Declension of hundreds (200–900)

Declining Hundreds (200–900)

When reading dietary labels or discussing nutritional values, you frequently encounter quantities in the hundreds. In Russian, hundreds (200–900) are compound words. When they decline, both halves of the word change their endings.

Think of the word as two parts: the base number (two, three, five) and a form of the word for "hundred" (сто). In the Nominative and inanimate Accusative cases, they take their base forms.

The Genitive Case

The Genitive case is used for quantities after words like около (around), от/до (from/to), or in negative sentences. The first half of the number takes its standard Genitive form (двух-, трёх-, пяти-), and the second half becomes -сот.

The Dative Case

The Dative case is used with prepositions like к (to) or благодаря (thanks to). The first half takes its Dative form (двум-, трём-, пяти-), and the second half becomes -стам.

The Instrumental Case

When describing what a meal is made с (with), you need the Instrumental case. The first half declines normally (двумя-, тремя-, четырьмя-, пятью-), and the second half becomes -стами.

The Prepositional Case

The Prepositional case is used with о (about) or в (in/inside) to describe the contents of a specific amount. The first half takes its Prepositional form (which looks exactly like the Genitive: двух-, трёх-, пяти-), and the second half becomes -стах.

Summary Table

Here is a quick reference guide showing the complete pattern for the hundreds. Notice how numbers 500–900 all share the exact same ending pattern.