The Russian language is considered the most difficult of all existing on the planet. It just so happened that we are almost the only carriers of it. That is why it is necessary to comply with this proud title. An active study of it begins at school: in the elementary grades, the alphabet is mastered, and in the upper and middle levels it is more complex material, but even his good knowledge does not guarantee that you will be fluent in Russian.
What is a language? Many will answer this question without hesitation: words. Although this is not entirely true, partly the answer to the question is correct. It is words that form the basis of our speech.
Forming sentences, they form texts that carry information. Of course, words have their own specific ranks, called parts of speech. There are a limited number of them: everyone, for example, knows about the noun, adjective and verb. So, among them there is another category of words that are often forgotten and confused in it. It's about the numbers. They come in several forms, are used in different ways. That such ordinal and quantitative numerals, as they are used, will be discussed in this article.
Parts of speech
As already mentioned above, in Russian all words are divided into classes, or parts of speech - independent and official. The first group includes all those that have a meaning separately from the context: noun, verb, adjective. Numerals also belong to this group. The second part is official, which includes particles, prepositions, and so on. Precisely because the words denoting numbers can be attributed to the first group, it is possible to determine the cases of quantitative numerals and the gender of ordinals.
What is a numeral?
We know that there is such a part of speech as the numeral. What does she mean? In fact, everything is quite simple: from the name itself you can understand that these words are responsible for writing numbers and numbers using Russian letters.
For example, the notation “2” is a mathematical form, and “two” is a numeral written according to the rules of the Russian language. Many people believe that this part of the speech is useless, because it is much more convenient to use Arabic or even Roman numerals, but since this type of word exists, it means it is necessary. There are a number of opinions that the numbers in mathematical form are also numerals. However, linguists consider this approach incorrect, because numbers are usually attributed to symbols and signs, not words, and the numeral, by definition, is part of speech.
Types of Numerals
Like any part of speech in Russian, numerals have their own ranks. At school, we were told only about two, but linguists distinguish four. We will analyze them all in detail.
- So, the first type is quantitative numerals. They answer the question: "How much?" For example: how many pears? how many guys? In other words, they indicate the number of any items that need to be counted. Among the signs they note only the case, that is, they have neither gender nor number. The exception is the quantitative numerals “two” and “one” - they have both a number and a case, but the words “two” and “one and a half” can also be used in different kinds. Thus, we can conclude that the use of numerals is associated mainly with the use of the quantitative type.
- The second type includes such a group, the existence of which can be heard quite rarely, is collective numerals. For many, this name may seem rather unusual. In fact, collective numerals are a type of quantitative. The only difference is that they mean “collecting a certain amount”, which is why they were put in a separate group. Examples of such numerals are the words two, three, five, and so on. One of the most important points is that this kind is not used with feminine nouns. For example, one cannot say “three women”.
- The third type includes ordinal numbers. They are used to recount any objects and are written (read) as follows: first, second, tenth, and so on. Ordinal and quantitative numerals can vary in cases, and the ordinal form will always coincide with the form of the adjective, so some linguists attribute such numerals to this part of speech.
- The fourth group is fractional numerals. This type always has a composite character, and the decimal fractions can be used nouns "integer" and "zero". The endings of fractional numerals depend on the case in which they are located. Examples are the words: three fifths; zero point eight.
Simple and compound forms
Ordinal and quantitative numerals can have a simple and compound form. In the first case, they consist of one word, and in the other - of several, including may include nouns. Fractional numerals always have a composite form. For example: four thirds (consists of two words). When using compound forms in different cases, many people often have difficulties. For example, try putting the numeral one hundred eighty-four thousand seven hundred fifty-one in the prepositional case. How to learn how to do it right away will be written a little below.
Examples of numerals in the text
The most striking example of the use of these words can be considered fiction. Classics often used such words to denote numbers, which is why the use of numerals in novels and short stories is quite widespread. In general, it is considered generally accepted to write all numbers in letters in narrative literature - this facilitates the perception of a literary text and does not allow a person to switch from one type of information - textual - to another, in this case numerical.
In literature, sentences with numbers can look like this: “There were three buckets of land in the yard” - this is an example of using a quantitative number. “Two hussars famously picked up the wounded and put him on a stretcher” - an expression using a collective form. Rarely enough, fractional varieties can be found. One such case can be called the well-known platform of "nine and three quarters" in the book of J. Rowling "Harry Potter." Most of all we meet with a capital variant of the use of numbers when we study at school. For example, in the textbook “Russian language. Grade 6 "Lodyzhenskaya a lot of tasks containing written variations of various numbers, since it is to the section" Morphology "that the greatest attention is paid here.
Numerals in the school curriculum
As mentioned above, numerals are those parts of speech in the characteristics and typology of which even diligent students are confused. This happens because in the program on the subject "Russian language" the 6th grade is the only one where this part of speech is studied in detail.
