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:
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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.)