Adjectives are divided into three groups according to their meaning and grammatical features: 1) qualitative, 2) relative and 3) possessive.
Qualitative adjectives denote a feature that may be characteristic of an object to a greater or lesser extent (color, size, temperature, taste, sound, strength, internal qualities of a person and living beings in general, etc.); therefore they usually have degrees of comparison, for example: 1) Walls white, and the ceilings are still whiter. 2) The fox is cunning, but the hunter is more cunning. 3) Volga – longest from the rivers of Europe.
Many qualitative adjectives have a short form, for example: snow white, beast cunning road length, as well as special suffixes, for example, introducing a diminutive meaning or expressing a weaker or stronger degree of quality: -enk; -ovat-, -ushch- (-yushch-) - a white handkerchief, a whitish fog, a long rope.
Relative adjectives denote characteristics through relation to an object; most often they indicate material, place, time, etc., for example: leather gloves(leather mittens), Siberian wheat(wheat from Siberia), spring flowers(flowers that come in spring). Relative adjectives have no degrees of comparison and no short form. They have special suffixes, for example: -n-, -an-, -sk-, -ov- (forest, leather, urban, pine).
Qualitative and relative adjectives have the same endings and the same declension system, for example: Beautiful wooden house, beautiful wooden hut, beautiful wooden huts; new wooden house, a new wooden hut.
Having the same basic forms with qualitative adjectives, relative adjectives are often used with a qualitative meaning. In combination gold cigarette case adjective gold relative: it refers to material, derived from a noun gold. In combination golden ripe orange adjective gold used in a qualitative sense: it does not indicate the material from which the object is made, but the color of the orange: yellow and shiny. Having received a qualitative meaning, some adjectives acquire the ability to be used (in poetic and colloquial speech) in a short form and in the form of a comparative degree, for example: I) As in autumn, the fruit is ripe gold. (V.B.) 2) Everything stony the steps are getting steeper and steeper. (V.B.)
Note. There is no sharp boundary between qualitative and relative adjectives; very often an adjective includes both relative and qualitative meanings; one of them stands out in a certain context, for example: 1) The mother entered majestically, lilac dress, in lace, with a long string of pearls around the neck. (M. G.) (lilac dress, i.e. a lilac-colored dress is a qualitative adjective); 2) The terraces have grown all around lilac bushes(i.e. lilac bushes is a relative adjective).
This is why qualitative and relative adjectives are sometimes combined into one group of qualitative-relative adjectives.
Possessive adjectives denote a characteristic that indicates that an object belongs to an individual (less often, an animal); they are formed from a noun using suffixes -in (-yn),-s(-s), For example: sister's book, sister's album, father's hat, uncle's house; they have a special declension that combines the endings of nouns and adjectives, for example: sisters A book, I see my sisters at book(noun endings); no sisters Ouch books, talking about sisters Ouch book(adjective endings).
A special group in terms of meaning and endings consists of adjectives in -th(fox) - ya(fox) - ye(fox) - yi(foxes), which are formed from nouns denoting people or animals (fisherman - fisherman, fox - fox). They have mixed endings: both short and full, for example: fox ya fur coat(short ending) fox ye th fur coats(full ending) fox ye flair(short ending) lis his flair(full ending).
These adjectives combine different meanings. They are used in a possessive meaning, for example: human voices, a fishing boat, fox tricks; Moreover, they do not indicate belonging to an individual person or animal, but indicate a characteristic characteristic or certain group people, or a whole species of animals, for example: bearish den; To whom, if not me, everything fox know the tricks. (Kr.) This meaning distinguishes them from possessive adjectives with suffixes -in, -ov, denoting ownership of a single person (grandfather's sheepskin coat - This is a sheepskin coat that belonged to someone’s grandfather, and not at all the sheepskin coat typical of all old people).
Adjectives are used in -y, -y, -y and in a relative sense, for example: fox collar, bearskin coat, hare hat, sheepskin coat.(Adjectives indicate the material from which things are made.) These same adjectives can also acquire a qualitative meaning, for example: disservice(stupid service that causes damage, trouble instead of providing help), hare soul(cowardly, timid).
Exercise 189. Read and indicate in what combinations relative adjectives are used in a qualitative sense.
