Usage of Adjectives

Long and Short Form

1. Both the long and short form may be used as predicates: Она очень красивая and она очень красива. The long form is found in expressions equivalent to the English "an old one," "a new one," "a good one," etc.

 Эта дорога очень хорошая. – This road is a very good one.

 In conversational Russian, the preference often goes to the long form, except in a few instances:

богат	rich		неправ	wrong
болен	sick		похож	like
виноват	at fault;  "sorry"		прав	right
голоден	hungry		свободен	free
готов	ready		согласен	agree
женат	married (said of a man)		счастлив	happy
жив	alive		сыт	full (not hungry)
намерен	intend(s)		занят	busy
доволен	pleased		здоров	well (in good health)

Also, to a certain degree, with:

красив	pretty, handsome		стар	old
молод	young		узок	narrow
слаб	weak		широк	wide

2. The short form sometimes – when logically possible – indicates a temporary condition, in contrast to a more permanent one conveyed by the long form:

Он болен.	He is sick.
Он больной.	He is a sick man.

3. Frequently, the short form has a relative value:

Квартира не маленькая, но для нас она мала.

The apartment is not small, but for us it is.

4. The short form is used with the subjects всё and это:

Всё ясно.	Everything is clear.
Это очень интересно.	It is very interesting.

5. The short form is used in certain set expressions: будьте добры – be so kind; будьте здоровы (meaning, occasionally: "goodbye" or "bless you" – when sneezing) (lit.: "be well," "be healthy"), etc.

6. The long form only is used in other set expressions – often in those with a figurative meaning:

круглый год	the year round
на чёрный день	for a rainy ("black") day
больной вопрос	a thorny (painful) question
глубокая старость	very advanced age
свободное время	free time
прямой угол	right angle
скорый поезд	express, fast train
проливной дождь	shower, drenching rain

7. The usage of the long form prevails with colors. In fact, many adjectives pertaining to colors do not have any short form at all. Thus: голубой – azure, sky-blue; коричневый – brown; сиреневый – lilac, etc. Originally, related to nouns (голубь – pigeon; корица – cinnamon; сирень – lilac) – they still possess the characteristics of relative adjectives, i.e. no short form, for instance.

8. The short and long forms are not used together as two attributives of the same noun. One may say: Она умна и красива or Она умная и красивая, but not "Она умна и красивая."

Agreement Between Nouns and Qualifiers

1. When nouns are qualified by more than one word (adjective, numeral), they may stand in the singular or in the plural:   Большой и маленький нож – a big and a small knife, or, Большой и маленький ножи. The usage of the singular apparently prevails.  It is used:

   (а)    When the logical connection between the attributes is in evidence:

программа для начальной и средней школы (not: школ)	program for the grade school and the high school
глаголы совершeнного и несовершенного вида	perfective and imperfective verbs

   (b)    When the idea of singularity is clearly present: не новый, а старый костюм – not a new, but an old suit;   русский или английский язык – the Russian or the English language.

   (c) Also, with ordinal numerals and possessive pronouns: между первым и вторым домом – between the first and the second house; Он написал моей и вашей сестре. – Не wrote to my and to your sister.

 2. In the reverse case (i.e., one adjective qualifying two nouns) the adjective may also be in the singular or in the plural. It has been claimed that, for example, "вкусный завтрак и обед" may imply that only the lunch was nice. Yet, "вкусные завтрак и обед" sounds uneasy. (Stylistically, the best may well be "вкусный завтрак и очень вкусный обед.")