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Пять
The most common Russian word for five is пять, which declines like this:
| Nom | пять |
| Acc | |
| Gen | пяти |
| Pre | |
| Dat | |
| Ins | пятью |
When пять occurs in oblique cases (oblique means a case other than nominative or accusative), it works pretty well like we would expect from a theoretical point of view; that is, it declines as we would expect and the noun it quantifies shows up in the same case in the plural:
| Gen | Мы там работали около пяти часов. | We worked there around five hours. |
| Pre | Мы поговорили о пяти книгах. | We talked about five books. |
| Dat | Я подошёл к пяти иностранцам. | I walked up to five foreigners. |
| Ins | Я работаю с пятью америкосами. | I work with five Yanks. |
Now here's the weird part... If пять is part of a nominative case number phrase or an accusative case number phrase, then the noun it quantifies shows up in the genitive plural:
| Во дворе играли пять мальчиков. | Five boys were playing in the courtyard. |
| Я купил пять столов. | I bought five tables. |
I know, I know. You are wondering why. The answer of course is that the Russians do this for security purposes: by making the language complicated, it's easier to identify foreign spies...
Note: америкос is a mildly condescending word for Americans.
1 comment
with these little teeeny nuances, a spy is caught!!!!
i love it!!!
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