17.5 - Numerals
Although you will have seen numerals in texts throughout these materials, these have not been treated as a priority, as, in printed texts, they tend to be presented as digits or abbreviated. Each language and culture has its own conventions for this, however, so this page is aimed at helping you to identify numerals, accurately and without ambiguity, in the most frequently occurring contexts in Ukrainian.
Cardinal numerals are reasonably straightforward if one is just counting (один, два, три etc.). Ordinal numerals decline like hard adjectives (перший, другий etc.), with the exception of 3rd – третій, which is declined like a soft adjective (to see the system of numerals click here).
| дві країни | two countries (nom.) |
| двох країн | of two countries (gen.) |
| двом країнам | to two countries (dat.) |
Familiarity with these declensions is of lesser importance in written texts, and is not dealt with in these materials, as it is easy to identify the numeral concerned (it may be of interest that the most frequently used numerals and quantities in printed texts are 1-5 and 10, as well as (де)кілька (a few, some), багато (a lot, much, many) and обидві (both).
Given below are some of the most frequent uses of numerals in written texts and examples of how they are used.
- dates
| погода на 12-е червня | the weather for 12th June |
| пенсії зросли 12-го червня | pensions went up on 12th June |
| 2009 рік – рік екологічної безпеки | 2009 is the year of environmental security |
| постанова Кабінету Міністрів від 05 серпня 2009 р. |
Cabinet decision of 5 August 2009 (р. is the abbreviation of року and must be included in the date) |
- time and other measures
| 8 вересня о год. 17.00 | 8 September at 5 p.m. |
| о год. 3.30 попол. (пополудні) | at 3.30 p.m. |
| о год. 6.00 веч. (вечора) | at 6 p.m. |
| 70 км/год (кілометрів на годину) | 70 kilometres per hour |
| 150 г (грамів) | 150 grams |
| 500 кг (кілограмів) | 500 kilograms |
- decimals, large numbers and currency
| 0,25% | 0.25% |
| 117,25 | 117.25 |
| 1 500 000 or 1.500.000 | 1,500,000 (one million five hundred thousand) |
| 50 к. (копійок) | 50 kopiikas |
| 150 тис. грн (тисяч гривень) | 150,000 hryvnias (UAH) |
- addresses
| вул. (вулиця) Винниченка, 33/9 (буд. 33, кв. 9) |
Flat 9, no. 33, Vynnychenko St. |
| 01003, м. (місто) Київ | (postcode) 010003 Kyiv |
| школа № 5 | School No. 5 |
- legislation
| Черкаська обласна рада: рішення від 15.11.2007 № 13‑25/V | Cherkasy Regional Council: Decision No. 13‑25/V of 15 November 2007 |
| відповідно до статті 43 Закону України «Про місцеве самоврядування в Україні» | according to article 43 of the Law of Ukraine on "Local Self-Government in Ukraine" |