Types of buildings or how to count floors

Hello, dear student! We have already gave consideration to the topic on adverbs, but most foreigners and Russian-language learners always get confused, especially, when we talk about names of floors. And if they hear colloquial language, the problem gets more complicated. Let's find out, how we call different floors in Russian.

Let's imagine, here is a building in front of us, it's low and there is no elevator, so you can easily enter it. We call such building "одноэтажным".

Одноэтажное здание [Adna ekhtazhnae zdanie] - One-storey building

You can often hear the following description in colloquial speech:

Никита живёт вон в той одноэтажке [Nikita zhivyot von f toj adna ekhtazhki] - Nikita lives in that one-storey building

But why is it "одноэтажка", as we have already clarified to say "одноэтажное здание"? The thing is that people shorten names in colloquial speech and convey new sounding to it. But be careful, you can use such form only in colloquial speech - don't use it in documents and in the official meetings!

Двухэтажное здание [dvukh ekhtazhnae zdanie] - Two-storey building

But there is also a colloquial form, for example:

А можно купить квартиру в этой двухэтажке? [A mozhna kupit' kvartiru v ekhtaj dfukh etazhke?] - Can I buy a flat in this two-storey building?

So you can continue in this way endlessly:

Смотри, это новая шестнадцатиэтажка! [Smatri, ekhta novaya shisnatsati ekhtazhka!] - Look, this is a new sixteen-storey building!

It's very difficult to pronounce in speech something like that:

Моя мечта - жить в девятиэтажном кирпичном доме! [Maya michta - zhit' f diviti ekhtazhnam kirpichnam dome!] - My dream is to live in a brick nine-storey building!

It's much easier to say:

Моя мечта- жить в кирпичной девятиэтажке! [Maya michta- zhit' f kirpichnaj diviti ekhtazhke!] - My dream is to live in a brick nine-storey building!

To practise, try to guess how many stories do the following buildings have:

Стоэтажка [stoehtazhka]
Пятиэтажка [pitiehtazhka]
Двадцатиэтажка [dvadtsatiehtazhka]
Пятидесятиэтажка [pitidisitiehtazhka]
Восьмиэтажка [vas'miehtazhka]