Russian Declension and Conjugation

Chapter 4: Adjective Declension

Adjectival endings

• There are three types of endings, depending upon the final stem consonant, which is either hard paired, soft paired, or unpaired.

• However, all the spelling rules apply regularly, so if you know those, you are set

Getting shortchanged

• Only one kind of adjective has short forms – what is it?

• What is the other kind of adjective that this kind is contrasted with?

Getting shortchanged

• Only one kind of adjective has short forms – what is it?– Only qualitative adjectives have short forms:

пьяный, пьян

• What is the other kind of adjective that this kind is contrasted with?– Relational adjectives, which do NOT have

short forms: деревянный

Huh?

• What’s a “predicate complement”?

Huh?

• What’s a “predicate complement”?

–А noun phrase (noun and/or adjective) that follows a verb meaning ‘be’, as in: он пьян

Stress patterns

• What are the basic stress patterns for long and short forms?

Stress patterns

• What are the basic stress patterns for long and short forms?– Long forms:

• Fixed stem• Fixed ending (on 1st syllable of ending)

– Short forms:• Fixed stem• Fixed ending• Shifting stem (masc/neut/pl) > ending (fem)

Why?

• The fill vowel behaves the same in adjectives as it does in nouns, but there is only one fill vowel, and it is o.– Why is that?

Why?

• The fill vowel behaves the same in adjectives as it does in nouns, but there is only one fill vowel, and it is o.

– Why is that?

– Because no adjectival stem ends in

–K _ C’ or c, or _ j (-stress)

By the way…

• The same rule for softening the consonant before the fill vowel applies to adjectives– Do you remember it?

By the way…

• The same rule for softening the consonant before the fill vowel applies to adjectives– Do you remember it?

– You usually get softening before o (чудён), except:

• If the fill vowel is followed by k (тонок)

• If the fill vowel is in a root ending in a hard consonant (зол)

Do you believe him?

• On p. 51 Levin says that the fill vowel is i in достоин. What do you think about that?

Do you believe him?

• On p. 51 Levin says that the fill vowel is i in достоин. What do you think about that?– This is just an orthographic convention for this

word. As you well know, both {dostojon} and {dostojin} would yield [dastojin].

What do these stress types mean?

___|____ + __

_______ + _|_

___x____ + __

_______ + _x_

____\___ + __

What do these stress types mean?

___|____ + __

_______ + _|_

___x____ + __

_______ + _x_

____\___ + __

Fixed long and short

Fixed long, shifting short

Fixed stem for long, fixed ending for short

What do these symbols mean?

[<-] [/] (p) (m)

What do these symbols mean?

[<-] [/] (p) (m)

Retraction to first syllable in masc, neut, pl short form

Fill vowel has irregular stress in masc short form

Stress variation in plural short form

Stress variation in masc short form

Comparatives….wait a minute!

• But I thought that лучший and больший were comparatives, and they don’t end in –ee or –e. What’s going on here?

Comparatives….wait a minute!

• But I thought that лучший and больший were comparatives, and they don’t end in –ee or –e. What’s going on here?– Лучший and больший are attributive

adjectives, independent words. They are not merely forms derived from adjectives, and they are not limited to the predicate position.

What goes where?

• What is the distribution of comparative formants?

What goes where?

• What is the distribution of comparative formants?– -ee for adjectives with suffixes other than -/k or

–ok, and some unsuffixed adjectives• If fem short form is stressed, so is

comparative formant– -e for unsuffixed adjectives and adjectives

suffixed in -/k or –ok• Final C mutates and –k usually drops

– Some irregular adjectives have -še, -že, -šče