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ReadingDeclension of Russian adjectives
Russian grammar --> Declension of Adjectives
Russian long-form adjectives decline, i.e. they change their form to agree with the gender, number or case of nouns they refer to. In singular, the endings of the long-form adjectives express three morphological meanings: gender, number and case. In plural, they express only number and case.
There are three declension types of Russian adjectives:
- Declension of qualitative and relational adjectives
- Declension of possessive adjectives with stem ending in the sound [y]
- Declension of possessive adjectives ending in -ин(-ын), -ов(-ев)
Declension of qualitative and relational adjectives
These adjectives fall into three groups:
- Hard-stem adjectives
- Sof-stem adjectives
- Adjectives with stem ending in -г, -к, -х and -ж, -ш, -ч, щ
Hard-stem adjectives
These are adjectives whose stem ends in a hard consonant. Depending on the stress position, there are adjectives with a stressed ending which have masculine singular form ending in -ой (e.g. молодой young, больной sick), and adjectives with a stress on the stem which have masculine singular form ending in -ый (e.g. новый new, красивый beautiful). The declensions of these two types of adjective differs only by the nominative singular masculine endings (-ой/-ый), in other cases they will have similar endings.
The table below represents the endings of hard-stem adjectives:
| Case | Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | ||
| Nominative | -ой/-ый | -ая | -ое | -ые |
| Genitive | -ого | -ой | -ого | -ых |
| Dative | -ому | -ой | -ому | -ым |
| Accusative | Nom/Gen | -ую | Nom | Nom/Gen |
| Instrumental | -ым | -ой | -ым | -ыми |
| Prepositional | -ом | -ой | -ом | -ых |
View examples of hard-stem adjectives declension
Soft-stem adjectives
These are mainly adjectives whose stem ends in a soft -н, like синий blue, ранний early etc. Such adjectives are not numerous in Russian
The table below represents the endings of soft-stem adjectives:
| Case | Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | ||
| Nominative | -ий | -яя | -ее | -ие |
| Genitive | -его | -ей | -его | -их |
| Dative | -ему | -ей | -ему | -им |
| Accusative | Nom/Gen | -юю | Nom | Nom/Gen |
| Instrumental | -им | -ей | -им | -ими |
| Prepositional | -ем | -ей | -ем | -их |
View examples of soft-stem adjectives declension
Adjectives with stem ending in -г, -к, -х and -ж, -ш, -ч, щ
Adjectives with stem ending in -г, -к, -х
The declension of these adjectives obey the spelling rule №1, that is why they have particular ending in plural and in some forms of singular.
Depending on the stress position, there are adjectives with a stressed ending which have masculine singular form ending in -ой (e.g. дорогой expensive), and adjectives with a stress on the stem which have masculine singular form ending in -ий (e.g. строгий severe). The declensions of these two types of adjective differ only by the nominative singular masculine endings (-ой/-ий), in other cases they will have similar endings.
The table below represents the endings of such adjectives:
| Case | Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | ||
| Nominative | -ой/-ий | -ая | -ое | -ие |
| Genitive | -ого | -ой | -ого | -их |
| Dative | -ому | -ой | -ому | -им |
| Accusative | Nom/Gen | -ую | Nom | Nom/Gen |
| Instrumental | -им | -ой | -им | -ими |
| Prepositional | -ом | -ой | -ом | -их |
View examples of adjectives with stem ending in -г, -к, -х declension
Adjectives with stem ending in -ж, -ш, -ч, -щ
The declension of these adjectives obey the spelling rule №1, that is why they have particular ending in plural and in some forms of singular.
Depending on the stress position, there are adjectives with a stressed ending which have masculine singular form ending in -ой (e.g. большой big), and adjectives with a stress on the stem which have masculine singular form ending in -ий (e.g. горячий hot). The declensions of these two types of adjective obey the spelling rule №3 and differ by singular forms endings. In plural, they will have similar endings.
The table below represents the endings of such adjectives:
| Case | Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | ||
| Nominative | -ой/-ий | -ая | -ое/-ее | -ие |
| Genitive | -ого/-его | -ой/-ей | -ого/-его | -их |
| Dative | -ому/-ему | -ой/-ей | -ому/-ему | -им |
| Accusative | Nom/Gen | -ую | Nom | Nom/Gen |
| Instrumental | -им | -ой/-ей | -им | -ими |
| Prepositional | -ом/-ем | -ой/-ей | -ом/-ем | -их |
View examples of adjectives with stem ending in -ж, -ш, -ч, -щ declension
Declension of possessive adjectives with stem ending in -[y]
Possessive adjectives with stem ending in the sound [y] inflect for gender, number and case. In all forms, except masculine singular, the stem of these adjectives ends in a soft sign. Masculine singular forms have the suffix -ий at the end (e.g. лисий fox's). As for endings, in the nominative case masculine forms have zero ending, feminine singular forms have the ending -я, neuter singular forms have the ending -е, and plural forms have the ending -и. In other cases, these adjectives have the same endings as soft-stem qualitative and relational adjectives (see above).
The table below represents the endings of such adjectives:
| Case | Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | ||
| Nominative | -Ø | -я | -е | -и |
| Genitive | -его | -ей | -его | -их |
| Dative | -ему | -ей | -ему | -им |
| Accusative | Nom/Gen | -ю | Nom | Nom/Gen |
| Instrumental | -им | -ей | -им | -ими |
| Prepositional | -ем | -ей | -ем | -их |
View examples of possessive adjectives with stem ending in -[y] declension
Declension of possessive adjectives ending in -ин(-ын), -ов(-ев)
Possessive adjectives with stem ending in -ин(-ын), -ов(-ев) decline like nouns and adjectives.
The table below represents the endings of such adjectives:
| Case | Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | ||
| Nominative | -Ø | -а | -о | -ы |
| Genitive | -а | -ой | -а/-ого | -ых |
| Dative | -у | -ой | -у | -ым |
| Accusative | Nom/Gen | -у | Nom | Nom/Gen |
| Instrumental | -ым | -ой | -ым | -ыми |
| Prepositional | -ом | -ой | -ом | -ых |
View examples of possessive adjectives ending in -ин(-ын), -ов(-ев) declension