Understanding Adjective Agreement in Russian

When you're learning Russian, it's super important to know how adjectives work with nouns. Adjectives are words that describe nouns, like "small." In Russian, adjectives need to match the nouns they describe in two ways: gender and number.

Gender and Number Agreement

1. Noun Genders: Russian nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neuter. This means that adjectives change their endings based on the noun's gender.

   • Masculine Singular: маленький (small)
     • Example: маленький дом (small house)
   • Feminine Singular: маленькая
     • Example: маленькая собака (small dog)
   • Neuter Singular: маленькое
     • Example: маленькое окно (small window)

2. Plural Form: When you talk about more than one noun, the adjective also needs to change. The plural form of "маленький" is "маленькие."

   • Example: маленькие книги (small books) – This works for masculine, feminine, or neuter nouns.

How "маленький" Changes with Plural Nouns

When you want to describe several items, like "книги" (books), use the plural form "маленькие." Here are some examples:

• Correct Usage:
  • У меня есть маленькие книги. (I have small books.)
• Incorrect Usage:
  • У меня есть маленький книги. (This is wrong because "маленький" doesn't match the plural noun "книги.")

Additional Examples

Here are more examples to show how adjectives agree:

• With Different Nouns:

  • маленькие стулья (small chairs)
  • маленькие овощи (small vegetables)

• Contrasting with Singular Forms:

  • Это маленький стол. (This is a small table.) – masculine
  • Это маленькая газета. (This is a small newspaper.) – feminine
  • Это маленькое кресло. (This is a small armchair.) – neuter

Comparative and Superlative

In Russian, you can also compare adjectives. This means you can talk about something being "smaller" or "the smallest."

• Comparative: To say "smaller," use "меньше."

  • Эти книги меньше. (These books are smaller.)

• Superlative: To say "the smallest," use "самый маленький."

  • Это самые маленькие книги. (These are the smallest books.)

Summary

1. Adjective Agreement: Adjectives need to match the gender and number of the nouns they describe.
2. Plural Form: Use "маленькие" when talking about more than one item, like "книги."
3. Practice: Try making sentences using "маленькие" with different plural nouns to help you learn.

By practicing these rules, you’ll get much better at using Russian!