irregular plurals in Russian

[Claire Bowern]

There's the mismatch in counting years - for numbers ending in 1 - 4 (ie,
1 - 4, 21-24, 31-34, etc) you say 'god', but for others you use 'l'et'
(ie, 'summers') - so, kogda mne bylo tri _goda_ ... 'when to-me
there-was three of-year', but 'skol'ko vam _l'et_? - mne 19 _l'et_'
how-many to-you of-years ? to-me 19 of-years.'
Claire


On Fri, 9 Feb 2001, John Myhill wrote:

> Also I think I remember hearing that the plural for 'year' in
> Russian is literally 'summers'.
> John Myhill
>

______________________

Department of Linguistics
Harvard University
305 Boylston Hall
Cambridge, MA, 02138
USA

Ph:  (617) 547-3521
Fax: (617) 496-4447