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According to the sources I've checked, only numbers from 1 to 4 have an animate ending (meaning that the accusative case will be the same as the genitive, endingwise). Numbers from 5 upward will have a common accusative for both animate and inanimate nouns.

However, in compound numerals, all components decline... what if I want to decline a number like 21, 22?

Since 1 and 2 also have an agreement in gender, will 1 and 2 decline as animate numerals, whereas "20" declines the usual way?

Example: What would be an animate accusative of двадцать одна (admitting that the agreement in gender happens)? Двадцать одну?

And двадцать один? Does it become двадцать одного?

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  • If I understand your question correctly, it does become двадцать одну and двадцать одного. Would you be able to provide some example of complete sentences?
    – SaltyNuts
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 5:33

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Yes, двадцать одна becomes двадцать одну in the accusative and двадцать один will be either двадцать одного if it qualifies an animate noun or двадцать один if inanimate:

  • Компания приняла на работу двадцать одного человека.
  • Компания приобрела двадцать один компьютер.

With 22, 23 and 24 the inanimate pattern is more preferable:

  • Компания приняла на работу двадцать два человека (less preferably: двадцать двух человек).
  • Компания приобрела двадцать два компьютера.

Animacy, gender and number are dictated by the noun. Yes, you can say 'one' in plural:

  • Купи одни ножницы. = Buy one pair of scissors.
  • Он не курит уже двадцать одни сутки.

Unfortunately, there is no grammatically acceptable way of saying 22 сутки (or 23, or 24). 25 and up are OK: двадцать пять суток.

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  • 2
    practically speaking i guess двадцать двух человек would unlikely be ever used being replaced with двадцать два человека effectively falling back on the inanimate pattern simply because двадцать doesn't inflect and creates discordance
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 10:47
  • "двадцать одни сутки" is translated as "twenty and something days"? Can't we say 22 сутка? As far as I know, 2/3/4 demand the genitive singular.
    – swrutra
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 11:51
  • You should just change the sentence Он не курит "в течение двадцати двух /трех/четырех суток"
    – V.V.
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 12:49
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    @swrutra to me двадцать трое суток sounds palatable, not so much двое or четверо, but on the other hand... in colloquial usage they would do as well
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 12:56

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