In the previous post, we have learned how to change nominative case of nouns to genitive case of Russian nouns. Have you remembered the formula? If you want to create more complex sentences using adjectives, you need to learn the formula of adjectives as well. The function of adjectives in the genitive case is to describe a noun that shows ‘belonging’. If you have checked other cases, like instrumental case of adjectives and dative case of adjectives, maybe you are familiar with the adjective that is divided into two variants: the hard adjectives and the soft adjectives. You can see the adjective formula below.

The Genitive Case of Russian Adjectives Formula

The Hard Adjectives

The hard adjectives have the suffix “-ый”, “-ой”, and “-ий”.

[table]

[tr][th]Masculine[/th] [th]Feminine[/th] [th]Neuter[/th] [th]Plural[/th][/tr]

[tr][td]-ого[/td] [td]-ой[/td] [td]-ого[/td] [td]-ых[/td][/tr]

[/table]

You just need to change the ending of the adjective with –ого for masculine, -ой for feminine, -ого for neuter, and –ых if the noun is plural. Here is a further example of a hard adjective in Russian.

• Дешёвый (cheap) –> Дешёвого, Дешёвой, Дешёвого, Дешёвых
• Зеленый  (green) –> Зеленого, Зеленой,  Зеленого, Зеленых
• Новый (new) –> Нового, Новой, Нового, Новых
• Красивый (beautiful) –> Красивого, Красивой, Красивого, Красивых
• Жаркий (hot) –> Жаркого, Жаркой, Жаркого, Жарких

The Soft Adjectives

The soft adjectives have “-ний”. The letter –г (-g), in the middle of the word –его and –ого, is pronounced as ‘-v’

[table]

[tr][th]Masculine[/th] [th]Feminine[/th] [th]Neuter[/th] [th]Plural[/th][/tr]

[tr][td]-его [/td] [td]-ей[/td] [td]-его[/td] [td]-их[/td][/tr]

[/table]

Below are the further example of a soft adjectives in Russian.

• Утренний (morning) –> Утреннего,  Утренней, Утреннего, Утрених
• Передний (front)  –>Переднего, Передней, Переднего, Передних
• Дальний (distant, long run) –> Дальнего, Дальней, Дальнего, Дальних
• Последний (last) –> Последнего, Последней, Последнего, Последних
• Синий (blue) –> Синего, Синей, Синего, Синих

The example of hard and soft adjectives in the sentences

• Сахар для зеленого чая.
  (Sakhar dlya zelenogo chaya)
  Sugar for green tea
• Это книга нового студента.
  (Eto kniga novogo studenta)
  This is the book of a new student.
• В этом магазине нет дешевых журналов.
  (V etom magazine net deshevykh zhurnalov)
  There are no cheap magazines in this shop.
• Дни без утреннего солнца.
  (Dni bez utrennego solntsa)
  Days without the morning sun.
• Он просит последнего прощения.
  (On prosit poslednego proshcheniya)
  He ask for the last forgiveness.

Besides to showing belonging or ownership, the genitive also can be used to indicate something is absence, ‘нет’.

• У нее нет сестры.
  (U neye net sestry)
  She does not have a sister.

From the above example, have you understood how to make sentences using genitive case of adjectives? You can enrich your  vocabulary and know some of the common greetings in Russian here. The key to learning a language is practice. Good luck! If you are also interested to know about Russian culture, have you heard about the history of Russian circus and Russian ballet? It will amaze you.