должен/готов/рад

Modal and State Short Adjectives

Level 4Sounds Like dolžen/gotov/rad

Russian uses a special group of short adjectives—должен (must), готов (ready), and рад (glad)—to express personal states and obligations. Unlike most adjectives, these are almost exclusively used as the main 'verb-like' part of the sentence and must agree with the subject's gender and number.

How It Works

While most Russian adjectives have both long and short forms, должен and рад are unique because their long forms are either non-existent or carry different meanings. Specifically, рад lacks a long form entirely in modern Russian, while должен corresponds to the long form должный (due/proper). They are essential for expressing modality and emotional states.

1. Agreement and Forms:

  • Masculine: должен, готов, рад
  • Feminine: должна, готова, рада
  • Neuter: должно, готово, радо (радо is rarely used)
  • Plural: должны, готовы, рады

Note the 'fleeting vowel' -е- in the masculine должен. Additionally, должен shifts its stress to the ending in feminine, neuter, and plural forms, whereas готов and рад have fixed stress on the stem. You should also distinguish the neuter short adjective должно (stressed on the last syllable: it must) from the formal impersonal adverb должно (stressed on the first syllable: one ought to). Unlike the others, готов has a common long form готовый. While the short form готов refers to a state of being prepared, the long form готовый frequently implies 'ready-made' or 'completed' (e.g., готовый обед). Crucially, when using the first-person pronoun я (I), you must agree the adjective with your gender: a male speaker says 'Я должен / рад / готов', and a female speaker says 'Я должна / рада / готова'.

2. Tense Usage:
In the present tense, no copula is used. In other tenses, use past tense or future forms of быть.

3. Complements:

  • должен: + infinitive (must do, or supposed to / expected to) OR + (optional) Dative (person) and/or (optional) Accusative (direct object) to mean 'owe'.
  • готов: + к + Dative (ready for) OR + infinitive (ready to do) OR + на + Accusative (ready for any outcome / to go to certain lengths).
  • рад: + Dative (glad about) OR + что clause OR + infinitive (glad to do) OR + за + Accusative (happy for someone).

4. Negation and Fixed Phrases:

  • Не должен: Typically means 'must not' (prohibition) or 'not supposed to', rather than 'don't have to' (which is usually expressed with не нужно or не надо).
  • Должно быть: An extremely common fixed parenthetical phrase meaning 'probably' or 'must be'.

Examples (6)

  1. Рад видеть вас!

    Glad to see you!

    Word by Word: Glad to-see you!

    The short adjective рад is frequently followed by an infinitive to express being glad to perform an action.

  2. Дети будут рады, что всё хорошо.

    The children will be glad that everything is fine.

    Word by Word: Children will-be glad that all well.

    The short adjective рады can be followed by a complement clause starting with что.

  3. У вас есть готовый обед?

    Do you have a ready-made lunch?

    Word by Word: At you is ready-made lunch?

    The long form готовый is used as an attribute and often means 'ready-made' or 'completed'.

  4. Студенты будут готовы через десять минут.

    The students will be ready in ten minutes.

    Word by Word: Students will-be ready through ten minutes.

    The short form готовы refers to a temporary state of being prepared.

  5. Рабочий должен закончить отчёт.

    The worker must finish the report.

    Word by Word: Worker must to-finish report.

    The masculine form должен expresses obligation and is followed by an infinitive.

  6. Она будет рада подарку.

    She will be glad about the gift.

    Word by Word: She will-be glad to-gift.

    The feminine form рада is used with the Dative case to show the cause of happiness.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the Dative case for the subject of 'должен'.

    Мне должен работать.
    Я должен работать.

    Learners often confuse 'должен' with 'нужно' (which takes the Dative). 'Должен' is an adjective and requires a Nominative subject.

  • Forgetting gender agreement with the subject.

    Моя сестра должен работать.
    Моя сестра должна работать.

    These short adjectives must match the gender of the subject. A woman or girl needs 'должна', 'готова' or 'рада'.

  • Using the long form 'радый' instead of 'рад'.

    Я очень радый.
    Я очень рад.

    The word 'рад' only exists in the short form in modern Russian when used as a predicate.

How It Connects

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

должен/готов/радLevel 4Modal and State Short Adjectives

Learn This First

To use these modal and state adjectives, you need to understand how short adjectives agree with the subject in gender and number. Additionally, you must be familiar with using infinitives and the dative case to complete the meaning of these expressions.

Words in This Pattern

долженготовый