Once you can count to twenty, the rest of the cardinal system is mostly regular compounding — but "mostly" hides three irregular forms that Ukrainian shares with no obvious logic, plus a genuine grammatical shift at the top end, where ти́сяча "thousand" and мільйо́н "million" stop behaving like numbers and start behaving like nouns. This page gives you every ten and hundred with correct stress, the three irregulars to memorize, how compounds are built and written, and the noun-like behaviour of the big numbers.
The tens: 20 to 100
| Numeral | Value | Built from |
|---|---|---|
| два́дцять | 20 | "two tens" |
| три́дцять | 30 | "three tens" |
| со́рок | 40 | irregular |
| п’ятдеся́т | 50 | п’ять + деся́т |
| шістдеся́т | 60 | шість + деся́т |
| сімдеся́т | 70 | сім + деся́т |
| вісімдеся́т | 80 | ві́сім + деся́т |
| дев’яно́сто | 90 | irregular |
| сто | 100 | "hundred" |
Three things to fix in your memory. First, со́рок (40) and дев’яно́сто (90) are completely irregular — you would expect чотиридеся́т and дев’ятдеся́т by the pattern, but they do not exist. Just memorize them. Second, the tens 50–80 are all built as digit + -деся́т, stressed on -деся́т: п’ятдеся́т, шістдеся́т, сімдеся́т, вісімдеся́т. Note the spelling — п’ятдеся́т keeps the apostrophe of п’ять, and there is no soft sign between the parts (it is п’ятдеся́т, not п’ятьдеся́т). Third, *дев’яно́сто keeps the apostrophe from де́в’ять and is stressed on the о: дев’яно́сто.
Мо́їй ба́бусі вже за вісімдеся́т, але́ вона́ що́дня хо́дить на база́р.
My grandmother is already over eighty, but she goes to the market every day.
До́рога зайняла́ майже со́рок хвили́н — потра́пили в зато́р.
The drive took almost forty minutes — we got stuck in traffic.
Сього́дні на ву́лиці аж три́дцять де́в’ять гра́дусів — спе́ка нестерпна́.
It's a full thirty-nine degrees outside today — the heat is unbearable.
The hundreds: 100 to 900
| Numeral | Value | Built from |
|---|---|---|
| сто | 100 | "hundred" |
| дві́сті | 200 | irregular |
| три́ста | 300 | три + ста |
| чоти́риста | 400 | чоти́ри + ста |
| п’ятсо́т | 500 | п’ять + со́т |
| шістсо́т | 600 | шість + со́т |
| сімсо́т | 700 | сім + со́т |
| вісімсо́т | 800 | ві́сім + со́т |
| дев’ятсо́т | 900 | де́в’ять + со́т |
The third irregular lives here: дві́сті (200), where you might expect двасто. Memorize it alongside со́рок and дев’яно́сто. The rest split cleanly: *200–400 end in -ста (front-stressed: три́ста, чоти́риста), while 500–900 end in -со́т and are stressed on -со́т: п’ятсо́т, дев’ятсо́т. Note the spelling дев’ятсо́т and п’ятсо́т keep the apostrophe; all hundreds are written as a single word.
Кварти́ра коштува́ла три́ста ти́сяч до́ларів — як на на́ше мі́сто, ці́ла ма́єтність.
The flat cost three hundred thousand dollars — for our town, a fortune.
На стадіо́ні зібра́лося майже дві́сті ти́сяч уболіва́льників.
Almost two hundred thousand fans gathered at the stadium.
Building compounds: separate words, big-to-small
Multi-digit numbers are written as separate words, in descending order of value, with no "and" (unlike English "one hundred and twenty-three"):
| Number | Ukrainian |
|---|---|
| 21 | два́дцять оди́н |
| 45 | со́рок п’ять |
| 123 | сто два́дцять три |
| 999 | дев’ятсо́т дев’яно́сто де́в’ять |
| 1991 | ти́сяча дев’ятсо́т дев’яно́сто оди́н |
Each word keeps its own stress and its own spelling. So 1991 is genuinely four written words: ти́сяча дев’ятсо́т дев’яно́сто оди́н. And the last word still governs the noun — сто два́дцять три кни́жки takes the form three would (nominative plural), because the count ends in 3. That interaction is the next page's subject.
Я народи́вся ти́сяча дев’ятсо́т дев’яно́сто пе́ршого ро́ку, у рік незале́жності.
I was born in nineteen ninety-one, the year of independence.
