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VOCABULARY USED IN THIS LESSON

Russian	Pronunciation	English
синий	sIn-ee	dark-blue (masculine form)
галстук	gAl-stook	tie
маленький	mA-lin-ky	small (masculine form)
мальчик	mAl-chik	boy
второй	fta-rOY	second (masculine form)
урок	oo-rOk	lesson
блузка	blOO-ska	blouse
лекция	lYEk-tsia	lecture

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Please note the following lessons are classified 'advanced' for a reason, so please only move on once you fully appreciate that adjective suffixes change according to the gender of a noun. It takes most people a long time to learn all the rules in these advanced lessons.

Exceptions to the Rules: Masculine Endings

There are in fact three possible masculine adjective endings:

Summary of Masculine Adjective Suffixes

-ый : most common suffix
-ий : when the adjective stem ends with -н, -k, -г, -x, -ч, -щ, -ш, or -ж
-ой : whenever the suffix is stressed

For example, галстук is a masculine noun that means "tie" (that you wear with a shirt). If we wanted to say "dark blue" we use the adjective синий.

In this case the stem is син-, which ends with an "н". Therefore, according to the summary above, the suffix we use is -ий

синий галстук means "dark blue tie".

Dark-blue tie

синий галстук

Pronounced:

sIn-ee gAl-stook

Listen:

(Lena)

As another example, the word for "small" in Russian has the stem маленьк-. Since к is one of the special letters listed in the summary above, you add -ий to form маленький.

For example, "small boy" is маленький мальчик.

Small boy

маленький мальчик

Pronounced:

mA-lin-ky mAl-chik

Listen:

(Lena)

When the stress of an adjective (stress = the part of the word you say the loudest or strongest) falls on the suffix, then a special rule occurs that overrides all of the above.

If the suffix is stressed then you always use the suffix -ой.

For example, the Russian adjective for the word "second" (stem: втор-) always has the suffix stressed.

Thus, "second lesson" is второй урок.

Second lesson

второй урок

Pronounced:

fta-rOY oo-rOk

Listen:

(Lena)

Exceptions to the Rules: Feminine Endings

The exceptions for feminine adjectives are more restricted than for masculine adjectives.

Summary of Feminine Adjective Suffixes

-ая : most common suffix
-яя : when the adjective stem ends with -н

Only adjective stems ending with "н" modify the feminine suffix, which becomes -яя.

For example, синяя блузка means "dark blue blouse".

Dark-blue blouse

синяя блузка

Pronounced:

sI-nyay-a blOO-ska

Listen:

(Lena)

Note that the standard feminine suffix, -ая, does not change when the suffix is stressed.

Thus, "the second lecture" translates as вторая лекция.

Second lecture

вторая лекция

Pronounced:

fta-rA-ya lYEk-tsia

Listen:

(Lena)