yeah, so apparently один takes the nomitive case but it also changes to like одного and stuff? I know the 2-4 and 5+ rule but I'm very confused about один
@thomyorkies, sorry that i’m not sending this to you privately! i’ve written quite a lot and i’m scared tumblr will swallow up the message.
oh! okay, sure c: so! i think i’ll start with the very beginning. (WARNING: I SUCK AT EXPLAINING THINGS SORRY)
like in english, there are different parts of speech in russian language, too. there are nouns, there are verbs, there are adverbs… there are adjectives and numerals. though! in russian language the endings in adjectives and numerals can be changed for the sake of grammatical agreement. for example: there should be a sequence of tenses in english when you are forming a sentense with conditionals. russian requires the same thing with nouns and adjectives/numerals. i know this sounds weird. but i’ll try to explain.
in english there are single and plural numbers. in french nouns can also be feminine or masculine. in russian there also different cases of a noun. and adjectives/numerals (they are changed in almost the same way - adjectives and numerals) should have the same form (plural or single), same gender (masculine / feminine / neuter) and same case (there are six cases in russian language: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and prepositional) as the noun they are related to. all the changes are reflected in the endings.
and that’s why you are confused! when someone tells you, “can you count in russian?” and you go: “yeah, look: один, два, три, четыре…” the numerals are separated from nouns! they should not be in sequence with nouns, therefore there is no need to change them, so they are in the “начальная форма” - the infinitive - single, masculine, nominative case. THOUGH when there is a noun, the ending of the numeral should be change, depending on the form, gender and case of the noun.
so, here are russian numerals, infinitive: 1 - один, 2 - два, 3 - три, 4 - четыре, 5 - пять, 6 - шесть, 7 - семь, 8 - восемь, 9 - девять, 10 - десять.
and here are examples how the endings can be changed:
1 masculine / feminine / neuter:
стакан (translation - a glass; single, masculine): один стакан
кровать (a bed; single, feminine): одна кровать
окно (a window; sinlge, neuter): одно окно
2 single/plural:
cтаканы (glasses; plural): два стакана, три стакана, четыре стакана, пять стаканов, шесть стаканов, семь стаканов, восемь стаканов, девять стаканов, десять стаканов
кровати (beds, plural): две кровати, три кровати, четыре кровати, пять кроватей, шесть кроватей, семь кроватей, восемь кроватей, девять кроватей, десять кроватей
окна (windows, plural): два окна, три окна, четыре окна, пять окон, шесть окон, семь окон, восемь окон, девять окон, десять окон
3 cases:
okay this is some advanced stuff you don’t need yet, but i’m going to show you this anyway so you can see, how the numerals can be changed
for example, собака (a dog; single, feminine)
nominative: собака - одна собакаgenitive: собаки - одной собакиdative: собаке - одной собакеaccusative: собаку - одну собакуinstrumental: собакой - одной собакойprepositional: собаке - одной собаке
another example: стол (a table; single, masculine)
nominative: стол - один столgenitive: стола - одного столаdative: столу - одному столуaccusative: стол - один столinstrumental: столом - одним столомprepositional: столе - одном столе
i hope this explanation made things more or less clear! if you still have any questions - don’t hesitate to ask me!
