Adjective Gender Agreement

Level 2Sounds Like prikmetnik za rodom

In Ukrainian, adjectives are like mirrors: they reflect the gender of the noun they modify. A 'new' house is новий (masculine), but a 'new' book is нова (feminine).

How It Works

Ukrainian adjectives do not have a fixed gender of their own; they adapt to the noun they accompany. This is a mandatory rule in both formal and casual speech. To identify the gender, we use the question words: який? (masc.), яка? (fem.), яке? (neut.), and які? (plural).

1. Hard and Mixed Stem Endings
Most adjectives follow this pattern. Adjectives ending in sibilants (ж, ч, ш, щ) are technically the 'Mixed Group', but in the nominative case, they share the same endings as the Hard Group:

  • Masculine: -ий (новий стіл - new table, свіжий хліб - fresh bread)
  • Feminine: -а (нова книга - new book, свіжа кава - fresh coffee)
  • Neuter: -е (нове вікно - new window, свіже м'ясо - fresh meat)

2. Soft Stem Endings
If the stem ends in a soft consonant or a vowel, the endings shift:

  • Masculine: -ій or -їй (синій килим - blue carpet, безкраїй степ - endless steppe)
  • Feminine: -я (синя сумка - blue bag, безкрая земля - endless land)
  • Neuter: -є (синє море - blue sea, безкрає небо - endless sky)

3. Possessive Adjectives
Adjectives showing belonging (like 'mom's' or 'dad's') have a unique masculine form with a zero ending: мамин блокнот (mom's notebook), батьків сад (father's garden). The feminine and neuter forms follow the hard pattern: мамина хата, мамине слово.

4. The -лиций Group
A small group of adjectives describing faces (e.g., білолиций - fair-faced) uses a unique mixed pattern: -ий for masculine, but -я for feminine (білолиця) and -е for neuter (білолице).

5. Important Nuances

  • Plurality: Gender distinctions only exist in the singular. In the plural, all genders use the ending -і. See adjective plural agreement.
  • Common Gender: For nouns like сирота (orphan), the adjective matches the person's actual gender: бідний сирота (he) vs бідна сирота (she).
  • Visual Deception: Nouns like тато (dad) or Микола (Mykola) require masculine adjectives despite their endings: наш добрий тато.

Examples (5)

  1. Це мій новий будинок.

    This is my new house.

    Word by Word: This [is] my new house.

    The noun 'будинок' is masculine, so the adjective 'новий' uses the masculine ending -ий.

  2. Це дуже гарна сукня.

    This is a very beautiful dress.

    Word by Word: This [is] very beautiful dress.

    The noun 'сукня' is feminine, so the adjective 'гарна' uses the feminine ending -а.

  3. Сьогодні дуже тепле літо.

    Today is a very warm summer.

    Word by Word: Today [is] very warm summer.

    The noun 'літо' is neuter, so the adjective 'тепле' uses the neuter ending -е.

  4. Це синє море.

    This is the blue sea.

    Word by Word: This [is] blue sea.

    This is a soft-stem adjective. Because 'море' is neuter, 'синій' becomes 'синє'.

  5. Мій тато дуже добрий.

    My dad is very kind.

    Word by Word: My dad [is] very kind.

    Even though 'тато' ends in -о, it is masculine, so the adjective 'добрий' must be masculine.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the masculine form as a 'default' for all nouns.

    новий машина
    нова машина

    In Ukrainian, you cannot use one form for everything. You must change the ending to -а for feminine nouns like 'машина'.

  • Using a singular gender ending with a plural noun.

    новий столи
    нові столи

    Gender distinctions disappear in the plural. All adjectives use the -і ending regardless of the noun's original gender.

  • Misgendering nouns based on their ending.

    велике собака
    великий собака

    The word 'собака' (dog) is masculine in Ukrainian, even though it ends in -а. The adjective must reflect the grammatical gender, not just the spelling.

How It Connects

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Adjective Gender AgreementLevel 2

Learn This First

To learn adjective gender agreement, a learner must first be able to distinguish between masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns, as the adjective's ending is determined by the gender of the noun it modifies.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

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