Naturally, students forget important information, but meanwhile, numerals can meet at the Unified State Examination in a task devoted to grammatically correct use of words. As a rule, here these parts of speech are presented in composite form (and, by the way, not in the nominative case). The examiner is required to determine whether it is used correctly or not, which for many is a serious problem. To complete the task it is necessary to have a high level of knowledge of material related to the declension of parts of speech in cases, you need to know how the endings of the numerals are formed. The problem is precisely that the guys simply forget the material, because at the time of its study, the percentage of those to whom it is not given, tends to zero. Everyone knows the ranks and knows how to persuade any numerals in cases, but after a certain time, with insufficient practice, this skill is lost, so you need to refresh your knowledge before exams.
Proper use of numerals
In general, the main difficulties, and not only among students, but also among most people, are caused by the correct use of this part of speech. People simply don’t know what the numbers look like. Therefore, we will analyze in detail which endings have different digits of "uppercase" numbers.
The simplest forms have quantitative numerals: words denoting numbers from five to twenty and thirty, in the genitive, dative and prepositional cases have the endings -i , and in the instrumental -th . Let us examine the declension of the numeral "five" as an example. So, let’s decline on the cases: five, five, five, five, five, five. In numbers from fifty to eighty and from two hundred to nine hundred, both parts of the word are inclined, for example: fifty, fifty, fifty, fifty, fifty, about fifty. In the event that the numeral is compound, each of the words is tilted separately.
As for ordinal numbers, varying in numbers and gender, in them the ending is formed on the same principle as in relative adjectives. An important feature is that when declensing the cases of the composite form, only the last word changes. For example, four thousand eight hundred ninety six, four thousand eight hundred ninety six, four thousand eight hundred ninety six, four thousand eight hundred ninety six, four thousand eight hundred ninety six, about four thousand eight hundred ninety six.
Fractional numerals can be conditionally divided into two types: the numerator of the fraction is in quantitative form, and the denominator is in the ordinal form. It follows that it is possible to change the fractional numeral by separately declensing both words by case.
By remembering these simple rules, you can be sure of the correct use of any necessary forms. More clearly information about the endings can demonstrate the table of numbers.
Main mistakes
After a more detailed acquaintance with how the numerals change, it may seem that it is impossible to remember all this. In fact, there is nothing difficult and unusual here - it’s enough to independently decline some of the composite forms, as soon as the principle becomes clear, then the errors disappear. It has been noticed that people who more often use sentences with numbers in colloquial speech make fewer oversights in writing when solving tests.
Based on the same results of the checks, it was found that the main difficulties for respondents with changing words in case forms, which indicates the illiteracy of a certain percentage of the country's population. In oral tests, two-thirds of the respondents had difficulty pronouncing complex composite numerals, and the forms also remained incorrect.
A few tips for learning numbers
If you want to study this part of speech really well and never have a problem with it in your life, you should act in this way. The first step is to learn all the material that is required for mastering. You can stretch this process for several days using standard memory procedures: visual, auditory memory, as well as well-known techniques, such as reading before bedtime. After a thorough study of the theory, we can proceed to practice. No, you don’t need to sit at books and write dozens of pages with declensions of numerals (however, you can try - this operation is quite useful, albeit time-consuming). In fact, in our life all visible objects can be counted. Pay attention to how many cars drove past, or you can just read the signs on the signs and look at the price tags in stores - why not the numbers? Further, using theoretical knowledge, it is recommended to perform declensions in cases in the mind. After about a week, pronunciation of the numerals will no longer be a problem at all. If this method is complicated, then the first option always remains - to prescribe. Of course, each one himself decides on the method of studying the material, selects the optimal one, but the methods given above will allow one to quickly learn the declination technique, and therefore, to avoid the most common mistakes.
Numerals in the documentation
Surely many people filled out tax returns and other financial documents, where any amount is necessarily present. You probably noticed that a mathematical designation is always (in brackets or on a separate line) spelled out in words, that is, a quantitative numeral. What is this demagogy for? It is believed that this will protect against errors. If a person has an incomprehensible handwriting, he can write a number so that it can be easily confused with some other, and if the number is written completely in letters, the probability of error is less.
Conclusion
So, now you know what ordinal and quantitative numerals are, as well as what other types exist. After reading this article, there should be no doubt about how to correctly use these words in your colloquial and written speech. Of course, it will be necessary to make efforts for this, but the result will please you. It should also be said that every resident of our country is obliged to own their own language at the proper level. Of course, it is impossible to know Russian from cover to cover (well, there are no such people), but you still need to be able to speak correctly. At least to ensure that others understood the meaning of the statements, and you, once in a “decent” society, did not feel embarrassed.