Arto's Notes re: Russian

Cardinal

один, два, три, четыре, пять, шесть, семь, восемь, девять, и десять.

(odin, dva, tri, chetyre, pyat', shest', sem', vosem', devyat', i desyat'.)

1. один (odin)
2. два (dva)
3. три (tri)
4. четыре (chetyre)
5. пять (pyat')
6. шесть (shest')
7. семь (sem')
8. восемь (vosem')
9. девять (devyat')
10. десять (desyat')

Possessive

Heuristics

• Most male beings are masculine, and so are days, towns, and languages.
• You can nearly always tell the gender of a noun from its ending.
• Masculine nouns normally end with a consonant or an -й diphthong.
• Feminine nouns normally end with -а or -я.
• Neuter nouns almost always end with -о or -е.
• Most nouns ending with -ь (soft sign) are feminine, but there are many masculine ones too; it is necessary to memorize the gender of soft-sign nouns.
• Nouns ending -а or -я which denote males are masculine.
• If a noun ends with -и or -у or -ю, it is likely of foreign origin and neuter.
• Foreign words denoting females are feminine, regardless of their endings.

Toasts

• За нас! (To us!)
• За здоровье! (Cheers! lit. To health!)