Russian · TORFL Band 1 (A1) · Chapter 11
Сколько тебе лет?How old are you?
Numbers 11 to 100 (одиннадцать, двадцать, сто) plus тысяча and ноль. Age in Russian is a special phrase: "Мне двадцать лет" — literally "to me twenty years", with no verb "to be" and in the dative case (мне, тебе). The question: "Сколько тебе лет?". The word "год/года/лет" changes: один год, два года, пять лет. New words: одиннадцать, двадцать, сто, тысяча, ноль, год, лет, сколько, первый, последний. Reading: stress in the numbers and the soft sign in "сколько".
Dialogue
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Я или мне?— я or мне?
- IvanМайк,сколькотебелет?Mike, how old are you?
- MikeЯдвадцатьодин.I'm twenty-one. (slip: age uses the dative «мне» + год, not «я» — say «Мне двадцать один год»)
- IvanПо-русски:«Мнедвадцатьодингод».In Russian: "Мне двадцать один год".
- MikeА,мнедвадцатьодингод.Атебе?Ah, I am twenty-one. And you?
- IvanМнедевятнадцатьлет.I'm nineteen.
Dialogue
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Возраст семьи— The Family Ages
- AnyaИван,скольколеттвоейсестре?Ivan, how old is your sister?
- IvanМоейсестреОлепятнадцатьлет.Онапоследняя.My sister Olya is fifteen. She is the last (youngest).
- AnyaАтвойбрат?And your brother?
- IvanМоемубратуПетрудвадцатьчетырегода.Онпервый.My brother Pyotr is twenty-four. He is the first (oldest).
Vocabulary
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- одиннадцать
numeraleleven
- двадцать
numeraltwenty
- сто
numeralhundred
- тысяча
numeralthousand
- ноль
numeralzero
- год
nounyear (m)
- лет
nounyears (for age)
- сколько
adverbhow many
- первый
adjectivefirst
- последний
adjectivelast
Grammar
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Age: "Мне … лет"
Explanation
In Russian, age is said NOT through "я" (I), but through the dative case + the word "лет", with no verb: "Мне двадцать лет" (literally "to me twenty years"). Compare: "Мне" (to me), "Тебе" (to you), "Ему/Ей" (to him/her). The question: "Сколько тебе лет?". The English mistake is to say "Я двадцать" (like "I am twenty"): in Russian you need "Мне двадцать лет". And the word "год" changes after a number: 1 → год, 2–4 → года, 5 and more → лет. So: двадцать один год, двадцать два года, двадцать пять лет. Numbers: 11–19 end in "-надцать" (одиннадцать), the tens in "-дцать/-десят" (двадцать, тридцать), сто = 100.
Examples
- Сколько тебе лет? — Мне двадцать лет.How old are you? — I am twenty.
- Моей бабушке сто лет.My grandmother is a hundred years old.
- Это первый раз.It's the first time.
- Мой номер: два, ноль, ноль, один.My number is two, zero, zero, one.
Cyrillic
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Большие числа и мягкий знак— Bigger numbers and the soft sign
Today we read bigger numbers. "Одиннадцать" is written with a double -нн- and stress on "-ди-": "a-DEEN-nadtsat". The tens end in a soft "-дцать": "двадцать" = "DVA-dtsat" (soft sign ь at the end), "тридцать". "Сто" is just "sto", "тысяча" is "TY-sya-cha" with a hard ы. And in "сколько" the soft sign softens the "л": "SKOL-ka", unstressed о → "a". Count aloud and listen for the soft endings. Trust your ear.
Count aloud, listening for the stress:
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