The numeral

1. Numerals are words which denote the number of some objects – cardinal numerals (cardinals) or the place of object (objects) in the numerical order of other objects – ordinal numerals (ordinals).

I have two dogs. (cardinal numeral)

The second room was empty. (ordinal numeral)

Table 11

0	nought, zero
1	one	1st	first
2	two	2nd	second
3	three	3rd	third
4	four	4th	fourth
5	five	5th	fifth
6	six	6th	sixth
7	seven	7th	seventh
8	eight	8th	eighth
9	nine	9th	ninth
10	ten	10th	tenth
11	eleven	11th	eleventh
12	twelve	12th	twelfth
13	thirteen	13th	thirteenth
14	fourteen	14th	fourteenth
15	fifteen	15th	fifteenth
16	sixteen	16th	sixteenth
17	seventeen	17th	seventeenth
18	eighteen	18th	eighteenth
19	nineteen	19th	nineteenth
20	twenty	20th	twentieth
21	twenty-one	21st	twenty-first
30	thirty	30th	thirtieth
40	forty	40th	fortieth
50	fifty	50th	fiftieth
60	sixty	60th	sixtieth
70	seventy	70th	seventies
80	eighty	80th	eightieth
90	ninety	90th	ninetieth
100	one (a) hundred	100th	(one) hundredth
101	one (a) hundred and one	101st	(one) hundred and first
1,000	one (a) thousand	1,000th	(one) thousandth
1,001	one (a) thousand and one	1,001st	one thousand and first
100,000	one hundred thousand	100,000th	(one) hundred thousandth
1,000,000	one million	1,000,000th	(one) millionth
1,000,001	one million and one	1,000,001st	(one) million and first

2. Among the cardinals there are simple, derived, and compound words.

The cardinals from one to twelve, hundred, thousand, million are simple words; those from thirteen to nineteen are derived from the corresponding simple ones by means of the suffix -teen; the cardinals denoting tens are derived from the corresponding simple ones by means of the suffix -ty. The cardinals from twenty-one to twenty-nine, from thirty-one to thirty-nine, etc. and those over hundred are compounds. In cardinals including hundreds and thousands the words denoting units and tens are joined to those denoting hundreds, thousands, by means of the conjunction and: 105 – one hundred and five, 382 – three hundred and eighty-two, 2075 – two thousand and seventy-five, 9783 – nine thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. Quite unlike Russian, composite cardinals ending in one (twenty-one, two hundred and one, etc.) require a plural noun: thirty-one pages, three hundred and one pages.

Dates and telephone numbers.

1800 – eighteen hundred. 1905 – nineteen oh [ou] five or nineteen hundred and five. 1988 – nineteen eighty-eight or nineteen hundred and eighty-eight. 9^th May, 1945 – the ninth of May nineteen forty-five. May 9^th, 1945 – May the ninth, nineteen forty-five. 7-19-05 – seven, one, nine, [ou], five. 240-22-39 – two, four, [ou], double two, three, nine.

Time.

10:25 – ten twenty-five or twenty-five (minutes) past ten. 1:50 – one fifty or ten (minutes) to two. 6:45 – six forty-five or a quarter to seven. 7:15 – seven fifteen or a quarter past seven. 3:30 – three thirty or half past three. 6:00 – six sharp.

Exercise 177. Read and write the following cardinal numerals:

3, 4, 12, 15, 31, 18, 42, 56, 61, 74, 80, 95, 100, 236, 704, 801, 1000, 4581, 6922, 7634, 32986, 578392, 2983723, 84726484.

Exercise 178. Write ordinal numerals from the cardinal ones:

1, 3, 5, 10, 12, 15, 19, 24, 28, 37, 58, 69, 62, 78, 81, 93, 100, 106, 258, 386, 542, 631, 840, 915, 1000, 3857, 9573, 87502, 928473.

Exercise 179. Write in English the following dates:

24 сентября 1911 года, 2 мая 1938 года, 26 марта 1939 года, 22 июня 1941 года, 12 апреля 1964 года, 24 марта 1965 года, 9 мая 1971 года, 5 октября 1990 года, 31 декабря 1995 года, 16 января 1962 года, 29 июля 1983 года, 3 февраля 1953 года, 7 ноября 1977 года, 1 января 2000 года, 5 августа 2006 года, 19 ноября 1966 года.

