What are qualitative adjectives in Russian? Qualitative and relative adjectives

Derivative signs.

Syntactic features.

They agree with nouns in gender, number, case (of an interesting film - R.p., singular, m.p.); and acting as the main member of the phrase, they control the noun (pale (head word) from excitement). In sentences they act as a determiner or predicate, short forms perform only the function of a predicate (silent night).

The most productive ways to form adjectives are:

Suffixal – morning arr. from morning o+ - enn.

Reinforced concrete – reinforced concrete

Forest-steppe, steamship

Prefixal-suffixal – Moscow region – Moscow +-n

Addition method – bitter-salted – bitter + salty

Method of addition with simultaneous suffixation - car repair - car + repair (interface O and suffix - n)

Morphological-syntactic – adjectivation – closed (adj.) character, first (adj.) grade

2. According to meaning and grammatical features, adjectives are traditionally divided into 3 categories:

Quality

Relative

Possessives

The core of the adjective class is formed by qualitative adjectives.

Quality indicate a directly perceived feature of an object: blue, long. They can name the mental and physical qualities of a person: kind, strong; animal colors: bay; colors: pink; item size: large, narrow.

Signs:

Qualitative adjectives are characterized by the ability/ability to have:

1. Full inflected form and parallel indeclinable form: huge - huge.

2. Change according to degrees of comparison: beautiful - more beautiful - most beautiful.

3. Form correlative adverbs starting with –O or –E: quiet – quietly.

4. Educate abstract nouns: blue-blue, kind-kindness.

5. The ability to enter into antonymic relationships: quiet - loud, beautiful - ugly.

6. Form forms of subjective assessment (beautiful, Cute).

7. Combine with adverbs of measure and degree (very narrow).

8. Some qualitative adjectives are non-derivative words (brown, bay, narrowй - - narrow root, when forming words of the same root, the productive stem is truncation).

They have these characteristics, but if an adjective has at least one of the listed characteristics, then it is QUALITATIVE.

They denote the attribute of an object indirectly - through its relationship to another object, action or circumstance ( wooden house, adolescence, city beach).

Signs:

1. The presence of a full inflected form and the absence of a short form (brick, oat).

2. Relative adjectives are derived words, formed from nouns, verbs, numerals, adverbs using the suffixes –an-, -yan-, -ov-, -ev- (kozh en y, birch ov y), -sk- (Belgorod sk th), -enn- (pumpkin enne y).

3. All relative adjectives denote constant, unchangeable characteristics.

4. Can be replaced by a synonymous case form of the noun ( family budget– family budget).

Possessive adjectives (which? Whose?).

They indicate that an object belongs to a person or an animal (in the broad sense).

A) actually possessive adjectives, denoting belonging to one person. These include adjectives with zero endings in nominative case, units, m.r. and suffixes - ov- (-ev-), -yn- (-in-), -nin-: prince's court, nanny's tales, fathers' jacket;

B) possessive-relative adjectives, which are formed from the names of people and animals using the suffix –iii-: fisherman - fisherman th, deer - deer th (zero ending), fisherman (j-suffix, a-ending): in fisherman (ach, j-suffix, and - suffix, because it is an adverb), hare tracks, bear paw.

Scope of use possessive adjectives, such as fathers, mothers, is limited to the framework of colloquial speech, but in phraseological units, in geographical names they are used without stylistic restrictions ( Achilles' heel, Bering Strait).

The boundary between the lexical and grammatical categories of adjectives is fluid.

1. High quality relative adjectives are relative adjectives that can take on a qualitative meaning (steel springs - relative, steel nerves - qualitative).

2. Relatively quality adjectives are qualitative adjectives that develop additional relative meanings (a deaf person is qualitative, a deaf consonant is relative, a quick step is qualitative, a fast train is

relative).

3. High quality possessive adjectives are possessive adjectives in qualitative use ( Foxy burrow– possessive, fox cunning – qualitative, wolfish appetite).

4. Regarding – possessive adjectives are possessive adjectives in relative use (fox collar - relative, fox hole - possessive, wolf pack - relative).

In some cases, adjectives formed from the names of animals first turn into relative adjectives, and then into qualitative adjectives (veal head - possessive, veal chop - relative, veal tenderness - qualitative).