Iron chain - iron discipline, steel scissors - steel muscles, wooden face - wooden house, cherry tree - cherry dress, tin soldiers - tin eyes, golden character - golden bracelet, stone heart - stone building.
190. Read and indicate which adjectives are qualitative and which are relative; then indicate the gender, number and case of each adjective. Indicate adjective epithets.
At a provincial stop, endless, hot as desire,
Lunch silence. Straight country road space.
Buntings sing lifelessly, Lilac forest in the background,
In the bushes near the canvas. Gray cloud's tuft,
(B. Pasternak.)
191. Insert the missing epithets: then compare them with those given in M. Gorky’s story “Old Woman Izergil”.
The air was saturated... with the smell of the sea and... with the vapors of the earth, which had been heavily moistened by rain shortly before evening. Even now, fragments of clouds were wandering across the sky, lush, like clouds of smoke, gray and ash-blue, there - sharp, like fragments of rocks, matte black or brown. Between them sparkled tenderly... patches of sky, decorated with specks of stars.
192. Orally make up a phrase with each synonym; indicate the difference in the use of synonyms, then select antonyms for them (where possible).
1) Strong, durable, solid, strong, powerful, irresistible. 2) Fast, nimble, quick, nimble, playful, lively. 3) Fearful, timid, cowardly, indecisive, humble. 4) Thin, skinny, lean, lean, dry, lean. 5) Wonderful, wondrous, wonderful, charming, magnificent, excellent. 6) Red, scarlet, purple, crimson, crimson, crimson.
Both internal and external qualities of animate and inanimate objects can be described by adjectives, which are usually called qualitative. To learn how to identify a quality adjective, you need to know the rules, which are described in detail in this article.
What are quality adjectives?
Qualitative adjectives In russian language is a lexico-grammatical category of adjectives that denote external signs animate and inanimate objects (color, color, shape, taste, sound character, age, size and other qualities), as well as the internal properties of animate objects.
Examples of qualitative adjectives: blue, round, bitter, quiet, fragrant, young, big, kind, silent.
How to define a quality adjective?
Qualitatives differ from possessive and relative adjectives in their special meaning, as well as in a number of morphological features. The grammatical features of qualitative adjectives include:
- Short and long form (cold - cold, kind - kind, brave - brave).
- Degrees of comparison (cold - colder - coldest, kind - kinder - kinder, brave - braver - the bravest).
- The ability to combine with adverbs of degree and measure - extremely, very, sufficiently, unusually, too, etc. (very cold, too kind, unusually brave).
- Availability of antonyms and synonyms (cold - warm, kind - evil, brave - bold).
- Ability to form adjectives with diminutive suffixes (cold, kind), as well as forms with the prefix Not- (not cold, unkind).
- Ability to form adverbs -o, -e (cold - cold, brave - bravely).
Relative and possessive adjectives do not have these grammatical features.
Full and short qualitative adjectives
Most qualitative adjectives have a short and long form:
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- Adjectives in full form change according to gender, number and case (white, simple, interesting, fast). In a sentence they can be a definition or part of a compound predicate.
- Short qualitative adjectives change according to gender and number, (white, simple, interesting, fast). In a sentence, as a rule, they act as a nominal predicate.
Exceptions. Qualitative adjectives denoting the color of animals do not have a short form (black, piebald), some color names (purple, pink), as well as a number of adjectives with suffixes -l-, -sk-, -esk-, -ov- (tired, brotherly, hostile, businesslike). Adjectives are used only in short form - necessary, must, much, glad.
Degrees of comparison of qualitative adjectives
There are three degrees of comparison of qualitative adjectives:
- Positive degree– denotes a non-comparable, original feature (funny, sustainable, durable);
- comparative– expresses a trait in its greater (smaller) manifestation, has simple and compound forms (funnier, funnier, more stable, more stable, stronger, less durable).