Exercise 180. Write in English:

a) time: 8:29, 4:32, 7:10, 11:15, 10:45, 7:48, 2:20, 4: 51, 12:50, 9:16, 1:59, 3:01, 3:15, 2:05, 4:00, 5:45, 7:30.

b) telephone numbers: 367-1877; 475-12-00; 74-25-97; 2-12-05; 9-97-79; 7-74-16; 4-46-41; 8-029-765-88-19.

3. Fractions

The words for common fractions are composite. They are formed from cardinals denoting the numerator and substantivized ordinals denoting the denominator. If the numerator is a numeral higher than one, the ordinal in the denominator takes the plural form. The numerator and denominator may be joined by means of a hyphen or without it: 1/5 – one-fifth (one fifth), 3/8 – three-eighths (three eighths).

In mixed numbers the numerals denoting fractions are joined to the numeral denoting integers (whole numbers) by means of the conjunction and: 6 2/9 six and two/ninths, 34 1/9 thirty-four and one-ninth. 2/3 kg – two thirds of a kilogram, 4/5 km – four fifths of a kilometer, 1/2 ton – half a ton, 3 1/2 kilograms – three and a half kilograms or three kilograms and a half, 4/5% – four fifths per cent, 20% – twenty per cent.

In decimal fractions the numerals denoting fractions are joined to those denoting whole numbers by means of the words point or decimal: 0.8 – zero point (decimal) eight, 9.9 – nine point (decimal) nine, 0.005 – zero decimal zero zero five, 1.253 – one point two five three, 2.25 – two point twenty five.

Exercise 181. Write in English:

2/3 тонны; 1/15 километра; 3/4 процента; 3 1/4 часа; 1/2 фунта; 4 3/5 процента; 0,253 метра; 16,745 тонны; 3 процента; 39 процентов; 5,5 процента.

4. Morphological characteristics

Numerals do not undergo any morphological changes, that is, they do not have morphological categories. In this they differ from nouns with numerical meaning. Thus the numerals ten (десять), hundred (сто), thousand (тысяча) do not have plural forms: two hundred and fifty, four thousand cars, etc, whereas the corresponding homonymous nouns ten (десяток), hundred (сотня), thousand (тысяча) do: to count in tens, hundreds of books, thousands of people, etc.

Exercise 182. Translate into English:

1) Тридцать килограммов; 2) двести стульев; 3) трое моих друзей; 4) сорок восемь граммов; 5) одиннадцать наших тетрадей; 6) семь миллионов тонн; 7) тридцать пять миллионов рублей; 8) сотни дел; 9) тысячи машин; 10) двести пятьдесят восемь крокодилов; 11) семнадцать весёлых горнистов; 12) тридцать четыре вилки; 13) шестьдесят один рубль, 14) пятнадцать салфеток, 15) тридцать три коровы.

5. Patterns of combinability

Numerals combine mostly with nouns and function as their attributes. If noun has several premodifying attributes including a cardinal or an ordinal, they come first: five small white flowers, the third old little man. The only exception is pronoun determiners, which always begin a series of attributes: her second odd question, his five big dogs. If both a cardinal and an ordinal refer to one head-noun the ordinal comes first and nouns premodified by ordinals are used with the definite article: the first two little kittens. When used with the indefinite article, they lose their numerical meaning and acquire that of a pronoun (another, one more): I ate a sandwich, then a second and a third.

Postmodifying numerals combine with a limited number of nouns. Postmodifying cardinals are combinable with some nouns denoting items of certain sets of thing: pages, paragraphs, chapters, parts of books, acts and scenes of plays, lessons in textbooks, apartments and rooms, means of transport, grammatical terms, etc.: chapter five, room twenty, bus fourteen. No article is used in such cases.

