Russian and Ukrainian are closely related Slavic languages. However, they also have notable differences. Let us compare the numbers from one to ten. The numbers on the left are in Russian and the ones on the right are in Ukrainian. In brackets we have the Roman transliteration.
опин (odin) опин (odin)
два (dva) два (dva)
три (tri) три (tri)
четыре (chetire) чотири (chotiri)
пять (pyat') п'ять (p'yat')
шесть (shest') шість (shist')
семь (syem') сім (sim)
восемь (vocem') вісім (visim)
девять (devyat') дев'ять (dev'yat')
десять (desyat') десять (desyat')
The numbers for one, two, three and ten are identical in both languages. However, only the number two is pronounced the same. The number one has second syllable stress in Russian. The number three has a central vowel in Russian and a front vowel in Ukrainian. The number ten is pronounced with a word-initial palatalized dental plosive in Russian but not in Ukrainian. Also, the second syllable of the number ten has a high vowel in Russian but a mid vowel in Ukrainian.
The number five is very similar in both languages. However, the Russian number has a palatalized bilabial plosive. In Ukrainian the plosive is not palatalized, but is followed by a palatal approximant. The pattern is the same with the number nine. In Russian the labiodental fricative is palatalized, but in Ukrainian the labiodental fricative is followed by a palatal approximant.
The numbers four, six, seven and eight have different vowels in Russian and Ukrainian. In Russian the numbers from five to ten end with palatalized consonants. In Ukrainian the numbers six and seven lack palatalized consonants.
The list of numbers illustrates that Russian and Ukrainian share many similarities. Four numbers are written identically. One difference is that Russian has more word-final palatalized consonants than Ukrainian.
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