When you have a good understanding of Russian grammar, it will be easier for you to start a communication in the Russian language. In the previous post, we learn about dative case of Russian nouns. If you have learned it, let’s continue to the next lesson about dative case of Russian adjectives that are easy for beginners. The dative case of Russian adjective is used to describe people or things (noun) as an indirect object. The formula for making a sentence using this dative case is divided into two variants: The hard adjectives and the soft adjectives. Have you heard about these adjectives before?

Hard Adjectives

The hard adjectives are the adjectives that have ended “-ый”, “-ой”, “-ий”.

[table]

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

[tr][td]-ому[/td] [td]-ой[/td] [td]-ому[/td] [td]-ым[/td][/tr]

[/table]

Here are further examples of it’s declensions :

– Первый (first) -> Первому, Первой, Первому, Первым

– Новый (new) -> Новому, Новой, Новому, Новым

– Печальный (sad) -> Печальному, Печальной, Печальному, Печальным

– Добрый (kind) -> Доброму, Доброй, Доброму, Добрым

Старый (old) -> Старому, Старой, Старому, Старым

1. Он купил моей старой сестре новую книгу.
   (On kupil moyey staroy sestre novuyu knigu)
   He bought my old sister a new book.
2. Я подарила моему новому другу кошелек.
   (Ya podarila moyemu novomu drugu koshelek)
   I gave my new friend a wallet.
3. Она пишет письмо своему первому брату
   (Ona pishet pis’mo svoyemu pervomu bratu)
   She writes a letter to her first brother.
4. Плохое началишко не к доброму концу.
   (Plokhoye nachalishko ne k dobromu kontsu)
   Bad start not to a good end.

Soft Adjectives

The soft adjectives are the adjectives that have ending “-ний”. Most of the soft adjectives refer to place or time.

[table]

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

[tr][td]-ему[/td] [td]-ей[/td] [td]-ему[/td] [td]-им[/td][/tr]

[/table]

Below are examples of it’s declension and using in sentences :

– Утренний (morning) -> Утренему,  Утреней, Утренему, Утреним

– Передний (front) -> Переднему, Передней, Переднему, Передним

– Дальний (distant, long run) -> Дальнему, Дальней, Дальнему, Дальним

– Последний (last) -> Последнему, Последней, Последнему, Последним

– Синий (blue) -> Синему, Синей, Синему, Синим

1. Песня помогает моему утреннему настроению.
   (Pesnya pomogayet moyemu utrennemu nastroyeniyu)
   The song helps my morning mood.
2. Он готовится к дальнему походу.
   (On gotovitsya k dal’nemu pokhodu)
   He is preparing for a long campaign
3. Какие туфли подойдут к синему платью?
   (Kakiye tufli podoydut k sinemu plat’yu?)
   Which shoes will fit the blue dress?

After reading the explanation above, do you still find the dative case of Russian adjective difficult? In addition to dative cases, other cases such as a prepositional case also have a formula for Russian adjectives. To have a deeper understanding, you can learn it by practice making sentences from each variant of hard and soft adjectives, and you can find tips by visiting tips to learn Russian language effectively and easily. To create more sentences, you can enrich your vocabularies by remembering Basic Russian Words for Beginners. Good luck!