Russian Declension and Conjugation

1. Russian Declension and Conjugation Chapter 4: Adjective Declension

2. 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

3. 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?

4. 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

5. Huh? • What’s a “predicate complement”?

6. Huh? • What’s a “predicate complement”? • А noun phrase (noun and/or adjective) that follows a verb meaning ‘be’, as in: он пьян

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

8. 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)

9. 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?

10. 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)

11. By the way… • The same rule for softening the consonant before the fill vowel applies to adjectives • Do you remember it?

12. 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)

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

14. 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 {dostojon} and {dostojin} would yield [dastojin].

15. What do these stress types mean?

16. What do these stress types mean?

17. What do these symbols mean?

18. What do these symbols mean?

19. 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?

20. 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.

21. What goes where? • What is the distribution of comparative formants?

22. 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 • FinalC mutates and–k usually drops • Some irregular adjectives have -še, -že, -šče