Liczebniki
Polish counts in ways English cannot and Russian only half can. One of these words has no English equivalent at all.
kilkanaście
numeral
- EN
- somewhere between eleven and nineteen
- RU
- с десяток, полтора десятка
Czekaliśmy kilkanaście minut.
We waited fifteen-odd minutes.
There is no English word for this and no clean Russian one either. It means more than ten and fewer than twenty, and Poles reach for it constantly.
kilkadziesiąt
numeral
- EN
- several dozen, twenty to ninety
- RU
- несколько десятков
Przyszło kilkadziesiąt osób.
Several dozen people came.
The same trick one order up. Kilkaset does it again for hundreds, and kilka tysięcy for thousands.
kilkaset
numeral
- EN
- several hundred
- RU
- несколько сотен
Kosztowało kilkaset złotych.
It cost a few hundred złoty.
Completes the ladder: kilka, kilkanaście, kilkadziesiąt, kilkaset. Four words for four bands of vagueness.
półtora
numeral
- EN
- one and a half
- RU
- полтора
Czekam już półtorej godziny.
I've been waiting an hour and a half.
Changes for gender: półtora with masculine and neuter, półtorej with feminine. Russian does exactly the same with полтора and полторы.
dwoje
numeral · collective
- EN
- two (of mixed or non-masculine groups)
- RU
- двое
Mają dwoje dzieci.
They have two children.
Collective numerals are compulsory for children, mixed-gender groups and a handful of nouns. Dwa dzieci is simply wrong.
troje
numeral · collective
- EN
- three (collective)
- RU
- трое
Troje z nas zostało do końca.
Three of us stayed to the end.
Same family as dwoje, and it continues: czworo, pięcioro, sześcioro. Russian has the same construction in двое, трое, четверо and reaches for it far less often.
parę
numeral · colloquial
- EN
- a couple, a few
- RU
- пара, несколько
Zostało parę minut.
There's a couple of minutes left.
Vaguer than kilka in speech and interchangeable with it. Para as a noun is a pair or a couple in the romantic sense.
ćwierć
noun · feminine
- EN
- a quarter
- RU
- четверть
Ćwierć kilo sera.
A quarter kilo of cheese.
For quantities. A quarter of an hour is kwadrans, a separate word, and a quarter of the year is kwartał.
co drugi
phrase · adjective
- EN
- every other
- RU
- каждый второй
Co drugi dzień chodzę na basen.
I swim every other day.
The co + ordinal pattern, which extends: co trzeci, co dziesiąty. Same construction as co jakiś czas.
tuzin
noun · masculine
- EN
- a dozen
- RU
- дюжина
Kupiłem tuzin jajek.
I bought a dozen eggs.
Increasingly old-fashioned in Polish, where kilkanaście has quietly taken over most of its work.
Drill these ten · earlier morning · later morning
Drill these ten