На рахунку́ зали́шилося сто два́дцять три гри́вні — до зарпла́ти ще ти́ждень.
There are a hundred and twenty-three hryvnias left in the account — a week still to go until payday.
ти́сяча, мільйо́н, мілья́рд: these are nouns
Here is the conceptual shift. Сто and дві́сті are numerals — they sit in front of a noun and let it stand in the genitive plural. But ти́сяча "thousand," мільйо́н "million," and мілья́рд "billion" are grammatically nouns. They have a gender (ти́сяча is feminine, мільйо́н and мілья́рд are masculine), they decline like nouns, they pluralize, and — most importantly — they govern the genitive plural of whatever they count, the way any quantity noun does:
| Phrase | Literal logic |
|---|---|
| ти́сяча люде́й | "a thousand of people" → gen. pl. |
| мільйо́н гри́вень | "a million of hryvnias" → gen. pl. |
| дві ти́сячі гри́вень | дві + the noun ти́сяча (nom. pl. ти́сячі) + гри́вень gen. pl. |
| п’ять мільйо́нів | п’ять + мільйо́н in its own gen. pl. мільйо́нів |
So the noun being counted is always genitive plural after ти́сяча/мільйо́н, no matter the final digit — because the word doing the counting is itself a noun, not a numeral. And ти́сяча/мільйо́н themselves follow the 1/2-4/5+ rule as ordinary nouns: одна́ ти́сяча, дві ти́сячі, п’ять ти́сяч.
На мітинг ви́йшло понад сто ти́сяч люде́й — таки́х нато́впів мі́сто не ба́чило.
More than a hundred thousand people came out to the rally — the city hadn't seen crowds like that.
Прое́кт обійшо́вся в два мільйо́ни гри́вень, і це ще не оста́точна су́ма.
The project cost two million hryvnias, and that's not even the final figure.
Reading years and big figures aloud
Two everyday situations need special handling. Years are read as a single large number, not digit-pairs the way English does. English says "nineteen ninety-one" (two two-digit chunks); Ukrainian reads the whole figure: ти́сяча дев’ятсо́т дев’яно́сто оди́н (literally "one thousand nine hundred ninety-one"). The 2000s work the same way: 2024 is дві ти́сячі два́дцять чоти́ри, "two thousand twenty-four." There is no Ukrainian equivalent of the English "twenty twenty-four" pairing.
Цей буди́нок збудува́ли ще в ти́сяча дев’ятсо́т трина́дцятому ро́ці — йому́ понад сто ро́ків.
This building was put up back in nineteen thirteen — it's over a hundred years old.
Ми одружи́лися дві ти́сячі двана́дцятого, а пе́рша дити́на з’яви́лася за два ро́ки.
We got married in two thousand and twelve, and our first child arrived two years later.
The full year-and-century machinery (why the year sits in the genitive, how centuries are named) is on Dates, Years and Centuries.
A note on zero: Ukrainian uses нуль for the digit zero — нуль гра́дусів "zero degrees" — and the same word reads each "0" when you spell out phone numbers or codes digit by digit: нуль сім нуль (070).
Зателефону́й за но́мером нуль со́рок чоти́ри — це код Ки́єва.
Call the number zero forty-four — that's the Kyiv area code.
Source-language comparison
For an English speaker, three habits to break. First, no "and" — Ukrainian says сто два́дцять три, never сто і два́дцять три for "one hundred and twenty-three." Second, the tens 50–80 are transparent compounds (п’ятдеся́т = "five-ten"), unlike English "fifty," so once you know п’ять you nearly know п’ятдеся́т. Third, English treats "thousand" and "million" as numbers; in Ukrainian they are *nouns that put the counted thing into the genitive (ти́сяча люде́й, literally "a thousand of people").
For a Russian speaker, the danger is smuggling in Russian forms that look almost right. Ukrainian is со́рок (same as Russian), but дев’яно́сто with an apostrophe and stress on о, not Russian девяносто. Ukrainian дві́сті, not Russian двести; п’ятсо́т, not пятьсот (note: no soft sign, and an apostrophe). And Ukrainian counts money in гри́вень (gen. pl. of гри́вня), a word with its own irregular look — see money and counting.
Common Mistakes
❌ чотиридеся́т (40), дев’ятдеся́т (90)
Incorrect — 40 and 90 are irregular: со́рок and дев’яно́сто. The expected -деся́т compounds simply don't exist for these.
✅ со́рок, дев’яно́сто
forty, ninety — irregular forms to memorize.
