Lesson 066

Russian adjectives (introduction)

You’ve already learned the basics about Russian nouns, pronouns, verbs, numerals and prepositions. Today we start a new chapter of the Russian grammar and move on to the Russian adjectives.

There are a few types of adjectives in the Russian language, in this lesson we’ll learn just one of them – the normal type.

Here is the list of some common Russian adjectives (some of them you already saw in our examples):

краси́вый [kra-sée-vyî]beautiful

хоро́ший [ha-ró-sheeî]good

плохо́й [pla-hóî]bad

у́мный [úm-nyî]smart

глу́пый [glú-pyî]stupid

высо́кий [vy-só-keeî]high

ни́зкий [néez-keeî]low

чёрный [chyór-nyî]black

бе́лый [byé-lyî]white

си́ний [sée-neeî]blue

большо́й [bal’-shóî]big, large

ма́ленький [má-leen’-keeî]small

широ́кий [shee-ró-keeî]wide

у́зкий [ús-keeî]narrow

Russian Pod 101

The default adjective gender is masculine. To use them with feminine and neuter nouns you’ll need to change their endings. Here are the typical endings by gender and number:

masculine endings: ый, ий
feminine endings: ая, яя
neuter endings: ое, ее
plural endings: ые, ие

To change the gender of an adjective, replace:

ый, ий with ая / ое, but
ший with шая / шее
ний with няя / нeе

To change the number of an adjective, replace:

ый with ые
ий with ие

Examples:

краси́вый домbeautiful house
краси́вая де́вушкаbeautiful girl
краси́вое де́ревоbeautiful tree
краси́вые цветы́beautiful flowers

хоро́ший сове́тgood advise
хоро́шая пого́даgood weather
хоро́шее настрое́ниеgood mood
хоро́шие но́востиgood news

си́ний зонтblue umbrella
си́няя ю́бкаblue skirt
си́нее пла́тьеblue dress
си́ние боти́нкиblue shoes

Russian Pod 101

As you might have noticed from these examples, the Russians usually put the adjectives before the subject. But in some cases the adjective can go after the subject. It’s often used in poetry or to give a sentence some emotional tint.

To finish with this lesson, memorize the common Russian adjectives, the endings of the adjectives in different genders, and practice the examples with the audio track.

In the future we will learn how to change the Russian adjectives in different cases.

The offline version of this lesson is available here

Start the quiz
  • Question # 1
    Say it in Russian:
    white
    • бе́лый
    • си́ний
    • ни́зкий
    • у́зкий
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 2
    Translate what you hear
    • small
    • wide
    • narrow
    • large
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 3
    Translate what you hear
    • low
    • small
    • smart
    • high
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 4
    Translate what you hear
    • high
    • low
    • stupid
    • narrow
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 5
    Say it in Russian:
    bad
    • большо́й
    • у́мный
    • плохо́й
    • чёрный
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 6
    Say it in Russian:
    blue
    • ни́зкий
    • высо́кий
    • широ́кий
    • си́ний
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 7
    Translate what you hear
    • high
    • low
    • big
    • wide
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 8
    Translate what you hear
    • smart
    • narrow
    • stupid
    • high
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 9
    Translate to English:
    чёрный зонт
    • black skirt
    • black umbrella
    • beautiful dress
    • beautiful shoes
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 10
    Translate to English:
    у́мная де́вушка
    • beautiful girl
    • good advise
    • smart girl
    • bad mood
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 11
    Which option is incorrect?
    • глу́пый челове́к
    • у́мные лю́ди
    • у́зкая река́
    • большо́е дом
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 12
    Which option is incorrect?
    • у́мнае
    • плохо́е
    • у́зкая
    • чёрные
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 13
    Which option is incorrect?
    • плоха́я пого́да
    • плохи́е настрое́ние
    • плохо́й челове́к
    • плохо́е ка́чество
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 14
    Which option is correct?
    • высо́кие де́рево
    • широ́кая река́
    • глу́пие посту́пки
    • бе́лое стол
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 15
    Which option is incorrect?
    • ни́зкий стол
    • ма́ленькая ча́шка
    • чёрное и бе́лое
    • большы́е пла́ны
    Answered: 0 out of 15
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
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2 comments on “066 – Russian adjectives”

  1. rahim.m says:

    you are doing an exellent job…i like more
    best regards
    Mr.rahim

    1. Learn Russian Step by Step says:

      Thank you rahim.m.

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