| nom. | gen. | dat. | acc. | inst. | prep. |
In this post, we’ll be learning how to form adjectives in the accusative case. If you don’t know how adjectives function, please check out the nominative case of adjectives before reading onward.
| Purpose |
Adjectives are used to describe.
They answer the question какой? in the nominative. In the instrumental, they answer the same question, but differently. Observe:
| какой? [what? what kind of?] |
| – | m. | f. | n. | pl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nom. | какой? | какая? | какое? | какие? |
| inst. | каким? | какой? | каким? | какими? |
Confused? Let’s look below to see how these questions get answered.
| –Какой Вы учитель? –Терпеливый и успешный. -What kind of teacher are you? -A patient and successful one. |
| Каким Вы учителем станете? –Терпеливым и успешным. -What kind of teacher will you become? -A patient and successful one. |
There are many more examples below.
| Formation |
| – | Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Plur. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nom. | -ый | -ая | -ое | -ые |
| inst. | –ым | –ой | –ым | –ыми |
Confused? See below for a clearer understanding.
| Nominative | Instrumental |
|---|---|
| Я успешный переводчик. I’m a successful translator. [какой переводчик?] | Я стану успешным переводчиком. I will become a successful translator. [каким переводчиком?] |
| Я успешная кинозвезда. I’m a successful movie star. [какая кинозвезда?] | Я стану успешной кинозвездой. I will become a successful movie star. [какой кинозвездой?] |
| Я стану уродливое чудовище. I’m a hideous monster. [какое чудовище?] | Я стану уродливым чудовищем. I will become a hideous monster. [каким чудовищем?] |
| Мы уродливые чудовища. We’re hideous monsters. [какие чудовища?] | Мы станем уродливыми чудовищами. We will become hideous monsters. [какими чудовищами?] |
| Soft Adjectives |
Soft adjectives are far scarcer than hard adjectives in Russian. There are some 40 or so in existence.
It was hard for me to come up with examples, so they will seem a little strange.
| – | Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Plur. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nom. | -ий | -яя | -ее | -ие |
| gen. | –им | –ей | –им | –ими |
As usual, some examples for clarity.
| У меня есть сегодняшний репортаж. I have today’s report. [какой репортаж?] | Я заменил вчерашний репортаж сегодняшним [репортажем]. I replaced yesterday’s report with today’s. [каким репортажем?] |
| На столе лежит сегодняшняя газета. Today’s newspaper is on the table. [какая газета?] | Я заменил вчерашную газету сегодняшней [газетой]. I replaced yesterday’s newspaper with today’s. [какой газетой?] |
| У меня есть синее кольцо. I have a [dark] blue ring. [какое кольцо?] | Я заменил серое кольцо синим [кольцом]. I replaced the grey ring with the [dark] blue one. [каким кольцом?] |
| У меня есть синие чашки. I don’t have [dark] blue cups. [какие чашки?] | Я заменил серые чашки синими [чашками]. I replaced the grey cups with the [dark] blue ones. [какими чашками?] |
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And there it is – [just about] everything you need to know about adjectives in the genitive case!
Congratulations! With this post, we’ve completely covered adjectival endings in every case.
There will be some finer points to cover later on, but those will be for those rare adjectives that one comes across once in a blue moon.
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