the special Russian word for 40, whereas most of the other Slavic languages use a word which is obviously “four tens.”

The Slavic languages developed from Old Russian and Church Slavonic, adapting the Greek alphabet for their own purposes, coming up with the Cyrillic

alphabet

.

Modern Russian is of course written in the Cyrillic alphabet, which is still used for some of the other slavic languages. PlanetMath has facilities for including Russian text in entries, however, for the sake of easier comparison, I’ve decided to transliterate the Russian words to the Roman alphabet. Note however that I’ve tried to do so as a speaker of some Slavic language would do, and not as an English-speaker.

If it’s not too much of a digression, I’d like to mention that the Slavic languages using the Roman alphabet are fairly

consistent

about using “c” only for a “ts” sound (any other sound being indicated by the

addition

of a diacritical mark). The cited books have much more detailed information on pronunciation than can be given here.

In the following table, the first word given is the

cardinal

(e.g., “twelve”), and if a second word is given, it’s the

ordinal

(e.g., “twelfth”).

n

Russian (translit.)

Polish

Serbo-Croat

Slovene

0

nul’

zero

nula

nič

1

odín, perviy

jeden, pierwszy

jedan, prvi

ena, prvi

2

dva, vtoróy

dwa, drugi

dva, drugi

dva, drugi

3

tri, trétiy

trzy, trzecy

tri, treći

tri, tretje

4

četire, četvyortiy

cztery, czwarty

četiri, četvrti

štiri, četrti

5

pyat’, pyatiy

piȩć, pia̧ty

pet, peti

pet, peti

6

šest’, šestóy

sześć, szósty

šest, šesti

šest, šesti

7

sem’, sedimóy

siedem, siódmy

sedam, sedmi

sedem, sedmi

8

vosém’, vosemóy

osiem, ósmy

osam, osmi

osem, osmi

9

devyat’, devyatiy

dziewiȩć, dziewia̧ty

devet, deveti

devet, deveti

10

desyat’, desyatiy

dziesiȩć, dziesia̧ty

deset, deseti

deset, deseti

11

odinnadcat’, odinnadcatiy

jedenaście, jedenasty

jedanaest, jedanaesti

enajst, enajsti

12

dvenádcat’, dvenádcatiy

dwanaście, dwunasty

dvanaest, dvanaesti

dvanajst, dvanajsti

13

trinádcat’, trinádcatiy

trzynaście, trzynasty

trinaest, trinaesti

trinajst, trinajsti

14

četirnádcat’, četirnádcatiy

czternaście, czternasty

četrnaest, četrnaesti

štirinajst, štirinajsti

15

pyatnádcat’, pyatnádcatiy

piȩtnaście, piȩtnaśty

petnaest, petnaesti

petnajst, petnajsti

16

šestnádcat’, šestnádcatiy

szesnaście, szesnasty

šestnaest, šestnaesti

šestnajst, šestnajsti

17

semnádcat’, semnádcatiy

siedemnaście, siedemnasty

sedamnaest, sedamnaesti

sedemnajst, sedemnajsti

18

vosemnádcat’, vosemnádcatiy

osiemnaście, osiemnasty

osemnaest, osemnaesti

osemnajst, osemnajsti

19

devyatnádcat’, devyatnádcatiy

dziewiȩtnaście, dziewiȩtnaśty

devetnaest, devetnaesti

devetnajst, devetnajsti

20

dvadcat’, dvadcátiy

dwadzieścia, dwudziesty

dvadeset, dvadeseti

dvajdeset, dvajdeseti

21

dvadcat’ odín

dwaddzieścia jeden, , dwudziesty pierwszy

dvadeset i jedan

enaindvajdeset

30

tridcat’, tridcatiy

trzydzieści, trzydziesty

trideset, trideseti

trideset

40

sorok, sorokovóy

czterdzieści, czterdziesty

četrdeset, četrdeseti

štirideset

50

pyat’desyat’

piȩćdziesia̧t, piȩćdziesia̧t

pedeset

petdeset

60

šest’desyat

sześćdziesia̧t, sześćdziesia̧ty

šezdeset

šestdeset

70

sem’desyat

siedemdziesia̧t, siedemdziesia̧ty

sedamdeset

sedemdeset

80

vocem’desyat

osiemdziesia̧t, osiemdziesia̧ty

osamdeset

osemdeset

90

devyanósto

dziewiȩćdziesia̧t, dziewiȩćdziesia̧t

devedeset

devetdeset

100

sto

sto, setny

sto, stoci

sto, stoti

200

dvesti

dwieście, dwusetny

dvesta

dvesto

300

trista

trzyście, trzysetny

trista

tristo

1000

tisyača

tysia̧c, tysiȩczny

hiljada, hiljaditi

tisoč

2000

dve tisyači

dwatysia̧ce

dve hiljade

1000000

millión

milion

milijun

milijon

In Serbo-Croat, they say “comma” where we would say “point,” reflecting the European preference for the decimal comma instead of our

decimal point

. For example, 3.5 = “tri koma pet.” The fractions in Serbo-Croat are as irregular as in most other languages. A few examples:

1

2

polovina

1

3

trećine

1

4

četrvina

1

100

stotinka

References

1

Anonymous,

Serbo-Croat Phrasebook

Bristol: Hadder & Stoughton Ltd. (1982): 77 - 79

2

Hania Forss,

Polish Phrase Book

Lincolnwood: NTC Publishing Group (1996): 114 - 117

3

Della Thompson, ed.,

Oxford Russian Starter Dictionary

. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Title

words for numbers in Slavic languages

Canonical

name

WordsForNumbersInSlavicLanguages

Date of creation

2013-03-22 17:33:04

Last modified on

2013-03-22 17:33:04

Owner

PrimeFan (13766)

Last modified by

PrimeFan (13766)

Numerical id

8

Author

PrimeFan (13766)

Entry type

Topic

Classification

msc 00A99

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