Russian collective numerals: What are they and how to use them?

In Russian, collective numerals are special numbers that are used to count sets of things that come together in a group. In English, there are no numbers of this type, but the closest equivalent would be phrases like “all four,” or “all three.”

In this post, we’ll look at how to form and use collective numerals in Russian, the differences between collective numerals and cardinal numbers, and what the various forms of collective numerals are. Finally, we’ll go through some fun facts about collective numerals in Russian. Read on!

There are only nine collective numerals in Russian, given in the table below.

Some grammar textbooks also call оба / обе (transcribed Oba / Obe, meaning “both (m./f.)”) a collective numeral but, in this article, we will only focus on the nine numbers in the chart above.

Collective numerals express quantity, just as cardinal numerals do, but they are used in slightly different contexts. For example:

• cardinal numeral

  пятеро человек

  Transcription: pYAtiro chelovEk

  Translation: five people
• collective numeral

  трое суток

  Transcription: trOye sOOtak

  Translation: three days and nights

  We need to use the collective numeral with сутки (transcribed sOOtki, meaning “day and night”).

How do you know if you should use a collective numeral instead of a cardinal number? Below, we outline some contexts where you can only use a collective numeral.

• Collective numerals are used with nouns if…

  • the noun only has a plural form

    collective numeral

    трое суток

    Transcription: trOye sootak

    Translation: three days and nights

    суток cannot be singular

    трое часов

    Transcription: trOye chasOv

    Translation: three watches

    Note that трое часов (transcribed trOye chasOv, meaning “three watches”) is different from три часа (transcribed tree chasA, meaning “three o'clock”).

  • the noun is something that comes in a pair

    collective numeral

    трое брюк

    Transcription: trOye brYUk

    Translation: three pairs of pants

    двое джинсов

    Transcription: dvOye dzhYnsaf

    Translation: two pairs of jeans

• Collective numerals are used with the personal pronouns to translate phrases like “We are a party/group of…”+ number. You’ll see this specifically used with the pronouns нас (transcribed nas, meaning “us”), вас (transcribed vas, meaning “you”), and их (transcribed eekh, meaning “them”).

  collective numeral

  Нас трое.

  Transcription: nas trOye

  Translation: There are three of us.

  Их было пятеро.

  Transcription: eekh byla pYAtera

  Translation: There were five of them.

• Collective numerals are used by themselves without nouns to represent a group of people (masculine or feminine).

  collective numeral

  Трое вышли из здания.

  Transcription: trOye vYshli iz zdAniya

  Translation: Three people exited the building.

While the above contexts allow only for collective numerals, there are some other contexts of use in which you can use collective and cardinal numerals interchangeably.

In all of the cases below, the cardinal numerals are preferred in more formal contexts, while collective numerals are a bit less formal.

Like most words in Russian, collective numerals can be used in a variety of different cases, depending on the role the noun they quantify plays in the sentence (e.g. subject, object, possessor, etc.). Here are the rules to follow:

• If the noun that the collective numeral quantifies would usually be used in the nominative or accusative case, then the number will be nominative or accusative (depending on context), but the noun itself will always be genitive plural.

  accusative (number)genitive plural (noun)

  Кошка родила двоих котят.

  Transcription: KOshka radEEla dvaEEkh katYAt

  Translation: The cat gave birth to two kittens.

• In situations where you would usually put the noun in some other case, then the number and the noun will both have the case that is appropriate the the context.

  instrumental

  Она осталась с двоими детьми.

  Transcription: anA astAlas s dvaEEmi ditmEE

  Translation: She was left with two children.

Let’s look now at how to form the collective numerals in different cases.

The chart below shows the declined forms of collective numerals in different cases. Notice that there are two patterns: one for the numbers 2 and 3, and one for the numbers 4+.

Here are three fun facts about collective numerals in Russian:

1. The following nouns are frequently used with двое, трое, and четверо:

   *In Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, 5 out of 14 instances (35.7%) of the collective numeral двое (transcribed dvOye, meaning “two”) are used with суток, as in двое суток (transcribed dvOye sOOtak, meaning “two days and nights”).

   Russian	English
   двое суток (transcribed dvOye sOOtak)*	two days and nights
   двое детей (transcribed dvOye ditYEi)	two children
   двое мужчин (transcribed dvOye moozhchEEn)	two men
   двое рабочих (transcribed dvOye rabOchikh)	two workers
   двое людей (transcribed dvOye lyudYEi)	two people
   двое человек (transcribed dvOye chyelavYEk)	two people
   двое братьев (transcribed dvOye brAtyef)	two brothers
   двое сыновей (transcribed dvOye synavYEi)	two sons
   двое ребят (transcribed dvOye ryebYAt)	two guys

2. Here are a couple of movie titles that use collective numerals:

   collective numeral

   “Трое из Простоквашино”

   Transcription: trOye iz prastakvAshina

   Translation: Three from Prostokvashino

   A Russian cartoon — you can watch it here!

   “Волк и семеро козлят”

   Transcription: Volk ee sYEmyera kazlYAt

   Translation: Wolf and Seven Goat Kids

   A Russian story, made into a cartoon that you can watch here!

3. Here are a couple common Russian idioms that use collective numerals:

   collective numeral

   Семеро одного не ждут.

   Transcription: sYEmira adnavO ni zhdOOt

   Translation: Seven people do not wait for one person.

   Use this idiom to say that a group of many people aren’t going to wait for just one person who is late.

   Семеро по лавкам

   Transcription: sYEmira pa lAfkam

   Translation: seven on the benches

   This is said about someone who has too many children to feed or take care of.

In this post we discussed collective numerals in Russian. We saw that:

• They are only nine collective numbers, but they change forms depending on their role in the sentence.

• There are a few situations where collective numerals are always used:

  • with nouns that are always plural

  • with nouns that always come in a pair

  • with pronouns, to translate phrase like “there are X of us/you/them”

  • by themselves, to represent a group of people

  …but they are interchangeable with the cardinal numbers in other cases:

  • nouns referring to animal babies

  • with animate collective nouns

  • with nouns referring to male humans

  • with nouns referring to a mixed-gender group of humans

Now that we have discussed Russian collective numerals, shall we apply all this with some of our practice exercises?