What makes a person’s speech (whether written or oral) most understandable? Without what would she be poor and expressionless? Of course, without adjectives. For example, if you read the word “forest” in the text without definitions, you will never understand which one is meant. After all, it can be coniferous, deciduous or mixed, winter, spring, summer or autumn. The Russian language is great. The qualitative adjective is a direct confirmation of this. In order to vividly and accurately present any picture, we need this wonderful part of speech.

Meaning and main features

An adjective is a name indicating the attribute of an object, that is, its properties that contain characteristics of quality, quantity, belonging. For example, they give a definition by color, taste, smell; indicate an assessment of a phenomenon, its nature, etc. Usually questions are asked to it: what (th, -th)? what is (-a, -o)? whose(s)? This is a significant (independent) part of speech.

The grammatical ones include:

• variability by gender (for example, red - masculine, yellow - feminine, green - neuter);
• declension by cases (let's check: nominative - sandy, genitive - iron, dative - morning; instrumental - evening; prepositional - about night);
• the possibility of a short form and degree of comparison (qualitative adjectives);
• changeability by numbers (for example, blue is singular, blue is plural).

Syntactic role

• The most common position for an adjective in a sentence is the modifier. It most often depends on a noun and is completely consistent with it. Consider the sentence: Deep footprints were visible in the snow. The tracks (what?) are deep. An adjective is a modifier that depends on the subject expressed by the noun. Graphically indicated
• Ability allows an adjective to be the main member of a sentence - the subject. ( For example: The patient was admitted to the hospital in serious condition.)
• Quite often, what adjectives are found as part of the predicate in the form of a nominal part? Quality in short form. ( Compare: He was weak from illness. - The boy was weak. In the first case, the main member is a verb, in the second - an adjective in a compound nominal predicate.)

Adjectives: qualitative, relative, possessive

This part of speech has three categories, differing in both form and meaning. Let's look at all their features for comparison in the table.

Quality varies

It is worthwhile to dwell in some more detail on the most flexible definitions in use and word formation, which are known as quality adjectives. Examples of their meanings are incredibly varied. They may indicate:

• on the shape of the object: multifaceted, round, angular;
• its size: tall, wide, huge;
• color: orange, dark green, purple;
• smell: stinking, fragrant, odorous;
• temperature: cold, lukewarm, hot;
• sound level and characteristics: quiet, loud, booming;
• overall rating: necessary, useful, unimportant.

Additional exclusivity

There are more features, which you need to know so as not to confuse qualitative, relative and possessive adjectives with each other. So, the first of them have the following features:

• the formation of new words using the prefix “not”: a sad person, an expensive product; or diminutive suffixes: gray - gray - grayish;
• the ability to select synonyms: cheerful - joyful; bright - brilliant; antonyms: cold - hot, evil - kind;
• adverbs ending in -o, -e originate from qualitative adjectives: white - white, gentle - tenderly.

More about degrees of comparison

They also only have qualitative adjectives. Examples of simple education comparative degree: clearer, darker, longer. The compound comparative degree is a phrase: “less” or “more” is added to the adjective: less hard, softer.

The superlative degree is called that because it indicates the predominance of a characteristic in one object over other similar ones. It can be simple: it is formed using the suffixes -eysh-, -aysh-. For example: the most faithful, the lowest. And compound: the adjective is used in combination with the word “most”: the most wonderful, the deepest.

Can adjectives change their category?

And again it is worth remembering the broad capabilities of the Russian language. Everything is possible in it. Therefore, it is not surprising that qualitative, relative and possessive adjectives in a certain context change their meaning according to category.

For example, in the phrase “glass beads” everyone understands that we're talking about about beads made of glass. But “glass arguments” are already a metaphor, these are completely fragile, fragile arguments. We can conclude: the relative adjective (first example) has turned into a qualitative adjective (second example).

If you compare the expressions “fox hole” and “fox character”, you can see how the belonging of animal housing turns into the quality of human nature, which means that the possessive adjective has become qualitative.

Let’s take two more phrases as an example: “hare’s trail” and “hare’s hat.” The prints of the animal are not at all the same as the headdress made from it. As you can see, a possessive adjective can turn into a relative adjective.

