Most Russian adjectivesNo definition set for adjectivesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. have two forms: a long form and short form. Here is the basic difference:
Long adjectives are “normal” adjectives, in their full form.
They can be used in a wide range of different contexts.
They are declinedNo definition set for declinedLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. for genderNo definition set for genderLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., numberNo definition set for numberLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., and caseNo definition set for caseLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum..
They are considered less formal.
Short adjectives are, unsurprisingly, shortened versions of long adjectives.
They can only be used as the predicateNo definition set for predicateLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. of a sentence.
They are declined only for gender and number.
They are considered to be more formal, and you’re a lot more likely to see them in written Russian.
Since long adjectives are “normal” adjectives, this post will focus mostly on short adjectives, how to form them, and when to use them instead of long ones. Ready to become a pro in short adjectives? Let’s do it!
What are long adjectives in Russian?
A long adjective in Russian is a “normal” adjective in its full form. These are used to describe general and permanent qualities of a noun or pronoun. It usually goes before the noun or pronoun it describes. Long adjectives agreeNo definition set for agreeLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. with nounsNo definition set for nounsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. or pronounsNo definition set for pronounsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. in gender, number, and case. The long form is usually used in informal, spoken Russian. Check out our introduction to Russian adjectives to learn more about these.
What are short adjectives in Russian?
In Russian, a short adjective is a shortened form of a “normal” (or “long”) adjective. Most adjectives in Russian also have a short form. Unlike long adjectives, short adjectives are not marked for case, so they have only four forms each: masculine, feminine, neuter, plural.
Masculine | занят[ZAnyat](busy) |
|---|
Feminine | занята[zanyaTA] |
|---|
Neuter | занято[zanyaTO] |
|---|
Plural | заняты[zanyaTY] |
|---|
Short adjectives can only be used as the predicate of a sentence. This means that when you translate them into English, they’ll usually follow the verb “to be” and they will not come before the noun they describe. For example:
short adjective
Человек красив.
chilaVEK kraSEEV.
The person (is) beautiful.
→ You may recall that, in Russian, the verb “to be” is not used in the present tense!
You will never use a short adjective as an attributive adjective, to say, for example, “I saw a beautiful person” or “I bought an expensive car.” If you want to achieve one of these meanings, you’ll have to use a long adjective instead:
long adjective
красивый человек
kraSEEvyi chilaVEK
In the sections below, we’ll first look at how short adjectives are formed, then we’ll look more closely at when you ought to use short adjectives vs. long adjectives.
How to form short adjectives in Russian?
Short adjectives in Russian are derived from the nominativeNo definition set for nominativeLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. forms of long adjectives. Most adjectives are shortened by following the basic rules below. We use the adjective занятой[zanyaTOY](busy) as an example.
| Drop the regular adjective ending | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
Relational adjectives do not have a short form. Relational adjectives are a class of adjectives that are used to describe something that is related to a noun. They’re often translated into English with nouns instead of adjectives and they tend to have one of the following endings:
-ский | братский[bRAtskyi](fraternal) |
-овой, -евой | деловой[dilaVOY](relating to business) |
боевой[baiVOY](relating to the military, fighting) |
-ной, -ный, -ний, -ян | главный[GLAvnyi](main) |
нижний[NIzhnyi](lower) |
When to add a vowel to a short adjective?
In addition to the changes above, you will need to add a vowel to the masculine singular form of some short adjectives. When the stemNo definition set for stemLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. ends in a cluster of two or more consonantsNo definition set for consonantsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum., a vowel is inserted before the last consonant. For example:
What vowel should you add? Usually you can follow the rules below:
Stems with clusters ending in -к[k] will get a vowel -о[o] before -к in a masculine form
сладкий[sLAdkiy](sweet) → сладок[sLAdak]
Stems with clusters ending in -н[n] will get a vowel -е[ye] before -н in a masculine form
важный[VAzhnyi](important) → важен[VAzhen]
There are some exceptions to this second rule, for example:
полный[POLnyi](full) → полон-
смешной[smishNOY](funny) → смешон-
злой[zloy](angry) → зол[zol]
What are the irregular short adjectives?
The adjectives большой[balSHOY](big) and маленький[MAlinkiy](small) have unique and irregular short forms:
| велик[viLEEK] | мал[mal] |
| велика[veliKA] | мала[maLA] |
| велико[viliKO] | мало[maLO] |
| велики[viliKEE] | малы[maLi] |
Where to put the stress in short adjectives?
The rules below can help you determine what syllable to stress in a short adjective. These rules are not without exceptions, but they serve as a good guideline.
Plural forms of all short adjectives | Stress can go on the ending or to the stem. Both pronunciations are correct. | важный → важны VAzhnyi → VAzhny / vazhNY занятой → заняты zanyaTOY → ZAnyati or zanyaTY |
Adjectives with a stem ending in: -ив, -лив, -чив, -им, -н, -альн, -ельн, -ист | Stress in short adjectives usually is on the same syllable as in long adjectives. | красивый → красив / красива / красиво / красивы kraSEEvyi → kraSEEv / kraSEEva / kraSEEva / kraSEEvy печальный → печален / печальна / печально / печальны piCHAlnyi → piCHAlen / piCHAlna / piCHAlna / piCHAlny |
Adjectives with a single-syllable stem, without the endings -к or -и | Stress in short feminine adjectives goes to the ending. In all other cases, stress is not affected. | пустой → пуст / пуста / пусто / пусты poostOY → poost / pooSTA / POOsta / pooSTY крепкий → крепок / крепка / крепко / крепки KREpkiy → KREpok / krepKA / KREpka / krepKI |
Long vs. short adjectives: What is the difference in meaning?
As we mentioned above, Russian short adjectives can only be used as the predicate of a sentence. However, long adjectives can serve as the predicate of a sentence too:
short adjective
Человек красив.
chilaVEK kraSEEV.
The person (is) beautiful.
long adjective
Человек красивый.
chilaVEK kraSEEvyi.
The person (is) beautiful.
So what is the difference in meaning between the two? The answer depends a little on the adjective you use, but there are some generalizations we can draw:
Short adjectives are more formal. You’re more likely to see them in writing, while in speech we generally use long adjectives.
Sometimes there is a slight difference in meaning. While this is mostly dependent on the adjective you use, the short adjective will most often have a more temporary feel.
Some adjectives do not have a short form, so the long form is the only option.
Usually there is not a huge difference in meaning between using a long or short adjective as a predicate though, so this can be just a matter of preference.
You will often hear the modifiers так[tak](so), очень[OCHen](very), and слишком[SLEEshkam](too) before short adjectives in Russian.
short adjective
Он очень занят на работе.
On OCHen ZAnyat na raBOte.
He is extremely busy at work.
Этот вопрос слишком прост для этого студента.
Etat vapROS slEEshkam PROst dlya ETava stooDEnta.
This question is too simple for this student.
Мой друг так болен. У него грипп.
moy drook tak BOlen. Oo niVO grip.
My friend is so sick. He has the flu.
Summary
These are the main points to remember about long vs. short adjectives in Russian:
Long adjectives → the “dictionary” version
Are declined for case, number, and gender
Can be predicative (e.g. “X is red”) or attributive (e.g. “a red X”)
Short adjectives → formed by shortening the nominative of the long adjective
Are declined only for number and gender
Can only be predicative (e.g. “X is red”)
More formal, often used in writing
Ready to practice? Download the short adjective activities below! Happy learning!
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