Unit 9 - Adjectives and adverbs

9.3 - Case endings of adjectives

As already mentioned, the endings of adjectives in Ukrainian change according to the number and gender of the noun they describe (-ий for masculine, -а for feminine, etc.). To revise this see page 9.1.

In addition, adjectives change their endings according to case. They have the same case as the noun which they describe (i.e. agree with the noun). So, if a noun is in the accusative, the adjective must also be in the accusative, for example:

Олег має гарну машину.

Oleh has a nice car.

In this sentence, both the noun and adjective are in the accusative.

Given below are the case endings for adjectives (these are either hard or soft, but it is easy to spot the similarities in the endings):

Hard ending: Зелений (green)

	masculine	neuter	feminine	plural
Nom.	зелений	зелене	зелена	зелені
Gen.	зеленого		зеленої	зелених
Dat.	зеленому		зеленій	зеленим
Acc.	зелений /	зелене	зелену	зелені /
	зеленого			зелених
Inst.	зеленим		зеленою	зеленими
Loc.	зеленому		зеленій	зелених
Voc.	зелений	зелене	зелена	зелені

Soft ending: Синій (dark blue)

	masculine	neuter	feminine	plural
Nom.	синій	синє	синя	сині
Gen.	синього		синьої	синіх
Dat.	синьому		синій	синім
Acc.	синій /	синє	синю	сині /
	синього			синіх
Inst.	синім		синьою	синіми
Loc.	синьому		синій	синіх
Voc.	синій	синє	синя	сині

If you’ve learned the noun endings in Unit 7, understanding the adjective endings shouldn’t be a problem. A couple of points need to be noted:

The animate/inanimate distinction in the accusative applies as it does to nouns, e.g. «Вона сфотографувала гарний будинок» (inanimate, as for nominative); «Вона сфотографувала гарного хлопця» (animate, as for genitive).
There is no separate form of the vocative, which is the same as the nominative.
Plural forms are the same for all genders.

Given on the next page are some commonly used adjectives, which you should learn.