§ 1294. An adjective is a part of speech that denotes a non-procedural attribute of an object and expresses this meaning in the inflectional morphological categories of gender, number and case. The adjective has a morphological category of degree of comparison and has full and short forms.

The composition of an adjective as a part of speech, in addition to adjectives themselves, i.e. unmotivated or motivated words for which the name of a quality or property is their lexical meaning, includes groups of words whose lexical meaning does not express the quality or property of an object. These are ordinal adjectives (the so-called ordinal numbers), naming the relationship to a number and determining the position of an object in the order of counting ( first, second, third, hundredth; for their meaning see § 1296 ), and pronominal adjectives that do not name qualities or properties, but only indicate them ( my, That, mine, every). Adjectives also include a large group of unchangeable words of foreign language origin that name a characteristic ( Bordeaux, neckline,bell-bottom, pleated, khaki). These words do not change in gender and number and belong to the zero declension (see § 1328 ); the meaning of the attribute in them is revealed syntactically, in combination with a noun: color Bordeaux, trousers bell-bottom, skirt pleated, costume khaki.

Adjectives are classified on two grounds: firstly, according to the nature of the named attribute itself and, secondly, according to the nature of the designation of the attribute, i.e., according to whether the attribute in the word receives its lexical expression or whether the presence of the attribute is only indicated, but itself the sign is not named. These classifications, equally important for the grammatical characteristics of adjectives, are not subordinate to each other and exist independently of one another.

Classification according to the first criterion divides adjectives into two lexical and grammatical categories - qualitative and relative adjectives. Relative adjectives include relative adjectives themselves (possessive, see § 1296 , and non-possessive), ordinal and pronominal adjectives. Classification according to the second criterion divides adjectives into nominative and pronominal. Denorative adjectives include all qualitative adjectives and all relative adjectives, except pronominal ones.

Qualitative and relative adjectives

§ 1295. Qualitative adjectives denote a property inherent in the object itself or discovered in it, often one that can be characterized by varying degrees of intensity: white – whiter, Beautiful – more beautiful, lasting – stronger, stubborn – more stubborn,good – better. The core of this category consists of adjectives, the basis of which denotes a characteristic not through its relationship to the subject. This includes words that name such properties and qualities that are directly perceived by the senses: color, spatial, temporal, physical and other qualifying features, qualities of character and mental makeup: red, blue,light, bright; hot, loud, thick, fragrant, voiced, round, soft, cutting, sweet, warm, quiet, heavy; far, long,long, short, small, close, narrow; barefoot, deaf, healthy, young, blind, old, thick, skinny, frail; proud, Kind,greedy, wicked, wise, bad, stingy, smart, cunning, good, brave, generous; important, harmful, fit, necessary, useful, correct.

Qualitative adjectives have two series of forms - full (attributive) and short (predicative): white, white, white, white And white, Bela, white, white; dark, dark, dark, dark And dark, dark, dark, dark; bitter, bitter, bitter, bitter And bitter, bitter,bitterly, bitter; they form comparable forms. degrees (comparative): important – more important, Kind – kinder, sweet – sweeter, smooth – smoother,thick – thicker. From qualities. adjectives can be formed into adverbs - O, -e: hot – hot, far – far, long – for a long time,surplus – unnecessarily, wise – wisely, melodious – melodiously, brave – bravely. Most of the qualities. adjectives are also characterized by a number of word-formation features: the ability to form other qualities. adjectives naming shades and degrees of quality ( whitish, enormous, hefty), and nouns naming abstract concepts ( depth, courage, emptiness) (cm. § 607 ). Quality adjectives are supplemented by participles in the adjective meaning. (cm. § 1579 ) and due to relative adjectives - provided that the latter acquires a qualitative meaning (see § 1299 -1301 ).

§ 1296. Relative adjectives name a characteristic through its relation to an object or to another characteristic: the motivating basis denotes the object or characteristic through the relation to which this property is represented: wood, steel, summer,bathing, yesterday's. The nature of the expressed relationships is very diverse: it can be a designation of a characteristic based on the material ( wood,metal), by belonging (possessive adjectives: fathers, fishy, sisters, husband, my), as intended ( children's book,school benefits), by property ( autumn rains, evening cool). Relates. adjectives name a characteristic that cannot manifest itself with varying degrees of intensity.

