Language/Russian/Grammar/Adjectives

Russian Grammar - Adjectives

Introduction

Привет! In today's lesson, you will learn about Russian adjectives. After mastering this topic, you can also explore other related pages, such as Russian noun-adjective agreement to further enhance your understanding of Russian grammar.

Happy learning! 🤓🇷🇺

Adjectives in Russian

In Russian, adjectives come after the noun they describe. For example: красивый дом (krasivyi dom) means "beautiful house". The adjective красивый (krasivyi) agrees with the gender, number, and case of the noun дом (dom). If the noun is masculine, like дом (dom), the adjective takes on the masculine form, красивый (krasivyi). If the noun is feminine, like машина (mashina), the adjective would be красивая (krasivaya). If the noun is neuter, like окно (okno), the adjective would be красивое (krasivoe). If the noun is plural, like дома (doma), the adjective would be красивые (krasivye).

Adjectives in Russian can also be of two types: short and long.

Short Adjectives

Short adjectives consist of a single word and are usually used in the positive form. They can appear in various cases and answer the question "what?" or "which?". Here is a table with some examples:

Russian	Pronunciation	English Translation
красивый	krasivyi [krɐˈsʲi.vɨ]	beautiful
высокий	vysokii [ˈvɨ.sɐ.kʲij]	tall
молодой	molodoi [mɐˈlo.doj]	young

Here's an example dialogue to demonstrate the use of short adjectives:

• Person 1: Этот дом красивый. (Etot dom krasivyi) - "This house is beautiful."
• Person 2: Да, он красивый и высокий. (Da, on krasivyi i vysokii) - "Yes, it's beautiful and tall."

When using short adjectives in a sentence, we need to decide which case to use based on the role of the noun in the sentence.

Long Adjectives

Long adjectives consist of two or more words and are usually used in the comparative and superlative forms. They can appear in various cases and answer the question "how?" or "to what extent?". Here is a table with some examples:

Russian	Pronunciation	English Translation
очень красивый	ochen' krasivyi [ɐˈtɕenʲ ˈkrɐsʲi.vɨ]	very beautiful
самый красивый	samyi krasivyi [ˈsamɨj ˈkrɐsʲi.vɨ]	the most beautiful
маленький и темный	malen'kii i temnyi [mɐˈlʲenʲ.kʲɪj i ˈtʲem.nɨj]	small and dark

Here's an example dialogue to demonstrate the use of long adjectives:

• Person 1: Этот город очень красивый. (Etot gorod ochen' krasivyi) - "This city is very beautiful."
• Person 2: Да, он один из самых красивых городов в Russian. (Da, on odin iz samykh krasivykh gorodov v Russian) - "Yes, it's one of the most beautiful cities in Russian."

When using long adjectives, we need to pay attention to the gender, number, and case of the noun they describe.

Comparison of Adjectives

In Russian, there are three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative.

To form the comparative degree, we can use the following structures:

• Сравнительная конструкция (sravnitel'naia konstruktsiia) - "Comparative construction"

To form the comparative construction, we use the word чем (chem) which means "than". The formula is: [adjective] [чем] [noun]. For example: Он выше меня. (On vysshe menia) - "He's taller than me." (literally: "He's taller than me").

• Сравнительная степень (sravnitel'naia stepen') - "Comparative degree"

To form the comparative degree, we use the suffix -ее (-ee) after the stem of the adjective. For example: высокий - выше (vysokii - vyshe) - "tall - taller".

To form the superlative degree, we can use the following structures:

• Превосходная конструкция (prevoshodnaia konstruktsiia) - "Superlative construction"

To form the superlative construction, we use the words самый (samyi) which means "the most", followed by the adjective in its short form, and then the noun. The formula is: [самый] [adjective short form] [noun]. For example: самый высокий здание (samyi vysokii zdanie) - "the tallest building".

• Превосходная степень (prevoshodnaia stepen') - "Superlative degree"

To form the superlative degree, we use the suffix -ейший (-eishii) after the stem of the adjective. For example: высокий - самый высокий (vysokii - samyi vysokii) - "tall - the tallest".

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've learned all about adjectives in the Russian language. Remember to practice the different forms and structures we've discussed in order to improve your knowledge of the topic. To improve your Russian Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!

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➡ If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

Other Lessons

• Кое То Нибудь
• To and же particles in Russian
• Very important rules
• Nouns
• Russian cases
• Imperative give an order
• Tricky Adverbs
• Give your Opinion
• Future Tense

Sources

• Russian Adjectives - Russian Grammar
• Russian/Grammar/Adjectives - Wikibooks, open books for an open ...
• Russian Adjectives