tretye

Tretye is the standard English transliteration of the Russian neuter ordinal adjective тре́тье, meaning "the third." It is used to indicate the third item in a sequence and to modify neuter nouns. In Russian, ordinal adjectives have gendered forms: masculine третий, feminine тре́тья, neuter тре́тье. When transliterated into English, tretye commonly represents the neuter form.

Usage and examples. Tretye appears in phrases such as трéтье место (the third place), трéтье занятие (the third lesson or activity), and трéтье предложение (the third sentence). It is part of basic counting and ordering, alongside первый (the first) and второй (the second). The neuter form is chosen whenever the noun it modifies is neuter in gender.

Etymology and cognates. The word derives from Proto-Slavic roots related to the numeral three. It is cognate with similar forms in other Slavic languages, such as Polish trzecie and Czech třetí. The concept and its linguistic root are widely reflected across Slavic languages.

Usage notes. In modern Russian, tretye is primarily a written or formal form used with neuter nouns. In speech, speakers may often rely on the masculine or feminine forms depending on the noun, or use the neuter form in fixed phrases or titles. Transliterations vary, with tretye, tretiye, and tretije among common variants, depending on the transliteration system used.

See also. третий (tretij), третье место, third.