Relates. adjectives constitute the main and continuously replenished mass of Russian adjectives (only groups of ordinal and pronominal adjectives are not replenished). Unlike qualities. adjectives represented by both unmotivated and motivated words relates. adjectives are motivated by words of other parts of speech: nouns ( iron, door,fathers, sisters, lamp, Komsomol, spring, upper); verbs ( tannic, swimming, dance, medicinal), numerals ( fourth, tenth, fortieth, two hundredth) and adverbs ( near, former, then, yesterday's, present). The exception is ordinal adjectives. first, second and many pronominal adjectives (see § 1297 ), which are unmotivated words.

Ordinal refers. adjectives that name a characteristic through its relation to number (quantity, place in a series) are similar in meaning to other relates. adjective: they denote an attitude. Pronominal adjectives are unique in their meaning: they are demonstrative words. Pronominal and ordinal adjectives have a certain similarity: ordinal adj. may indicate a place in a row (see § 1366 ); thus they behave like demonstrative words. The latter primarily applies to adj. first, second, third. On the other hand, pronominal adj. That, this, another, other can act as ordinal adjectives. A similar interchangeability of some ordinal and pronominal adjectives is observed when listing: And That,And other, And third; And those, And other, And third.

Demonstrative functions are also characteristic of the countable pronominal adjective one – alone; let's compare: alone remained, A otherwent V movie; Spring frost sensitive Dried And invigorated forest. More alone, other day, AND under bark will wake up juice(Tward.). Word one can also be used in the meaning of an indefinite pronoun some: Which produced consequence This arrival, the reader may to know from one conversation, which happened between alone two ladies(Gogol); Lived on earth V old times alonePeople, impassable forests surrounded With three parties camps these of people, A With fourth was steppe(Gorky).

§ 1297. Pronominal adjectives are divided into six groups: 1) possessive (so-called. possessive pronouns): a) personal, indicating ownership by the first person ( my, our), second person ( is yours, your) or to a third party (indeclinable adj. his, her, their); b) returnable, indicating ownership by any of three persons: mine; 2) index: That,this, such, sort of(colloquial), that's how it is, next, as well as words That-That, such-That, see section "Word Formation", § 1039 ; 3) definitive: any, all kinds, every, any, all, whole, other, another, myself, most; 4) interrogative: Which, which,whose, what; 5) undefined: Which-That, some, some; 6) negative: no, nobody's.

Note. The category of pronominal adjectives also includes colloquial words such, theirs, Nashenskiy, Vashinskiy. These words are reflected in the language of fiction.

All pronominal adjectives, except postfixal and prefixal (see § 1036 -1039 ), and also simple. such, theirs, Nashenskiy,Vashinskiy, are unmotivated words.

Refers to everyone. adjectives, pronominal adjectives differ in the nature of their lexical meaning; they designate such features that arise on the basis of the speaker’s attitude towards persons, objects and phenomena. Yes, words my, is yours, his, mine indicate possessive relations established by the speaker: (relating to me, to you, to himself, etc.); words this, such on behalf of the speaker indicate a sign ((one that the speaker definitely points to, which he characterizes)); the meanings of the words are similar Which-That,some, some((the one the speaker points to vaguely)). Pronominal adjectives can indicate any attribute; their content is determined in speech.

Pronominal adjectives also have other features of lexical meanings characteristic of demonstrative words. Yes, words my, is yours, our, your, mine may have abstract typifying meanings characteristic of personal pronouns-nouns (see § 1277 ). For example, in statements of a general nature, in proverbs, these adjectives denote belonging to any generally imaginable person: My hut With edge; Not yours sadness strangers children sway; Its shirt closer To body.

Demonstrative pronouns such And That in addition to the actual demonstrative meaning ( A handful of land, similar on another, How many V neylove And superstitions! ABOUT such And on sky are sad, AND V such before graves believe. Erenb.) has an intensifying meaning. At the same time the word such emphasizes the degree of manifestation of characteristic (a), and That also identifies the bearer of the attribute named by the noun (b): a) Ringing music V garden So untold heartbroken(Ahm.); He delusional V rays votes | And "Fairy tale Vienna forests", | And caress Bryanskikh forests, | Ichem-That like this Vasilkov, | to whom | thousands years(Inconsistent); b) Crane at dilapidated well, Above him, How boil, clouds, IN creaky fields gate, AND smell of bread, And yearning, AND those dim open spaces, Where even voice wind weak(Ahm.); Eat V Leningrad hard eyes And that, For of the past mysterious, muteness, That bitterly compressed mouth, those hoops on heart, What, Maybe be, alone rescued his from death(Ehrenb.).

