Numbers and Time in Ukrainian

In Brief

Ukrainian changes the form of a noun after a number: один день “one day,” два дні “two days,” but п’ять днів “five days.” To ask the time, say Котра година?; at an exact hour, Ukrainian normally uses a feminine ordinal number: Третя година “It’s three o’clock.”

Overview

Numbers are essential A1 material: they let you give prices, ages, telephone numbers, quantities, and times. Ukrainian cardinal numbers (numbers used for counting, such as “one” and “five”) are not always placed before an unchanged plural noun as they are in English. The number determines the noun form, and один and два also respond to grammatical gender.

The beginner pattern has three parts: 1 + singular, 2–4 + a plural form, and 5 or more + genitive plural. The genitive is a case—a change in a word’s form that shows its role or relationship in a phrase. Compound numbers follow their final part, except that numbers ending in 11–14 belong to the 5+ group.

Time introduces a second kind of number. Exact clock hours use ordinal numbers (numbers showing order, like “first” or “third”) because Ukrainian is effectively saying “the third hour.” Minutes, by contrast, use ordinary cardinal numbers. Learn the simple digital-style pattern first; conversational alternatives are presented later as optional extensions.

How It Works

Cardinal numbers from 0 to 100

Number	Ukrainian	Number	Ukrainian
0	нуль	10	десять
1	один / одна / одне	11	одинадцять
2	два / дві	12	дванадцять
3	три	13	тринадцять
4	чотири	14	чотирнадцять
5	п’ять	15	п’ятнадцять
6	шість	16	шістнадцять
7	сім	17	сімнадцять
8	вісім	18	вісімнадцять
9	дев’ять	19	дев’ятнадцять
20	двадцять	60	шістдесят
30	тридцять	70	сімдесят
40	сорок	80	вісімдесят
50	п’ятдесят	90	дев’яносто
100	сто

Numbers between the listed tens are built by placing the unit after the ten: двадцять три (23), сорок вісім (48), дев’яносто дев’ять (99). Unlike English, Ukrainian does not insert an equivalent of “and.”

One and two: gender matters

A Ukrainian noun has grammatical gender—a noun class that affects nearby words. Use один with masculine nouns, одна with feminine nouns, and одне (also одно in some combinations) with neuter nouns.

Gender	Pattern	Example	Meaning
Masculine	один + singular	один квиток	one ticket
Feminine	одна + singular	одна гривня	one hryvnia
Neuter	одне + singular	одне місце	one seat

For two, use два with masculine and neuter nouns, but дві with feminine nouns: два квитки, два місця, дві гривні. The numbers три and чотири do not have separate gender forms.

The 1 / 2–4 / 5+ noun pattern

For basic counting phrases in the nominative case (the usual dictionary form and often the form used for a sentence’s subject), use this working rule:

Final number	Noun pattern	Example	Meaning
1	nominative singular	двадцять одна гривня	twenty-one hryvnia
2–4	nominative plural	двадцять два дні	twenty-two days
5–9, 0	genitive plural	тридцять п’ять днів	thirty-five days
11–14	genitive plural	одинадцять днів	eleven days

The final number normally controls the form: тридцять одна хвилина, тридцять дві хвилини, тридцять п’ять хвилин. The crucial exception is the “teen trap”: 11, 12, 13, and 14 always take the 5+ pattern, even though their written forms end in 1–4. The same applies inside larger numbers: сто одинадцять днів.

The number itself also keeps the appropriate gender form in compounds: двадцять один рік, двадцять одна гривня, двадцять одне місце; сорок два роки, but сорок дві хвилини.

Noun endings are not completely predictable from the English translation. Learn common counting sets together:

1	2–4	5+	Meaning
один день	два дні	п’ять днів	day
один рік	два роки	п’ять років	year
одна година	дві години	п’ять годин	hour
одна хвилина	дві хвилини	п’ять хвилин	minute
одна гривня	дві гривні	п’ять гривень	hryvnia
один раз	два рази	п’ять разів	time/occasion

Ages, prices, and telephone numbers

To state age, Ukrainian commonly uses мені (“to me”) plus the number and рік / роки / років. It does not use a direct equivalent of English “I am twenty years old”:

• Мені двадцять років. — I am twenty years old.
• Їй двадцять один рік. — She is twenty-one years old.
• Йому двадцять три роки. — He is twenty-three years old.

For a price, the currency follows the same agreement pattern: одна гривня, дві гривні, десять гривень. In a full sentence you may hear Це коштує сто гривень (“This costs one hundred hryvnias”).

Telephone numbers are normally read as a sequence of individual digits or convenient groups. In digit-by-digit reading, 0 is нуль. Grouping practices vary, so the safest learner strategy is to listen to how the speaker divides the number and repeat the groups.

Asking and telling the time

The standard question is:

• Котра година? — What time is it?

Although котра literally asks “which one in order?”, this is the natural clock-time question. For an exact hour, use a feminine ordinal because година is feminine:

Time	Ukrainian	Literal idea
1:00	Перша година.	the first hour
2:00	Друга година.	the second hour
3:00	Третя година.	the third hour
4:00	Четверта година.	the fourth hour
5:00	П’ята година.	the fifth hour
12:00	Дванадцята година.	the twelfth hour

For a clear, neutral way to give hours and minutes, say the ordinal hour followed by cardinal minutes:

• Третя година п’ятнадцять хвилин. — It is 3:15.
• Сьома година тридцять хвилин. — It is 7:30.
• Дев’ята година сорок п’ять хвилин. — It is 9:45.

