9.2 - Forming adjectives from nouns
Many adjectives are derived from nouns. If you know the meaning of a noun, you can usually work out what the adjective means; for example:
| дорога – road | дорожній транспорт – road transport |
| книжка – book | книжковий ярмарок – book fair |
| рік – year | річний звіт – annual report |
N.B. In English, as seen above, nouns frequently act as modifiers, and do not change to an adjectival form. In Ukrainian, this only happens in loan words e.g. «інтернет-магазин».
To practise this, go to Exercise 9.2A and Exercise 9.2B.
Some adjectives are compounds of two words. In such cases, you can usually understand the whole if you identify its constituent parts, e.g.:
- цілодобовий is composed of цілий (whole) + доба (24 hours), so «цілодобовий доступ» means "24-hour access"
- двосторонній is composed of два (two) + сторона (side, party), so «двосторонні переговори» means "bi-partite talks".
For more practise in working out the meanings of compound adjectives go to Exercise 9.2C.