1. Adjective- an independent part of speech that denotes a feature of an object and answers the questions: what? whose?
Basic features of an adjective
| A) General grammatical meaning | Examples |
| This is the value of the item attribute: | |
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Blue, light blue, lilac. |
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Sweet, fragrant, spicy. |
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Good bad. |
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Kind, modest, funny. |
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Smart, stupid, talkative. |
| B) Morphological characteristics | Examples |
| The same as for a noun - gender, number, case. But unlike nouns, adjectives change according to gender, number, and cases, and gender differences are observed in adjectives only in the form singular. This is due to the fact that adjectives serve and explain nouns: adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number and case. |
Wed: blue carpet, blue ribbon, blue saucer - blue carpets, blue ribbons, blue saucers. |
| B) Syntactic features | Examples |
| In a sentence, adjectives are usually modifiers or the nominal part of the predicate. | Wed: The cheerful clown made the kids laugh; The clown was funny. |
| Adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number and case. | Wed: The cheerful clown made the kids laugh; A funny joke made the guys laugh. |
| Adjectives can be extended by nouns and adverbs, forming phrases with them. | Wed: weak from illness, very weak. |
2. Based on the nature of their lexical meaning, adjectives are divided into three categories:
A) quality;
B) relative;
B) possessive.
A) Qualitative adjectives
Qualitative adjectives denote various qualities of an object:
size: big, large, small;
age: old, young;
color: Red Blue;
weight: light heavy;
appearance: handsome, slender;
personal traits: smart, strict, lazy.
Characteristic grammatical and word-formation features qualitative adjectives are:
the presence of degrees of comparison;
Big bigger Biggest; smart - smarter, smartest.
availability of full and short forms;
Strict is strict, old is old.
ability to combine with adverbs of degree;
Very strict, very big, very smart.
form adverbs with the suffixes -o, -e, -i.
Clever → clever, brilliant → brilliant, brutal → brutal.
However, not all qualitative adjectives have these features:
There are no degrees of comparison for adjectives like barefoot, oblique, blind, lame, dead, married, because they express absolute qualities, that is, qualities that cannot be compared (one cannot be dead to a greater or lesser extent; one cannot be married to a greater or lesser extent);
There is no short form for adjectives like business, friendly, comic, since they are relative in origin;
There are no degrees of comparison for relative or possessive adjectives in a qualitative sense.
Wed: a gold bracelet(relative adjective) - golden character(qualitative meaning); Fox's tail(possessive adjective) - this person has a fox character / a fox smile(qualitative meaning).
They indicate signs not directly, but through their relationship to:
These signs cannot appear to a greater or lesser extent.
Relative adjectives are synonymous with case or prepositional case forms of nouns.
Wed: iron hoop - a hoop made of iron; Volga bank - the bank of the Volga; sports shoes - shoes for sports.
B) Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives denote the characteristics of an object according to its belonging to a person or animal.
Father's jacket, mother's scarf, fox tail, wolf trail.
These adjectives answer the question whose? whose? whose? whose? An object cannot have such characteristics to a greater or lesser extent.
Possessive adjectives have suffixes:
In/-yn: mother, chicken, sister;
Ov/-ev: fathers, grandfathers;
Ий/-j- : bearish - bearish[j] his.
Note!
1) Possessive adjectives with suffixes -in/yn, -ov/-ev, -iy/-j- in the singular form of the nominative case in the masculine gender usually have a zero ending, and in the feminine and neuter genders they have the same endings as nouns.
Wed: bearish□ , bearish , bearish.
2) When adjectives are used, their meaning may change. Thus, relative adjectives can become qualitative.
Wed: lilac branch- relative adjective; lilac dress- qualitative adjective.
Possessive adjectives can become relative and qualitative.
Wed: bear trail(the trail belongs to the bear) - possessive adjective; bear coat(the fur coat is made from the skin of a bear, and does not belong to the bear) - relative adjective; bear walk(gait like a bear) is a qualitative adjective.
Exercise for the topic “3.3.1. The concept of an adjective. Morphological features of adjectives. Classes of adjectives"
What makes a person’s speech (whether written or oral) most understandable? Without what would she be poor and expressionless? Of course, without adjectives. For example, if you read the word “forest” in the text without definitions, you will never understand which one is meant. After all, it can be coniferous, deciduous or mixed, winter, spring, summer or autumn. The Russian language is great. The qualitative adjective is a direct confirmation of this. In order to vividly and accurately present any picture, we need this wonderful part of speech.