§ 1298. The semantic boundary between qualitative and relative adjectives is conditional and unstable: relates. adjectives can develop qualitative meanings. In this case, the meaning of the objective relation in the adjective is combined with the meaning of the qualitative characteristic of this relation. Yes, word iron How does it relate? adjective means (containing iron) or (made of iron) ( iron ore, iron nail); this same adjective also has a number of figurative, qualitative meanings: (strong, strong) ( iron health), (firm, unyielding) ( iron will, iron discipline). Adjective children's as a relative means (belonging to, characteristic of children, intended for children) ( children's toys,children's book, children's house); as qualities. the adjective of this word receives a figurative meaning: (not characteristic of an adult, immature) ( children's reasoning, children's behavior). Likewise: gold character, golden rye, wolfish hunger, canine cold, cocky enthusiasm;Us opens[door] Mitrofan Stepanovich Zverev, Very home, V robe(M. Aliger); Soon sanatorium silencepublishing houses violates tractor bolt shoes Khamlovsky(gas.).

§ 1299. A touch of quality may be present in all relates. adjectives, but to varying degrees. More development qualitative values characteristic of relative adjectives themselves and, to a lesser extent, possessive, ordinal and pronominal adjectives.

Among possessive adjectives, the ability to acquire a qualitative meaning primarily distinguishes adjectives with the suffix - th. Adjectives with this suffix have meaning. (characteristic (less often - belonging) to the one named with the motivating word): fishy,feline, canine, veal, human. Given the context, such adjectives easily acquire qualitative meanings. In combinations fishy temperament, feline gait, canine devotion, veal tenderness relates adjectives act as qualitative: I Don't want, to You ate alms compassion And canine devotion(Cupr.); A gallop behind thunder, behind four Ilya Prophet, tweak – My veal would delight, Veal b tenderness yours(Pastern.).

Note. In cases where relative adjectives are motivated by the same noun, but are formed using different suffixes ( rooster And cocky, shepherd And pastoral, human And human), non-possessive adjectives more easily acquire qualitative meaning: cocky enthusiasm,pastoral idyll, human attitude.

Possessive adjective formed with the help of suf. - ov, -in, -nin (fathers, grandfathers, maternal, sisters, brother), the development of qualitative values ​​is not typical. This is explained, firstly, by the fact that such adjectives denote a specific individual affiliation (see § 781 , p. 1), secondly, by the fact that they are generally limited in use: relations of belonging in modern language are more often indicated by the form gender. n. noun ( fathers house – house father).

Note. Adj. damn along with the possessive meaning, it is widely used to denote an expressive negative attitude towards the defined object: damn idea; damn abyss affairs; AND contributed that I wear damn I in second floor(Necr.).

AT 2 involves the ability to find words in given sentences different parts speech, in particular adjectives.

Sample wording of assignments

Find in sentences 15-18 quality adjectives.
From sentences 12-16, write down relative adjectives.
From sentences 2-7, write down possessive pronouns.
Extract from sentences 1-4 brief adjectives.
Write out adjectives from sentences 20-23 comparatively.
Write out adjectives from sentences 8-11 superlative comparisons.
Find adjectives in sentences 12-16 in short form.

What is required to complete tasks B2

1. Distinguish adjectives from other parts of speech: participles, pronouns, numerals.
2. Distinguish between qualitative, relative and possessive adjectives.
3. Distinguish between degrees of comparison of adjectives.
4. Distinguish between full and short forms and not confuse the latter with short participles.