Postmodifying ordinals occur in combinations with certain proper names, mostly those denoting the members of well-known dynasties: Peter I – Peter the First, Elisabeth II – Elisabeth the Second. Mind the position of the article in such phrases. It is always attached to the numeral. When used as substitutes numerals combine with various verbs: I met five of them.

As head-words modified by other words numerals are combinable with: a) prepositional phrases: the ninth of May, two of the girls; b) pronouns: every four hours, each second; c) adjectives: the worst two of them, the last ten years; d) particles: just ten minutes ago, only five kilos, he is nearly twenty.

The numeral first may combine with the particle very: the very first of them.

Exercise 183. Read the following:

a) exercise 45; page 15; bus 14; text 56; box 82; room 205; line 14; tram 4; chapter 5; lecture 11; test 35.

b) Peter I; Henry VII; Catherine II; Elizabeth II; Edward VII; James I; Louis XII; Charles V.

6. Substantivized numerals

Numerals can be substantivized, that is, take formal nominal features: the plural suffix -s, an article, and the ability to combine with adjectives and some other modifiers of nouns. When numerals undergo substantivization not only their morphology is changed, but also their meaning. Thus when the numerals hundred, thousand and million are substantivized they acquire the meaning “a great quantity”, as in: hundreds of books, thousands of people, millions of insects.

Other numerals, both cardinals and ordinals, can also be substantivized. Cardinals are substantivized when they name: school marks in Russia (He got a two. He got three fives) or school marks in Great Britain (He got ten. He got three nines last week). Sets of persons and things: They came in twos. They followed in fours. Form fours! Playing cards: the two of hearts, the five of spades, the seven of diamonds, the ten of clubs, the three of trumps. Boats for a certain number of rowers: a four, an eight. Decades: in the early sixties, in the late fifties, etc.

The meaning of substantivized ordinals is less affected by substantivization and remains the same: He was the first to come. She was the fourth to leave.

Exercise184. Translate into English:

1. Март – третий месяц года и первый месяц весны. 2. Машин второй тест лучше, чем первый. 3. Они говорят, что отправили нам уже третье письмо, а мы вчера получили только первое. 4. Если кто спросит, я буду в кабинете номер 332. 5. Мы живём на этой улице в доме номер 4. 6. Она живёт в квартире 17. 7. На работу я обычно еду на автобусе номер 16. 8. Он обычно носит сорок четвёртый размер обуви. 9. Пётр Первый – основатель Санкт Петербурга. 10. Откройте ваши книги на странице 28. 11. Ну, задавай свой третий дурацкий вопрос. 12. Принимайте лекарство каждые 3 часа. 15. Он спрятал пиковую шестёрку в рукав. 16. Андрей родился 17 октября 1973 года в Борисове. 17. Крепостное право было отменено в 18 веке. 18. На лекции присутствовал 51 студент. 19. В этой книге не хватает 3-х страниц.

Exercise 185. Translate into English:

1. Это здание было построено в 17 веке. 2. Разменяйте мне, пожалуйста, 1000 рублей сотнями или десятками. 3. Костюм стоит 45 тысяч 250 рублей. 4. Яйца продаются дюжинами. 5. Ты можешь позвонить мне по телефону 678-12-47 с 8 до 11. 6. Он получает каждый день сотни писем. 7. Георг V был двоюродным братом Николая II. 8. Квартира стоила 36 миллионов рублей. 9. Население Москвы – более 11 миллионов. Почти столько же человек живёт во всей Беларуси. 10. До университета можно добраться только на 16-ом автобусе. 11. Программу «Жди меня» смотрят миллионы людей во всём мире. 12. Этот текст находится на 10-ой странице. 13. На этом заводе работает 1500 рабочих. 14. Лекция по психологии состоится в 225-ой аудитории. 15. Тысячи людей пришли на праздник. 16. Вручите этот конверт Александру 19 апреля ровно в одиннадцать утра. 17. В спортивных состязаниях приняли участие сотни учащихся и студентов. 18. Когда будильник зазвенел в 6:30, Мария с трудом открыла глаза. 19. В этой школе 900 учеников. 20. Группа выезжает в Крым 6 августа 2006 года, а вернётся 20 августа.