Genitive adjectives and possessive adjectives are both very often used in phrases that describe possession or ownership, however they are quite different grammatically.
We use a genitive to describe any genitive . In a possessive expression, the genitive adjective provides extra information about the owner / possessor.
У его старшего брата есть большая семья.
oo iVO STARshyva BRAta yest balSHAya simYA.
His older brother has a big family.
Possessive adjectives directly represent the owner. The noun that a possessive adjective provides extra information about the owned thing and it can be in any case.
папины вещи
PApiny VYEshci
dad’s things
In this post, we will briefly review all of the uses and forms of genitive and possessive adjectives in Russian to help clarify the difference between the two. Ready to have a look? Let’s go!Paragraph content
In Russian, a genitive adjective is used to describe a noun in the genitive case. The genitive case has a wide range of uses. To give a few examples, a genitive adjective might be used to describe…
A noun that is an owner / possessor
У его старшего брата есть большая семья.
oo iVO STARshyva BRAta yest balSHAya simYA.
His older brother has a big family.
компьютер моего лучшего друга
oo iVO STARshyva BRAta yest balSHAya simYA.
my best friend's computer
A noun that is absent
В этом городе нет ни интересных музеев, ни дорогих ресторанов, ни даже центральной площади.
v Etom GOradye nyet ni intiRYESnykh mooZYEif ni daraGEEKH ristaRAnaf ni DAzhe tsynTRALnay PLOshchidi
There are no interesting museums, or expensive restaurants, not even a central square in this city.
Nouns that follow certain prepositions
Аптека находится около нового театра, справа от справа от картинной галереи, ни даже напротив разных магазинов.
apTYEka naKHOditsa Okala NOvava tiAtra SPRAva at karTEEnay galiRYEi napROtif RAZnykh magaZEEnaf
The pharmacy is located near the new theater, to the right of the picture gallery, in front of the various shops.
Nouns that follow certain quantity words
Много американских студентов учится за границей.
MNOga amiriKANskikh stooDENtaf OOchitsa za graNEEtsey
A lot of American students study abroad.
Nouns that follow most numbers
Вот 20 лучших зарубежных фильмов прошлого года.
vot DVAtsat LOOCHshykh zarooBYEZHnykh FILmaf PROSHlava GOda
Here are the 20 best foreign movies of the last year.
The rules about which case and number you should use after a Russian number are quite complex. Here is a quick summary:
After numbers ending in… | Noun Form | Adjective Form |
|---|---|---|
5-9 or 0 | genitive plural | genitive plural |
2-4 | genitive singular | genitive plural → with masculine or neuter nouns |
2-4 | genitive singular | nominative plural → with feminine nouns |
For a lot more discussion and examples, check out our post on how to form and use cardinal numbers in Russian.
The chart below illustrates how to form a genitive adjective in Russian by changing the ending on its nominative form.
Nominative | Genitive | Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
Masculine | большой balSHOY новый NOviy | большого balSHOva нового NOvava | big new |
лишний LEESHniy | лишнего LEESHniva | extra | |
Feminine | молодая malaDAya | молодой malaDOY | young |
нынешняя NYnishnyaya | нынешней NYnishney | current | |
Neuter | яркое YARkaye | яркого YARkava | bright |
синее SEEniye | синего SEEniva | blue | |
Plural | талантливые taLANtlivyie | талантливых taLANtlivykh | talented |
маленькие MAlenkiye | маленьких MAlenkikh | small |
The letter -г[g] in the masculine genitive adjective endings is pronounced like a -в[v]:
У лучшего друга
oo LOOCHshiva DROOga
best friend has…
Без нового телефона
bez NOvava tiliFOna
without a new (cell)phone…
Possessive adjectives in Russian are adjectives that describe a possessed noun and stand for the owner or possessor of the noun they describe. Possessive adjectives are usually formed out of people’s first names or the titles for family members (e.g. mom, dad, grandma,...). They are most common in spoken Russian.
Name / Title | Possessive Adjective |
|---|---|
мама MAma mom | мамин MAmin mother’s; belonging to mother |
Миша MEEsha Misha | Мишин MEEshyn Misha’s; belonging to Misha |
Besides their meaning, though, possessive adjectives are just like other adjectives in Russian — they can describe nouns in any case and they with the noun they describe. For example:
папины вещи
PApiny VYEshci
dad’s things
в большом доме
v balSHOM DOme
in grandpa’s house
In Russian, possessive adjectives are formed by adding the suffix -ин[in] to nouns that end in -а[a] or -я[ya]. Here are some examples:
Noun | Possessive Adjective | Translation |
|---|---|---|
Бабушка BAbooshka | Бабушкин BAbooshkin | Grandmother → Grandmother’s |
Мама MAma | мамин MAmin | Mom → Mom’s |
Тётя TYOtya | тётин TYOtin | Aunt → Aunt’s |
Кошка KOSHka | кошкин KOSHkin | Cat → Cat’s |
Папа PApa | папин PApin | Dad → Dad’s |
Миша MEEsha | Мишин MEEshyn | Misha → Misha’s |
Саша SAsha | Сашин SAshyn | Sasha → Sasha’s |
Nouns that do not end in -а[a] / -я[ya] cannot be turned into possessive adjectives. Russians use regular genitive grammar structure to express possession.
Most Russian nouns cannot be turned into possessive adjectives. When using a noun that cannot be turned into a possessive adjective you’ll have to use the standard genitive possessive construction. For example:
Possessed Noun
any case
Possessor Noun
genitive case
вещи папы
VYEshci PApy
dad’s things
Let’s do a side-by-side comparison of the possessive with possessive adjectives vs. a noun in the genitive case.
Possessive adjective (The possessive adjective matches the case of the possessed noun) | Genitive case (The possessor noun is always in the genitive case) |
|---|---|
nominative case папины вещи PApiny VYEshci dad’s things | nominative casegenitive case вещи папы VYEshci PApy dad’s things |
prepositional case в большом дедушкином доме v balSHOM DEdooshkinam DOme in grandpa’s big house | prepositional casegenitive case в большом доме дедушки v balSHOM DOme DEdooshki in grandpa’s big house |
genitive case без бабушкиной еды bez BAbooshkinay yidy without grandma’s food | genitive case без еды бабушки bez yidy BAbooshki without grandma’s food |
For more examples and charts illustrating how to use possessive adjectives, have a look at the Russian possessive adjectives reference sheet at the bottom of this page!
In this post, we’ve covered two different types of adjectives that are often used when discussing possession in Russian. Here’s what you should remember about the difference between the two:
Genitive adjectives describe the possessor (or any other noun in the genitive case). The genitive adjective endings are:
-ого[ova] / -его[yeva] for masculine and neuter
-ой[oy] / -ей[yey] for feminine
-ых[ykh] / -их[ikh] for plural
Possessive adjectives describe the possessed noun by providing information about who owns it.
Possessive adjectives are formed by replacing the final -а[a] / -я[ya] from a name or title and replacing it with -ин[in]. Then adjective agreement endings are added.
Nouns that don’t end in -а / -я can’t be turned into possessive adjectives, so those will just be in the genitive case.
Now let’s master your adjectives in the genitive case by downloading the exercises below!