Meaning and main features
An adjective is a name indicating the attribute of an object, that is, its properties that contain characteristics of quality, quantity, belonging. For example, they give a definition by color, taste, smell; indicate an assessment of a phenomenon, its nature, etc. Usually questions are asked to it: what (th, -th)? what is (-a, -o)? whose(s)? This is a significant (independent) part of speech.
The grammatical ones include:
- variability by gender (for example, red - masculine, yellow - female, green - average);
- declension by cases (let's check: nominative - sandy, genitive - iron, dative - morning; instrumental - evening; prepositional - about night);
- the possibility of a short form and degree of comparison (qualitative adjectives);
- changeability by numbers (for example, blue is singular, blue is plural).
Syntactic role
- The most common position for an adjective in a sentence is the modifier. It most often depends on a noun and is completely consistent with it. Consider the sentence: Deep footprints were visible in the snow. The tracks (what?) are deep. An adjective is a modifier that depends on the subject expressed by the noun. Graphically indicated
- Ability allows an adjective to be the main member of a sentence - the subject. ( For example: The patient was admitted to the hospital in serious condition.)
- Quite often, what adjectives are found as part of the predicate in the form of a nominal part? Quality in short form. ( Compare: He was weak from illness. - The boy was weak. In the first case, the main member is a verb, in the second - an adjective in a compound nominal predicate.)
Adjectives: qualitative, relative, possessive
This part of speech has three categories, differing in both form and meaning. Let's look at all their features for comparison in the table.
| Quality | Relative | Possessives |
This feature of an object has varying degrees of manifestation in it. One may be redder or whiter, while the other may be smaller or larger. Only they can form phrases with such adverbs as “not enough” and “extremely”, “very” and “extraordinarily”, “too”. Capable of having a short form: strong, invincible, glorious. Only qualitative adjectives can form degrees of comparison. Examples: sweeter, kindest, tallest. They can be used to form complex words by repetition: cute-darling, blue-blue. | The attribute they denote does not contain a greater or lesser degree, like qualitative adjectives. Examples: one nail cannot be more iron than another, and there is no such thing as the greatest clay pot in the world. They indicate the material from which the object is made or composed: a wooden floor, a sandy beach, gold jewelry. Show location or proximity to something: sea region. Evidence of time: February snowstorms, evening promenade, the year before last. The quantity is determined: a three-year-old child, a one and a half meter pointer. The purpose of the item is revealed: a sewing machine, a regular bus, a loading platform. They do not have a short form or degrees of comparison. | They indicate that this item belongs to someone or something. If the tail is a fox, then it is a fox, the hat could be grandma's or dad's. The main distinguishing feature is the question “whose”? |
Quality varies
It is worthwhile to dwell in some more detail on the most flexible definitions in use and word formation, which are known as quality adjectives. Examples of their meanings are incredibly varied. They may indicate:
- on the shape of the object: multifaceted, round, angular;
- its size: tall, wide, huge;
- color: orange, dark green, purple;
- smell: stinking, fragrant, odorous;
- temperature: cold, lukewarm, hot;
- sound level and characteristics: quiet, loud, booming;
- overall rating: necessary, useful, unimportant.
Additional exclusivity
There are also distinctive features that you need to know so as not to confuse qualitative, relative and possessive adjectives with each other. So, the first of them have the following features:
- the formation of new words using the prefix “not”: a sad person, an expensive product; or diminutive suffixes: gray - gray - grayish;
- the ability to select synonyms: cheerful - joyful; bright - brilliant; antonyms: cold - hot, evil - kind;
- adverbs ending in -o, -e originate from qualitative adjectives: white - white, gentle - tenderly.
More about degrees of comparison
They also only have qualitative adjectives. Examples of the formation of a simple comparative degree: more visible, darker, longer. The compound comparative degree is a phrase: “less” or “more” is added to the adjective: less hard, softer.
The superlative degree is called that because it indicates the predominance of a characteristic in one object over other similar ones. It can be simple: it is formed using the suffixes -eysh-, -aysh-. For example: the most faithful, the lowest. And compound: the adjective is used in combination with the word “most”: the most wonderful, the deepest.
Can adjectives change their category?
