Five lessons done already! And many key concepts were covered in those five lessons.
l. Spelling Rule #1
In lesson four, we covered plurals, but one key thing was left out. How would you form the plural for книга? You might be thinking книгы, but that’s wrong. The correct plural is:
книга = книги
This is due to something in Russian called a spelling rule. There are actually three of them and we’ll be learning one of them in this lesson.
| Never write ы after the letters к, г, х, known as velars, or the letters ч, ж, ш, щ, known as hushers. Instead write и. |
| singular | – | plural |
| чашка [cup] | > | чашки [cups] |
| враг [enemy] | > | враги [enemies] |
| муха [fly] | > | мухи [flies] |
| врач [doctor] | > | врачи [doctors] |
| нож [knife] | > | ножи [knives] |
| наш [our – sing.] | > | наши [our – pl.] |
| вещь [thing] | > | вещи [things] |
…Pay attention to stress shifts in the plural. They often follow a pattern throughout their declensions.
…This spelling rule may seem like just another weird rule, however, it actually makes Russian easier for you. Knowing that certain word combinations have to be written a certain way, you’re less likely to misspell words. Also, please keep in mind that this rule affects everything, every part of speech (noun, adjective, pronoun), regardless of gender and case.
With that rule explained, let’s move on to more adjectives. And they have something to do with the spelling rule above. 😉
ll. More Adjectives
Having learned our first spelling rule, we can learn more adjectives. This will undoubtedly enrich your Russian.
| маленький | small |
| высокий | high; tall |
| громкий | loud |
| жаркий | hot |
| короткий | short [length] |
| низкий | low; short [height] |
And thus, they have the following endings:
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural |
| –ий | –ая | –ое | –ие |
…As you can see, the only changes from the norm are the masculine and plural endings. Instead of –ый and –ые, they are –ий and –ие respectively.
Вот маленький стул.
Here is a small chair.
Это очень жаркий день.
It’s a very hot day.
Они громкие мальчики.
They are loud boys.
Это высокое здание.
It’s a tall building.
У неё есть короткая юбка.
She has a short shirt.
I was going to include a third element, but I suppose that’s enough information for this lesson. See you soon!
My Slavic Studies 