Adjectives and Adverbs

As you have seen in our last lesson, adjectives answer to the question “Какой?”, “Какая?”, “Какое?”, “Какие?” (What kind of?). It qualifies a noun and always agrees with it:

  • Хуан красивый молодой человек. (Juan is a handsome young man.)
  • У Анны тихий голос. (Anna has a soft voice.)
  • Марина и Ира весёлые девушки. (Marina and Ira are cheerful girls.)

Adverbs answer to the question “Как?” (How?). It doesn’t change in gender or number and modifies the verb:

  • Хуан пишет очень красиво. (Juan has a nice writing.)
  • Анна говорит тихо. (Anna speaks quietly.)
  • Они весело работают и отдыхают. (They work and rest cheerfully.)

How to make an adverb:

Many Russian adverbs are formed from adjectives. If the adjective ends with –ский, then you change it to –ски and add по– before it:

  • Русский (adj) – по-русски (adv): (Russian – In a Russian way)
    Мама читает русский журнал. (Mum is reading a Russian magazine.)
    Она говорит по-русски. (She speaks Russian.)
  • Женский (adj) – по-женски (adv): (feminine – woman-like)
    Сестра читает женский журнал в комнате. (My sister is reading a woman magazine in her room.)

In other cases, the end of the adjective is replaced by -o:

  • Хороший (adj) – хорошо (adv): (good – well)
    Сегодня погода хорошая. (Today the weather is good.)
    Он хорошо говорит по-русски. (He speaks well Russian.)
  • Грустный (adj) – грустно (adv): (sad – sadly)
    Маша читает грустный роман. (Masha is reading a sad novel.)

Exercise: