An adjective's ending always matches the gender of the object they describe:
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| -ый* | -ая | -ое | -ые |
| вкусный супtasty soup | вкусная курицаtasty chicken | вкусное мясоtasty meat | вкусные тортыtasty cakes |
*Masculine nouns can also have other ending such as -ой and -ий; -ый is most common.
There are also soft adjectives, whose masculine forms end in -ний. These simply use soft vowels (я, е, и, ю) in place of hard ones (а, о, ы, у) in every grammatical case.
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| -ий | -яя | -ее | -ие |
| средний ребёнокmiddle child | средняя школаmiddle school | среднее имя*middle name *имя is an irregular noun- it appears feminine but is neuter. |
средние сиденьяmiddle seats |
Adjectives can be shortened for simple, subject-adjective sentences (for example: that building is old; this woman is kind; my dog is cute).
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | -а | -о | -ы |
| красив храмbeautiful temple | красива птицаbeautiful bird | красиво солнцеbeautiful sun | красивы людиbeautiful people |
Like nouns and pronouns, adjectives change with grammatical case. These are in their nominative forms.
There are a few way to compare nouns using adjectives.
Этот суп менее вкусный, чем тот.This soup is less tasty than that one.
Ее картина более красивая, чем его скульптура.Her painting is more beautiful than his sculpture.
As you can see, the adjective still matches the gender of the noun.
Тот суп вкуснее, чем этот.That soup is tastier than this one.
Notice the pronouns are switched- this ending always means more.
Ее картина красивее, чем его скульптура.Her painting is more beautiful than his sculpture.
Many adjectives undergo consonant mutation using this ending.
Этот суп менее вкусный того.This soup is less tasty than that one.
Ее картина красивее его скульптуры.Her painting is more beautiful than his sculpture.
The adjective самый means (the) most. It can be used with other adjectives, with both matching the gender of the noun:
| самый молодой сынyoungest son | самая большая собакаbiggest dog | самое маленькое яйцоsmallest egg | самые старые девушкиoldest girls |