Quantity string resources in Android: Differences between English and Russian

Issue

When I use quantity string resources in Android, it's easy for English and works as expected:

String output = getResources().getQuantityString(R.plurals.my_resource, i, i);

For 1, this returns the string defined in the quantity one, for 2 to 70, it returns the quantity string other, for example.

But when I use the same code with Russian Locale set, the output is different:

It uses the quantity string one not only for input 1, but also for inputs 21, 31, 41, 51 - for all numbers that end with "1". Why? Is that intended (even correct) behaviour? I can just say that, to me, this looks very strange. Well, when I let google translate the strings 30 dogs, 31 dogs and 32 dogs - the output for the noun is always the same.

I've seen similar behaviour for Lithuanian language, by the way.

Solution

Is that intended (even correct) behaviour?

I don't speak Russian, but a quick search suggests this is correct:

Counting

When denoting how many of something you have, we usually place the object in question in the genitive case. However, Russian has some key differences to English:

• If there is 1, 21, 31, 41, etc, of something, they go in the nominative singular.
• If there is 2, 3, 4, 22, 23, 24, 32, 33, 34, etc, of something, use the genitive singular.
• If there is 5 to 19, 25 to 29, 35 to 39, etc, or something, use the genitive plural.

Answered By - Sam