Material for reference

Examples of adjectives: red, bad, cheerful, exquisite, dark red, table, forest, fox, bird, bear, river, cold, Russian, birch, morning, evening

Large lists of adjectives can be found in SOS-e - Consolidated Educational Dictionary. Cm.:

Examples of pronouns: which , which , whose , any , some , no , every , every , other , any , most

Complete lists of pronouns can be found in SOS-e - Consolidated Educational Dictionary. Cm.:

Examples of numerals: one thousand nine hundred and forty-five, thirty-first, second, sixteenth, twenty-first, six hundredth, one hundred twenty-fifth

Large lists of numerals can be found in SOS-e - Consolidated Training Dictionary. Cm.:

Examples of qualitative adjectives: scary, simple, young, dark, big, small, straight, round, heavy, light, hot, warm, bluish, greenish, beautiful-beautiful, heavy

Examples of relative adjectives: comic, special, enthusiastic, joyful, national, test, golden, spy, technical, tomorrow, adventure, fantastic , real , genre , fashionable , royal , boyar , historical , luxurious

Examples of possessive adjectives: mother, Olgin, lisitsyn, fathers, bear, bird, Tatyanin

For details on how adjectives are divided into categories, see:. Those aspiring for a high test score must definitely figure out which adjectives with the meaning of belonging are possessive.

Examples of comparative adjectives: more fun, easier, worse, better, thinner, fatter, smarter, higher, lower, older, less old

Examples of superlative adjectives: the most cheerful, the tallest, the smartest, the most beautiful, the best, the worst, most interesting, most correct, best of all, the best

Examples of adjectives in short form: cheerful, sad, small, great, smart, bad, good, interesting, touching, kind, reasonable, attractive, sick, healthy, round, dark

Training No. 1

Find all the adjectives in the text: just point the words with the mouse

Theatrical Director Dmitry Krymov conducted a master class at the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio on the technology of preparing a performance. Reason - annual festival acting schools around the world "Open lesson: Stanislavsky continues." Krymovskie performances are one endless parade stage tricks, so master class boring was not .

(Based on materials from the magazine " Big city" №18 (307) 17.10.12)

Training No. 2

Find all the adjectives in the text:.

As we already wrote in the first volume of this guide, St. Petersburg is mystical city ​​. And first of all, because there is not one city, but several at once. Petersburg, created by Peter's genius and imagination great writers and poets, "midnight countries of beauty and wonder", Petersburg by Pushkin. Brilliant the capital where they lived proud autocrats, brave generals, brave travelers, brilliant scientists and talented engineers. City magnificent palaces, spacious avenues, embankments encased in granite, majestic monuments, richest museums Imperial capital!

(According to Vl. Malyshev)

Training No. 3

On the Lieutenant Schmidt embankment around Blagoveshchensky bridge installed modest granite obelisk The inscription on it says that from this place in September 1922 on the so-called "philosophical steamship" went to eternal exile expelled by Lenin are the best Russian scientists, writers, philosophers, historians. . . .different Russians people, some of whom were waiting in a foreign land special fate .

(According to Vl. Malyshev)

Training No. 4

Find all the relative adjectives in the text.

The long period until Cambodia became a colony of France was for a country that had lost everything economic And military power, an era of major intrigues, coups, conspiracies and hopeless attempts to preserve the remnants of territory in the fight against stronger neighbors - Siam and Vietnam. In the 12th century, the ruler of Vietnam agreed to provide military assistance in the fight against Siam under the strict condition that Cambodia will allow Vietnamese population to settle in the rich territory of the Mekong Delta. As a result Cambodian The village of Prey Nokor became the property of Vietnam. Today it is Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).

(According to A. Cherkasov)

Training No. 5

Find all the quality adjectives in the text.

Vladimir Zvorykin was born in 1889 in the epic Russian city of Murom. Still preserved old stone house, built by his father, a merchant of the first guild. IN big strong The Zvorykin family had seven children. Father wanted smart Jr the son went into trading and inherited the family company and bank. But stubborn Volodya decided differently: to continue his studies and become an engineer. He went to St. Petersburg, entered the University, but, at the insistence of his father, later transferred to the Technological Institute.

(According to V. Malyshev)

Training No. 6

Find all the quality adjectives in the text.

The eye is very Beautiful organ We have the most clean surgery, most big requirements for it. Seams thinner female hair, the tools look like a manicure set. In general, aesthetics is my Achilles heel.

