Duo Russian Grammar

29) Adjectives 1

In Russian the adjective agrees with the noun it modifies in gender(number) and case. Fortunately, the system is completely regular and the stress stays the same. The forms for the cases you know are:

ENDINGS masculine neuter feminine
Nom. -ый(о́й)/-ий -ое/-ее -ая/-яя
Acc. Nom. or Gen. -ое/-ее -ую/-юю
Gen. -ого/-его see masc. -ой/-ей
Prep. -ом/-ем see masc. -ой/-ей

The plural ending in the Nominative is -ые (ие). We will address the oblique forms later in the course.

(we are not teaching possessive adjectives for now, )

A few examples:

  • Я живу в большом городе. (Prep.,masc.)
  • Дайте большого кота. (Acc.,masc.)
  • Нам надо найти хорошую книгу. (Acc.,fem)

velars and hushes

Adjectives with the stem on -к, -г, -х, -ш, -щ, -ж, -ч will use "и", "а", "у" instead of "ы", "я", "ю" so watch carefully ("русский", for instance).

We will tackle the endings one at a time.

целый vs. весь

In Russian the idea of "the whole" of something can be expressed by either «целый» or «весь». The former is used when implying the unexpectedly "large" amount; it is the one we're teaching in this skill:

  • Он целый день спит. (normally, a person should have been awake for a long time)