Adjective Case Agreement

Level 2

Adjectives change case along with their noun: gražus miestas (a beautiful city) → gražiame mieste (in a beautiful city); nauja knyga → Nusipirkau naują knygą. (I bought a new book.)

How It Works

The forms below are in this order: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative.

Pattern 1: geras, gera (good)

  • Masculine singular: geras, gero, geram, gerą, geru, gerame
  • Feminine singular: gera, geros, gerai, gerą, gera, geroje
  • Masculine plural: geri, gerų, geriems, gerus, gerais, geruose
  • Feminine plural: geros, gerų, geroms, geras, geromis, gerose

Adjectives in -ias, like žalias, žalia (green), follow this pattern with an i: žalio, žaliame.

Pattern 2: gražus, graži (beautiful)

  • Masculine singular: gražus, gražaus, gražiam, gražų, gražiu, gražiame
  • Feminine singular: graži, gražios, gražiai, gražią, gražia, gražioje
  • Masculine plural: gražūs, gražių, gražiems, gražius, gražiais, gražiuose
  • Feminine plural: gražios, gražių, gražioms, gražias, gražiomis, gražiose

In these soft-stem forms, t changes to č and d to dž: platus (wide) → plačiame, saldus (sweet) → saldžiam.

Pattern 3: didelis, didelė (big)

  • Masculine singular: didelis, didelio, dideliam, didelį, dideliu, dideliame
  • Feminine singular: didelė, didelės, didelei, didelę, didele, didelėje
  • Masculine plural: dideli, didelių, dideliems, didelius, dideliais, dideliuose
  • Feminine plural: didelės, didelių, didelėms, dideles, didelėmis, didelėse

Most other -is adjectives end in -inis, like vidutinis (average). They follow the same pattern, but their masculine plural nominative ends in -iai and dative in -iams: vidutiniai, vidutiniams.

Where adjectives differ from nouns

  • Masculine dative: geram draugui, not the noun ending -ui.
  • Masculine locative: gražiame mieste, not the noun ending -e.

Feminine adjectives mostly match their nouns: gražioje gatvėje (in a beautiful street). For the basic idea of agreement, see Adjective Agreement.

Examples (6)

  1. Gyvenu gražiame mieste.

    I live in a beautiful city.

    Word by Word: I-live in-beautiful in-city.

    The masculine locative adjective ends in -ame, while the noun ends in -e.

  2. Nusipirkau naują knygą.

    I bought a new book.

    Word by Word: I-bought new book.

  3. Padovanojau knygą geram draugui.

    I gave a book to a good friend.

    Word by Word: I-gave book to-good to-friend.

    The masculine dative adjective ends in -am, while the noun ends in -ui.

  4. Matau didelį namą.

    I see a big house.

    Word by Word: I-see big house.

  5. Jie gyvena dideliame name.

    They live in a big house.

    Word by Word: They live in-big in-house.

  6. Vakare susitikau su senais draugais.

    In the evening I met up with old friends.

    Word by Word: In-evening I-met with old friends.

    Su takes the instrumental, so both words end in -ais.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving the adjective in the nominative while the noun changes case.

    Matau didelis namą.
    Matau didelį namą.

    The adjective must take the same case as its noun. Namą is accusative, so the adjective is didelį.

  • Giving the adjective the noun's dative ending.

    Padovanojau knygą gerui draugui.
    Padovanojau knygą geram draugui.

    Masculine singular adjectives of this pattern end in -am in the dative, even though the noun ends in -ui.

  • Leaving the adjective in the nominative in the locative.

    Gyvenu gražus mieste.
    Gyvenu gražiame mieste.

    Mieste is locative, so the adjective must be locative too. Masculine singular adjectives of this pattern end in -ame there.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Adjective Case AgreementLevel 2

Learn This First

Adjectives agree in case as well as gender and number.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

And 11 more in the full list.

Words in This Pattern

gražusdidelis