❌ ти́сяча лю́ди / мільйо́н гри́вні
Incorrect — ти́сяча and мільйо́н are nouns governing the genitive plural: ти́сяча люде́й, мільйо́н гри́вень.
✅ ти́сяча люде́й, мільйо́н гри́вень
a thousand people, a million hryvnias — genitive plural after the quantity noun.
❌ сто і два́дцять три
Incorrect — Ukrainian uses no 'and' in compound numbers: сто два́дцять три.
✅ сто два́дцять три
one hundred (and) twenty-three — no і between the parts.
❌ п’ятьдеся́т (50), п’ятьсо́т (500)
Incorrect — no soft sign joins the parts: п’ятдеся́т and п’ятсо́т (apostrophe kept from п’ять, no ь).
✅ п’ятдеся́т, п’ятсо́т
fifty, five hundred — п’ятдеся́т / п’ятсо́т, written as one word, no soft sign.
❌ девяносто (без апострофа)
Incorrect — that's the Russian spelling. Standard Ukrainian keeps the apostrophe: дев’яно́сто.
✅ дев’яно́сто
ninety — with the apostrophe ’.
Key Takeaways
- Three irregulars to memorize: со́рок (40), дев’яно́сто (90), дві́сті (200).
- Tens 50–80 are digit + -деся́т (п’ятдеся́т), stressed on -деся́т, written as one word with no soft sign.
- Hundreds: 200–400 end in -ста (три́ста, чоти́риста), 500–900 in -со́т (п’ятсо́т, дев’ятсо́т), stressed on -со́т.
- Compounds are separate words, biggest first, no "and": сто два́дцять три; 1991 = ти́сяча дев’ятсо́т дев’яно́сто оди́н.
- ти́сяча / мільйо́н / мілья́рд are nouns with gender that decline, pluralize, and govern the genitive plural (ти́сяча люде́й, два мільйо́ни гри́вень).
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Start learning Ukrainian→Related Topics
- Cardinal Numbers 1–20A1 — The numbers нуль to два́дцять — with the gendered оди́н/одна́/одне́ and два/дві, the fused -на́дцять teens, and the apostrophe/soft-sign spelling traps (п’ять, шість, ві́сім, де́в’ять) that make Ukrainian numerals an orthography test from day one.
- Numeral–Noun Agreement (The Hard Part)B1 — The notorious three-way rule: after 1 (and …1) the noun is nominative SINGULAR, after 2/3/4 (and …2/3/4) nominative PLURAL with the dual-reflex end-stress (два столи́, дві сестри́), and after 5+ genitive PLURAL — chosen by the LAST digit, and applying only when the whole phrase is nominative or inanimate-accusative.
- Declining the NumeralsB2 — How the cardinals themselves inflect across the cases — оди́н (одного́/одному́/одни́м), два/три/чоти́ри (двох/двом/двома́), п’ять (п’яти́·п’ятьо́х, п’ятьма́·п’ятьома́), the single-form со́рок/сто (сорока́/ста), and the both-parts hundreds (двохсо́т) — so you can count in oblique cases, where the numeral declines and the noun simply agrees.
- Ordinal NumbersA2 — пе́рший, дру́гий, тре́тій (the one soft-stem ordinal), четве́ртий… — ordinals are full ADJECTIVES that agree in gender, number and case, and in compound ordinals only the LAST word is ordinal (два́дцять пе́рший, ти́сяча дев’ятсо́т дев’яно́сто пе́рший), the form behind dates, floors, centuries and the time.
- Money, Age, and Everyday CountingA2 — The numeral-agreement rule made practical: counting money (одна́ гри́вня, дві гри́вні, п’ять гри́вень), asking and stating prices (Скі́льки ко́штує? — ко́штує п’ять гри́вень), and the dative-experiencer age construction (Мені́ два́дцять ро́ків) where 'year' is suppletive — рік (1), ро́ки (2–4), ро́ків (5+) — so 'I am five' literally says 'to-me five years' with no verb 'to be'.
- Genitive Plural: FormsB1 — Ukrainian's hardest ending set, taught as a procedure: the zero ending for feminine -а/-я and neuter -о (often with a fleeting vowel — кни́га→книг, вікно́→ві́кон, сестра́→сесте́р), the -ів/-їв ending for masculines (стіл→столі́в, брат→браті́в), and -ей for soft-feminine -ь and many soft/hushing stems (ніч→ноче́й, кінь→коне́й), with the о/і alternation surfacing in zero-ending forms (нога́→ніг, гора́→гір, шко́ла→шкіл).