And again it is worth remembering the broad capabilities of the Russian language. Everything is possible in it. Therefore, it is not surprising that qualitative, relative and possessive adjectives in a certain context change their meaning according to category.
For example, in the phrase “glass beads” everyone understands that we are talking about beads made of glass. But “glass arguments” are already a metaphor, these are completely fragile, fragile arguments. We can conclude: the relative adjective (first example) has turned into a qualitative adjective (second example).
If you compare the expressions “fox hole” and “fox character”, you can see how the belonging of animal housing turns into the quality of human nature, which means that the possessive adjective has become qualitative.
Let’s take two more phrases as an example: “hare’s trail” and “hare’s hat.” The prints of the animal are not at all the same as the headdress made from it. As you can see, a possessive adjective can turn into a relative adjective.
Famous linguist Yu.S. Stepanov believed that the difference quality And relative meanings of adjectives is one of the most difficult. This division is carried out not even in all languages. In Russian, middle school students already learn to distinguish between these categories of adjectives.
As you probably remember, adjectives answer questions Which? which? which? which?
Which? –small yard, school teacher, bear claw.
Which? –wonderful weather, wooden bench, fox face.
Which? –excellent mood, pearl necklace, horse hoof.
Which? – polite students, regional competitions, bunny ears.
Each row contains examples qualitative, relative and possessive adjectives. How to distinguish them? As has already become clear, simply asking a question about an adjective will not give a result; the category cannot be determined in this way.
Grammar and semantics(meaning of the word). Let's consider each category of adjectives by meaning .
Qualitative adjectives
It’s already clear from the name what these adjectives mean. quality of the item. What kind of quality could this be? Color(lilac, burgundy, bay, black), form(rectangular, square), physical characteristics of living things (fat, healthy, active), temporal and spatial features (slow, deep), general qualities, inherent in an animate object ( angry, funny, happy) and etc.
Also, most (but not all!) qualitative adjectives have a whole range of grammatical features, by which they are quite easy to distinguish from other adjectives. These features may not necessarily be a whole set for each quality adjective, but if you find that at least some attribute is suitable for this adjective - you have a quality adjective. So:
1) Qualitative adjectives denote a feature that can appear to a greater or lesser extent. Hence the ability to form degrees of comparison.
Thin - thinner - thinnest. Interesting – less interesting – the most interesting.
2) Form short forms. Long is long, short is small.
3) Combine with adverbs of measure and degree. Very beautiful, extremely entertaining, completely incomprehensible.
4) From qualitative adjectives you can form adverbs on -o(s) And nouns with abstract suffixes -ost (-is), -izn-, -ev-, -in-, -from- :magnificent - magnificent, clear - clarity, blue - blue, blue - blue, thick - thickness, beautiful - beauty.
5) You can also form words with diminutive or augmentative suffixes: angry - angry, dirty - dirty, green - green, healthy - hefty.
6) Can have antonyms: big - small, white - black, sharp - dull, stale - fresh.
As you can see, there are many signs, but it is absolutely not necessary to use all of them. Remember that some quality adjectives have no degrees of comparison, some abstract nouns do not form, some cannot be combined with adverbs of measure and degree, but they fit according to other criteria.
For example, adjective bay. This adjective does not fit any grammatical criteria, but it means color = quality of item, - that means it quality.
Or adjective beautiful. You can't tell very lovely, but you can form an adverb Wonderful. Conclusion: adjective quality.
Relative adjectives
Designate a sign through an attitude towards an object. What kind of relationship could this be - signs? Material, from which the item is made ( iron nail - iron nail, stone basement - stone basement, velvet dress - velvet dress); place, time, space (today's scandal is a scandal that happened today; intercity bus – a bus between cities; Moscow region – Moscow region); appointment(parent meeting - meeting for parents, children's store - store for children) and etc.
Signs of this 
and not temporary, but permanent, That's why Relative adjectives do not have all the features inherent in qualitative adjectives. This means that they do not form degrees of comparison(not to say that this house is wooden, and that one is more wooden), cannot be combined with adverbs of measure and degree(can't say very gold bracelet) etc.
But phrases with relative adjectives can be transform, replacing the adjective. For example, villager - village resident, milk porridge - porridge with milk, plastic cube - plastic cube.
