How-to coubs: How to properly use numbers in Russian

Let Soviet cinema teach you how to get your numbers right

If you plan to speak Russian you won't be able to avoid using numbers. So count from one to ten and watch new episodes from Soviet movies and cartoons.

1. Three is the magic number! (‘Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future’, 1973)

- Everything I've earned with my hard work is gone! Three tape recorders, three imported film cameras and three domestic cigarette cases. (Все, что нажил непосильным трудом, все пропало! Три магнитофона, три кинокамеры заграничных, три портсигара отечественных.)

2. Who needs meters or inches when you can measure height in parrots? (‘38 Parrots’, 1976)

- Your height is thirty-eight parrots and one parrot wing! Well, you don’t have to count the wing. (Твой рост - тридцать восемь попугаев и одно крылышко! Ну, крылышко можно не считать.)

3. If you go to an auction, you will definitely know what to say. (‘The Twelve Chairs’, 1970)

- Ten chairs from a palace! Eighty Rubles! (Десять стульев из дворца! Восемьдесят рублей!)
- Why are they from the palace? (Почему из дворца?)
- Sit down and be quiet! (Сидите и не рыпайтесь!)
- Ninety! (Девяносто!)

4. And don't forget about the lottery. (‘Sportloto-82’, 1982)

- For only sixty kopecks, I have a hope of winning ten thousand rubles! (За шестьдесят копеек у меня появляется надежда выиграть десять тысяч рублей!)
- You won't survive with just one hope. (Одной надеждой не проживешь.)

5. Pronouncing your address correctly can be very useful (especially if you are drunk). (‘The Irony of Fate’, 1975)

- Stroiteley Street 3, house 25, apartment 12, fourth floor, please. (Пожалуйста, третья улица Строителей, дом 25, квартира 12, четвертый этаж.)
- Even the fifth will do! (Хоть пятый!)

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