Unit 8: Favourite holidays 115
Грамма�тика
Adjectives
Adjectives change their endings to agree with the noun they describe in
gender, case and number: в хоро�шyю пого�ду ‘in fine (feminine accusa-
tive singular to agree with пого�ду) weather’; нa большо�м теплохо�де
‘on a large (masculine prepositional singular to agree with теплохо�де)
boat’. Comprehensive tables giving the endings of adjectives can be
found in the Grammar Summary at the end of the book.
Note: The accusative of the masculine adjective is like the nomi-
native when used to describe an inanimate noun and like the genitive
when used to describe an animate noun: Я зна�ю отли�чный бyфе�т
‘I know an excellent buffet’; Я зна�ю отли�чного стyде�нтa ‘I know an
excellent student’.
The masculine and neuter genitive endings -ого, -его are pro-
nounced ‘ovo’, ‘yevo’.
Words like ва�нная ‘bathroom’ and дежу�рная ‘concierge’ which,
although they translate English nouns, are adjectives in Russian, take
adjectival endings in all cases: Я зна�ю хоро�шyю дежу�рнyю ‘I know
a good concierge’.
Possessives
The possessives мой and ваш also change according to the number,
gender and case of the noun they are describing: без моего� отца� ‘with-
out my (masculine genitive singular to go with отца�) father’; c ва�шей
до�черью ‘with your (feminine instrumental singular to go with до�черью)
daughter’. Comprehensive tables are given in the Grammar Summary.
Мой translates as both ‘my’ and ‘mine’, and ваш translates as
both ‘your’ and ‘yours’. In other words, they can be used with or with-
out a noun: Э�то ваш па�спорт? ‘Is this your passport?’; Да, мой
‘Yes, mine’.
Наш ‘our, ours’ takes the same endings as ваш. Твой ‘your, yours’
takes the same endings as мой and is the form of the possessive
which corresponds to ты (i.e. the singular, familiar form).
The possessives его� ‘his, its’, её ‘her, hers’ and их ‘their, theirs’
never change their endings.