Dictionary of Spoken Russian/Russian-English/Section 11

§11. ADJECTIVE DECLENSION

Long Forms. The ordinary or long form of adjectives has the following endings. Our example is the stem [prjam-] "straight."

Mn	[-оу]	прямой
g	[-ovo]	прямого
d	[-omu]	прямому
i	[-im]	прямым
l	[-om]	прямом
Nn	[-oyo]	прямое
Fn	[-aya]	прямая
a	[-uyu]	прямую
g	[-oy]	прямой
d	[-oy]	прямой
i	[-oy]	прямой
l	[-oy]	прямой
Pn	[-iyi]	прямые
g	[-ix]	прямых
d	[-im]	прямым
i	[-imji]	прямыми
l	[-ix]	прямых

The a forms of the M and of the P are like the n when the adjective is applied to an inanimate noun, and like the g when it is applied to an animate noun: я нашёл тупой нож "I found a dull knife," я нашёл тупые ножи "I found dull knives," but я встретил молодого человека "I met a young man," я встретил молодых людей "I met the young people."

The N has the a like the n. The remaining N forms are like the M.

The Fi has also a longer form with [-oyu]: прямою.

The unstressed final [o] in the N and Pn endings is written е, since [y] precedes.

The M and Ng ending is written with г instead of в.

When regular adjectives stress the endings, the two-syllable endings have the stress on the first syllable, as in the example above.

Special Spelling. When the Mn ending [-oy] is unstressed it is spelled with ы instead of о: старый [star'y] "old"; after г, к, х, after ж, ш, and after soft consonants it is then spelled with и: дикий [djik'y] "wild," свежий [svjež'y] "fresh," синий [sjinj'y] "blue."

In the other endings where ы (и) is written the sound is actually [i]: прямым, прямые,: плохой "bad": плохим, плохие [plaxjim, plaxjiyi]; старым, старые [star'm, star'yi]; диким, дикие [djikj'm, -kj'yi]; свежим, свежие [svjež'm, -ž'уа]; синим, синие [sjinj'm, -nj'yi].

The accent stays in the same place throughout all the long forms.

Some adjectives are habitually used, in one or another gender or in the plural, without any noun, in noun-like constructions and meanings; these are entered in the dictionary in their n form and marked as follows: нищий AM "beggar"; столовая AF "dining room"; животное AN "animal"; лёгкие AP "lungs."

Short Forms. Many adjectives have also a set of short (sh) forms, nominative only, with noun-like endings: красивый "beautiful": M красив, F красива, N красиво, P красивы. These are used, beside the long forms, as predicates: она красива "she is beautiful," она красивая rather "she is a beautiful person." The N form is used also as an adverb: хорошо "well, nicely," and as an impersonal predicate: хорошо "it's good; things are fine; (it's) all right"; мне хорошо "I feel fine."

The short M form, having no ending, is subject to vowel insertion: краткий "short": краток "he's short"; горький "bitter": горек; умный "clever": умён; видный "visible": виден; покойный "quiet": покоен; but, with consonants that take no inserted vowel, мёртвый "dead": мёртв; ветхий "decrepit": ветх; жёлтый "yellow": жёлт; твёрдый "hard": твёрд.

Many adjectives whose stem ends in [n] preceded by an unstressed vowel are spelled with нн except in the short M form, which is spelled with н: безнравственный [bjiznraistvj'n'y] "immoral": sh M безнравствен, F безнравственна [-stvj'na]. Other adjectives end in [nn] preceded by a stressed vowel; these insert a vowel in the short M form: длинный [dljinn'y] "long": sh M длинен, F длинна. However, adjectives of both these kinds which are participles of verbs (§24) have only one [n] in the short forms: испорченный [isporč'n'y] "spoiled": испорчен, испорчена; поражённый [p'ražonn'y] "beaten": поражён, поражена.

There are many irregularities of accent in the sh forms; these are shown in the dictionary by the sign sh and the endings; many have optional shifts of accent; we place the indications of these between slanted lines:

бедный, sh -дни: the sh forms are беден, бедна, бедно, бедны
великий sh /-ка, -о, -и/: the sh forms are велик, велика or велика, велико or велико, велики or велики; the forms with accent on the stem mean rather "great"; those with accent on the endings rather "big"
видный, sh -дна /-ы/: the sh forms are виден, видна, видно, видны or видны
сухой, sh сух, -ха, сухо, -хи: the sh forms are сух, суха, сухо, сухи.

Occasionally the sh N form has a different stress in adverbial and impersonal use; we mark this as adv: больной, sh болен, -льна, -о, -ы; adv больно; this means that the sh forms are болен, больна, больно, больны, and that больно means "it is sick," but больно means "painfully" or "it hurts."

Short forms, with noun-like endings, in cases other than n appear only in special phrases; thus, beside первый "first," there is сперва (preposition с with g N) "first of all."

Many adjectives have no sh forms; especially some whose stems end in [nj], such as верхний "upper" and those in [sk], such as русский "Russian." The latter have adverbs with ending [-i]: дружески "in a friendly way," and often with no- prefixed: по-русски "in Russian." Other instances are more isolated: большой "big" has no sh forms; those of великий "great" are used instead; маленький "little" has none; those of малый are used instead.

Comparative Forms. Many adjectives have comparative (cp) forms. The long cp form is made by adding [-jeyš] with long adjective endings: красивый "beautiful": красивейший. This form means "very beautiful." With наи- prefixed it has superlative meaning: наикрасивейший "the most beautiful." In comparative meaning one uses the adverb более "more" with the ordinary long form: более красивый "more beautiful." In superlative meaning one uses самый "the same, the very" with the ordinary long form: самый красивый "the most beautiful."

There is only one cp sh form for all three genders and the plural; it has the ending [-jeya], written -ее: она красивее "she is prettier." This form often has no- prefixed to it, meaning "somewhat more" or "as much as possible" or forming an adverb or used with nouns: поскорее "more quickly; rather quickly; as quickly or as soon as possible"; картина покрасивее "a prettier picture." Often the ending is shortened to [-ey]: красивей.

The cp forms stress the same syllable as the ordinary form; however, all adjectives that stress any ending in the ordinary long or sh forms have the stress on the first syllable of the cp ending: бледный, sh -дни "pale" gives cp бледнейший, бледнее.

Many adjectives have no cp forms.

There are many irregular cp forms. Most of these have [-ayš] in the long forms and [-i], written -е in the short: горький "bitter": горчайший, горче [gorči]. A few differ entirely from the ordinary forms:

большой "big": больше, adv более [bolj'ya], больший "bigger"
малый, мaленький "small": меньше, adv менее, меньший
молодой "young": моложе; младший
плохой "bad": хуже, плоше,: худший
старый "old": старше; старший
хороший "good": лучше; лучший

These six long forms have comparative meaning; лучшая квартира "a better apartment"; also, they, and not the ordinary forms, combine with самый in superlative meaning: самый лучший "the best," also наилучший.

Irregular cp forms are given in full in the dictionary.