In timetables, announcements, and other 24-hour contexts, cardinal forms are also common: о сімнадцятій годині means “at 17:00.” For an A1 conversation, the exact-hour ordinal pattern and the explicit hour-plus-minutes pattern are dependable starting points.

To say when something happens, use о (“at”) before a clock expression. The following ordinal changes to the locative case (a form commonly used after о for time):

• о першій годині — at one o’clock
• о другій годині — at two o’clock
• о третій годині — at three o’clock

Notice the distinction: Третя година tells the current time, while Зустріч о третій годині schedules an event.

Examples in Context

Ukrainian	English	Note
У мене один квиток.	I have one ticket.	Masculine singular after один
Нам потрібні дві чашки.	We need two cups.	Feminine дві
Подорож триває три дні.	The trip lasts three days.	2–4 pattern
Вона працює чотири години.	She works for four hours.	2–4 pattern
Ми тут уже п’ять днів.	We have already been here for five days.	Genitive plural after 5
У групі дванадцять студентів.	There are twelve students in the group.	11–14 take the 5+ pattern
Кава коштує двадцять одну гривню.	The coffee costs twenty-one hryvnias.	The phrase is changed by the verb; see advanced use
Мені двадцять два роки.	I am twenty-two years old.	Final 2 controls роки
Їй двадцять п’ять років.	She is twenty-five years old.	Final 5 controls років
Котра година?	What time is it?	Standard question
Третя година.	It’s three o’clock.	Feminine ordinal hour
Зараз шоста година десять хвилин.	It is 6:10 now.	Explicit hour and minutes
Урок починається о дев’ятій годині.	The lesson starts at nine o’clock.	о + locative time form
Потяг прибуває о сімнадцятій годині.	The train arrives at 17:00.	Formal 24-hour style

Common Mistakes

Using an ordinary plural after every number

• Wrong: п’ять дні
• Right: п’ять днів
• Why: Numbers from 5 upward require the genitive plural in a basic counting phrase. English “five + plural” does not show this distinction.

Treating 11–14 like numbers ending in 1–4

• Wrong: дванадцять роки
• Right: дванадцять років
• Why: 11–14 belong to the 5+ group. Look at the last two digits before applying the final-digit shortcut.

Ignoring gender with one and two

• Wrong: один гривня; два хвилини
• Right: одна гривня; дві хвилини
• Why: Feminine nouns use одна and дві. English numbers never change for noun gender, so this needs deliberate practice.

Using a cardinal number for an exact hour

• Wrong: Три година.
• Right: Третя година.
• Why: Clock hours are expressed as feminine ordinal numbers: “the third hour,” not “three hour.”

Confusing “it is three” with “at three”

• Wrong: Зустріч третя година.
• Right: Зустріч о третій годині.
• Why: A scheduled time uses о and changes the words after it. Третя година is the standalone statement “It is three o’clock.”

Usage Notes

Ukrainian speakers often omit година when the meaning is obvious: Зараз третя (“It’s three now”). In careful speech, teaching materials, or when clarity matters, the full Третя година is useful.

Everyday conversation also uses relative expressions. пів на четверту means 3:30—literally, “half toward the fourth [hour].” чверть на четверту is 3:15, and за чверть четверта is 3:45 (“a quarter until four”). These are idiomatic and common, but the explicit digital-style form remains easier when you need to avoid ambiguity.

Ukrainian typography normally uses the apostrophe in forms such as п’ять and п’ятнадцять. A straight keyboard apostrophe may appear in informal typing, but do not omit the mark: it represents a real spelling distinction.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following details at A1, but they explain forms you will soon encounter.

The 1 / 2–4 / 5+ chart describes a basic counting phrase in its citation or subject form. When the whole phrase has another role in a sentence, Ukrainian cases can change both the numeral and the noun. A direct object (the person or thing directly affected by an action) may produce двадцять одну гривню in Я заплатив двадцять одну гривню (“I paid twenty-one hryvnias”), rather than the standalone двадцять одна гривня. After prepositions, still other forms occur: з двома друзями (“with two friends”). Treat the beginner chart as a foundation, not as a rule that freezes every phrase in every sentence.

With 2–4, adjective agreement has additional details that become important later. Safe A1 combinations include два нові квитки (“two new tickets”) and дві нові книжки (“two new books”), but stress and gender can affect forms in more advanced noun phrases.

The noun людина (“person”) has the irregular counting plural люди and the genitive plural людей: дві людини is usual for “two people,” while п’ять людей means “five people.” Collective numerals such as двоє and троє also exist and are used with particular groups of nouns and people. They belong to later study; do not replace ordinary два / дві, три automatically.

For time, formal 24-hour expressions decline the ordinal hour: о двадцять першій годині (“at 21:00”). In rapid everyday speech, speakers may choose a 12-hour expression and add context such as ранку (“in the morning”), дня (“in the afternoon/day”), or вечора (“in the evening”): о сьомій ранку, о сьомій вечора.

Practice Tips

1. Learn nouns in sets of three. Make cards such as один день — два дні — п’ять днів and одна гривня — дві гривні — п’ять гривень. This is more reliable than memorizing an abstract ending rule alone.
2. Run a final-digit drill. Choose numbers such as 21, 32, 47, 11, and 114, then add рік, хвилина, or гривня. Pause at 11–14 so the teen exception becomes automatic.
3. Narrate a clock. Say each exact hour with an ordinal, then add minutes using the explicit pattern. Finally practise the contrast between Третя година and о третій годині.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Case System Introduction — explains why Ukrainian nouns change form in number phrases.
• Next steps: Ordinal Numbers and Dates — develops the ordinal forms used for hours and applies them to calendar dates.
• Advanced reference: Numeral Categories — covers a wider range of numeral types and more complex agreement patterns.