"There are [Number] of Us"
To express the exact size of a specific group—such as "there are two of us" or "four of them"—Russian pairs a personal pronoun with a collective numeral (like двое, трое, or четверо).
The pronoun must be in the Genitive case:
- нас (of us)
- вас (of you)
- их (of them)
To describe the group size in the past tense, simply add the neuter past-tense verb было.
| Let's split up, there are two of us here, and four of them there. | Давайте разделимся, нас здесь двое, а их там четверо. |
| There are two of us, and we decided to separate from the group. | Нас двое, и мы решили отделиться от группы. |
Splitting Up
When working with large groups, you might need to split up (разделиться / разделяться) or break away entirely (отделиться).
To say you are dividing "into subgroups" (подгруппа), use the preposition на followed by the Accusative case (на подгруппы).
| We decided to split up into subgroups. | Мы решили разделиться на подгруппы. |
| In the first subgroup there were three of us, and in the second — four. | В первой подгруппе нас было трое, а во второй — четверо. |
Five, Six, and Seven
This pronoun pattern continues for larger groups using the higher collective numerals: пятеро (five), шестеро (six), and семеро (seven).
You will frequently hear these when discussing a team's cohesion (сплочённый), its line-up or composition (состав), or when someone new decides to join (присоединиться).
| There were five of us when the teacher joined us. | Нас было пятеро, когда к нам присоединился преподаватель. |
| In the new line-up there are now six of us. | В новом составе нас теперь шестеро. |
| There are seven of them, and they are very cohesive. | Их семеро, и они очень сплочённые. |