We hope that it has become clearer to you how to distinguish between qualitative and relative adjectives. We’ll talk about possessive adjectives and some pitfalls in the next article.
Good luck in learning Russian!
Still have questions? Don't know the difference between qualitative and relative adjectives?To get help from a tutor, registerYou probably already remember that according to their meaning, adjectives are divided into quality(indicate the quality of the item), relative(denote the attribute of an object in relation to another object) and possessive. ABOUT possessive names We'll talk about adjectives in more detail.
These adjectives, unlike qualitative and relative ones, answer not the question what?, but the question whose? They're called possessive, because their main purpose is indicate belonging to a person, animal or animate being. Therefore, they are formed only from the names of animals, persons and other animate beings. For example, mutton, fox, Anin, mother's, foreman, grandfather's etc. According to grammatical features, possessive adjectives closer to relative because they have no degrees of comparison(can't be this item is my mother’s, and that one is even more my mother’s), short forms,
They do not form adverbs and abstract nouns etc. However, they have their own characteristics: special suffixes and a special system of declensions.
Possessive adjectives are formed, as mentioned above, from the names of animals, persons and other animate beings using suffixes -ov (-ev), -in (-yn), -iy.
Fathers' house, elders' staff, nanny's scarf, sister's order, fox's tail.
It should also be noted here that these adjectives have null ending. Try not to confuse, for example, adjectives like blue And wolfish
Blue – qualitative adjective, non-derivative (not formed from anything), without suffixes, ending -y.
Wolf – possessive adjective, derivative (derived from the noun wolf using a suffix -th ), null ending.
Pairs of adjectives such as worker and carpenter, red and bear, distant and shark. Worker, red and distant have ending-yy, A carpenter, bear and shark have null ending And suffix-yy, because they are possessive and derivative.
Therefore, you should be careful when analyzing adjectives by composition and take into account the rank of the adjective by meaning.
Now let's move on to traps, which adjectives prepare for us. Although there is a rather sharp boundary between the categories of adjectives 
ative adjectives both grammatically and lexically, however, it happens that some possessive adjectives camouflage under qualitative and even relative, and relative under qualitative. All in all, Many adjectives want to move into the category of quality. How does this happen and how not to get confused when determining the category?
Remember that the rank of an adjective by meaning can only be accurately determined in context, i.e. in a phrase or in a sentence.
For example, cherry compote – compote of cherries. Having made the transformation, we understand what is in front of us relative adjectivenew, because denotes what the compote is made from. But in the phrase cherry suit adjective cherry no longer means that the suit is made of cherries, it means the color of the suit, and color is a quality characteristic, i.e. in this context the adjective becomes high quality.
Let's take a few more examples.
Iron constructor– constructor made of iron ( relative adjective)
Iron will– strong will ( quality adjective)
Iron health – good health (quality adjective)
Steel knife– steel knife ( relative adjective)
Steel color dress (quality adjective)
Steely gaze– unfriendly, cold, hard ( quality adjective)
Bear fur– wool that belongs to a bear ( possessive adjective)
The owner's bear coat– bear fur coat ( relative adjective)
Bear walk– clumsy, awkward, shambling ( quality adjective)
Fox face- a muzzle that belongs to a fox ( possessive adjective)
Fox hat- fox hat ( relative adjective)
Fox trick– very developed cunning ( quality adjective)
Thus we see that the same adjective can take on different meanings. However grammatical characteristics remain unchanged: Neither possessive nor relative adjectives will acquire degrees of comparison, short forms and other distinctive features of qualitative adjectives.
Let's summarize.
To determine the category of an adjective, you need:
1)
See, the adjective is used in direct or figurative meaning. If the meaning is figurative, it is qualitative adjective.
2) If the value is direct, ask two questions: Which? whose? If this adjective indicates belonging, in front of us - possessive adjective.
3) Try to substitute adverb of measure and degree (very) or form degrees of comparison. If it works - qualitative adjective.
4) Try it convert combination with an adjective into a prepositional-case phrase. Happened - relative adjective.
And remember that The main thing is still the lexical meaning, not the grammar. Grammar just helps us.
Good luck in learning Russian and excellent grades!
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