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:

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)

Soft ending: Синій (dark blue)

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.