Ordinals

Numerals in Russian are a significant part of speech that combines words, denoting figures, the number of objects and their order when counting. Questions to which they always answer: "How much?", "Which?".

There are two varieties of them: the quantitative and other forms are ordinal numerals, differing in importance.

The first category includes those that denote abstract numbers - for example, six , or the number of items - five fingers. In turn, they are collective, for example, five , fractional - two-thirds, whole- nine .

Quantitative integer numbers are numbers or integers. As a rule, they are combined with nouns, designating such items, which can be counted individually.

With the help of fractional quantitative numerals denote quantities or fractional numbers, combining them with countable names by nouns, and with uncountable ones. However, they are never combined with animate people.

Collective are the numbers that show the number of objects as a whole. For example: three, five, seven , etc. However, they are combined with only some nouns, including those of both sexes, with the names of the young animals, with the words face, person, child, with words that have a dual meaning - socks, Glasses , with personal pronouns.

Words that help to designate the order of several identical objects when they are counted are ordinal numerals. For example: the first exam, the third ticket, the first question.

Like adjectives, ordinal numerals can act as determinations for nouns, consistent with them in the case, number and genus.

However, there is a slightly different approach to this part of the speech. A remarkable philologist, academician V.V. Vinogradov believed that the ordinal numerals belong to their relative adjectives in terms of their formal-grammatical peculiarities .

The similarity of ordinal and quantitative numerals is also apparent when quantitative species are used in the values of ordinal ones. This is especially evident when you specify the address: apartment eight instead of the eighth apartment .

Ordinal numerals have a number of grammatical features common with the adjective. These include a unified system with declination, morphological structure and rules of word formation. During use, certain ordinal numbers receive a qualitative, phraseological meaning. For example: in the foreground, the second violin, in the first hands , etc.

Declining, these composite ordinal parts of speech do not change all those constituents of numerals that have a quantitative form. Only the latter changes, one that is consistent with the noun and has an order form: in the year nineteen forty-two .

In their structure, these parts of speech are simple and complex. Simple are made up of one, and compound ones are made up of two or more words. For example: three, thirty-five .

Those numerals, which consist of a single word, but have several roots, are called complex: eight hundred .

The writing of numbers consisting of two or more bases is a merged: eight hundred .

Compound ones are written separately, and in their combination there are as many words as in this number of significant figures, without zeros, but with the addition of words such as a thousand, million, etc. For example, twenty-four (24), two hundred and eight (208) , etc.

Those ordinal parts of speech, which end in a thousand, billion, etc., are written together: twenty-three thousandth .

In grammar, there are two forms of spelling: zero and zero . Based on the terminological meaning, the first form is often used. For example: is equal to zero . However, in stable word combinations, both forms are used: nol attention, at hour zero-zero.