(Based on materials from the magazine "Big City" No. 18 (307) 10/17/12, Interview with Elizaveta Kasparova)

Training No. 7

Find all the adjectives in the text in short form

Gradually, Leontyev was overcome by melancholy. His books were silent, his dream of becoming a great writer did not come true, his family life turned into drama, and his beloved mother died in Russia. He became seriously ill. And then something happened that he himself later began to call a miracle. Waking up one night, he suddenly unexpectedly discovered that is ill. He felt that he was dying. An elegant diplomat and admirer of Turgenev cried out: “Mother of God! It's early! Lift me from this deathbed!" And exhausted, he fell asleep. A

Famous linguist Yu.S. Stepanov believed that the difference quality And relative values adjectives is one of the most difficult. This division is carried out not even in all languages. There are already students in Russian high school learn to distinguish between these categories of adjectives.

As you probably remember, adjectives answer questions Which? which? which? which?

Which? –small yard school teacher, bear claw.

Which? –a wonderful weather, wooden bench, fox face.

Which? –excellent mood, pearl necklace, horse hoof.

Which? – polite students, regional competitions, bunny ears.

Each row contains examples qualitative, relative and possessive adjectives. How to distinguish them? As has already become clear, simply asking a question about an adjective will not give results; the category cannot be determined in this way.

Grammar and semantics(meaning of the word). Let's consider each category of adjectives by meaning .

Qualitative adjectives

It’s already clear from the name what these adjectives mean. quality of the item. What kind of quality could this be? Color(lilac, burgundy, bay, black), form(rectangular, square), physical characteristics Living creatures (fat, healthy, active), temporal and spatial features (slow, deep), general qualities, inherent in an animate object ( angry, funny, happy) and etc.

Also, most (but not all!) qualitative adjectives have whole line grammatical features, by which they are quite easy to distinguish from other adjectives. These features may not necessarily be a whole set for each quality adjective, but if you find that at least some attribute is suitable for this adjective - you have a quality adjective. So:

1) Qualitative adjectives denote a characteristic that can appear to a greater or lesser extent. Hence the ability to form degrees of comparison.

Thin - thinner - thinnest. Interesting – less interesting – the most interesting.

2) Form short forms. Long is long, short is small.

3) Combine with adverbs of measure and degree. Very beautiful, extremely entertaining, completely incomprehensible.

4) From qualitative adjectives you can form adverbs on -o(s) And nouns with abstract suffixes -ost (-is), -izn-, -ev-, -in-, -from- :magnificent - magnificent, clear - clarity, blue - blue, blue - blue, thick - thickness, beautiful - beauty.

5) You can also form words with diminutive or augmentative suffixes: angry - angry, dirty - dirty, green - green, healthy - hefty.

6) Can have antonyms: big - small, white - black, sharp - dull, stale - fresh.

As you can see, there are many signs, but it is absolutely not necessary to use all of them. Remember that some quality adjectives have no degrees of comparison, some abstract nouns do not form, some cannot be combined with adverbs of measure and degree, but they fit according to other criteria.

For example, adjective bay. This adjective does not fit any grammatical criteria, but it means color = quality of item, - that means it quality.

Or adjective beautiful. You can't tell very beautiful, but you can form an adverb Wonderful. Conclusion: adjective quality.

Relative adjectives

Designate a sign through an attitude towards an object. What kind of relationship could this be - signs? Material, from which the item is made ( iron nail - iron nail, stone basement - stone basement, velvet dress - velvet dress); place, time, space (today's scandal is a scandal that happened today; intercity bus – a bus between cities; Moscow region – Moscow region); appointment(parent meeting - meeting for parents, children's store - store for children) and etc.

Signs of this and not temporary, but permanent, That's why all the features inherent quality names adjectives, relatives do not have. This means that they do not form degrees of comparison(not to say that this house is wooden, and that one is more wooden), cannot be combined with adverbs of measure and degree(can't say very gold bracelet) etc.

But phrases with relative adjectives can be transform, replacing the adjective. For example, villager - village resident, milk porridge - porridge with milk, plastic cube - plastic cube.

We hope that it has become clearer to you how to distinguish between qualitative and relative adjectives. We’ll talk about possessive adjectives and some pitfalls in the next article.

Good luck in learning Russian!

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