What are qualitative and relative? Qualitative and relative adjectives

Famous linguist Yu.S. Stepanov believed that the difference quality And relative meanings of adjectives is one of the most difficult. This division is carried out not even in all languages. In Russian, middle school students already 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? –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 a result; 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 of living things (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 a whole range of 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 feature 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 lovely, 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 Relative adjectives do not have all the features inherent in qualitative adjectives. 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!

Still have questions? Don't know the difference between qualitative and relative adjectives?
To get help from a tutor -.
The first lesson is free!

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1. Adjective- an independent part of speech that denotes a feature of an object and answers the questions: what? whose?

Basic features of an adjective

2. Based on the nature of their lexical meaning, adjectives are divided into three categories:

A) quality;
B) relative;
B) possessive.

A) Qualitative adjectives

Qualitative adjectives denote various qualities of an object:

size: big, large, small;

age: old, young;

color: Red Blue;

weight: light heavy;

appearance: handsome, slender;

personal traits: smart, strict, lazy.

Characteristic grammatical and word-formation features qualitative adjectives are:

the presence of degrees of comparison;

Big bigger Biggest; smart - smarter, smartest.

availability of full and short forms;

Strict is strict, old is old.

ability to combine with adverbs of degree;

Very strict, very big, very smart.

form adverbs with the suffixes -o, -e, -i.

Clever → clever, brilliant → brilliant, brutal → brutal.

However, not all qualitative adjectives have these features:

There are no degrees of comparison for adjectives like barefoot, oblique, blind, lame, dead, married, because they express absolute qualities, that is, qualities that cannot be compared (one cannot be dead to a greater or lesser extent; one cannot be married to a greater or lesser extent);

There is no short form for adjectives like business, friendly, comic, since they are relative in origin;

There are no degrees of comparison for relative or possessive adjectives in a qualitative sense.

Wed: a gold bracelet(relative adjective) - golden character(qualitative meaning); Fox's tail(possessive adjective) - this person has a fox character / a fox smile(qualitative meaning).

They indicate signs not directly, but through their relationship to:

These signs cannot appear to a greater or lesser extent.

Relative adjectives are synonymous with case or prepositional case forms of nouns.

Wed: iron hoop - a hoop made of iron; Volga bank - the bank of the Volga; sports shoes - shoes for sports.

B) Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives denote the characteristics of an object according to its belonging to a person or animal.

Father's jacket, mother's scarf, fox tail, wolf trail.

These adjectives answer the question whose? whose? whose? whose? An object cannot have such characteristics to a greater or lesser extent.

Possessive adjectives have suffixes:

In/-yn: mother, chicken, sister;

Ov/-ev: fathers, grandfathers;

Ий/-j- : bearish - bearish[j] his.

Note!

1) Possessive adjectives with suffixes -in/yn, -ov/-ev, -iy/-j- in the singular form of the nominative case in the masculine gender usually have a zero ending, and in the feminine and neuter genders they have the same endings as nouns.

Wed: bearish□ , bearish , bearish.

2) When adjectives are used, their meaning may change. Thus, relative adjectives can become qualitative.

Wed: lilac branch- relative adjective; lilac dress- qualitative adjective.

Possessive adjectives can become relative and qualitative.

Wed: bear trail(the trail belongs to the bear) - possessive adjective; bear coat(the fur coat is made from the skin of a bear, and does not belong to the bear) - relative adjective; bear walk(gait like a bear) is a qualitative adjective.

Exercise for the topic “3.3.1. The concept of an adjective. Morphological features of adjectives. Classes of adjectives"

Famous linguist Yu.S. Stepanov believed that the difference quality And relative meanings of adjectives is one of the most difficult. This division is carried out not even in all languages. In Russian, middle school students already 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? –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 a result; 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 of living things (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 a whole range of 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 feature 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 lovely, 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 Relative adjectives do not have all the features inherent in qualitative adjectives. 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!

Still have questions? Don't know the difference between qualitative and relative adjectives?
To get help from a tutor, register.
The first lesson is free!

website, when copying material in full or in part, a link to the source is required.

The meaning of the adjective, its morphological features and syntactic function

Adjective - is an independent part of speech that denotes an attribute of an object and answers questions Which? whose?

The value of the characteristic expressed adjectives, can combine a variety of characteristics of an object, namely: 1) the shape and position of the object in space (straight, curved, steep); size 2 (big, tall, wide, narrow); 3) physical characteristics (warm, oily, bitter); 4) character traits, physiological and intellectual properties (kind, brave, young, smart); 5) spatial and temporal characteristics (rural, Siberian, morning, early); 6) the material from which the item is made (wool, linen, wood, metal); 7) actions and states of the subject (reading, sleeping, spinning, weaving); 8) belonging of the item (Colin, mother's, fox, hare).

Initial form adjective- nominative singular masculine.

Adjectives vary by gender, number and case (new table, new hat, new things, about new things and gender, number and case adjective depend on the gender, number and case of the noun to which the given adjective applies.

By meaning and grammatical features adjectives are divided into three categories: 1) quality adjectives (big, bad, blue), 2) relative adjectives (spring, rural, wooden), 3) possessive adjectives (mother's, father's, hare's).

In a sentence adjectives act as a definition or nominal part of a compound nominal predicate. For example:

The high sky glows through the window,

The evening sky is calm and clear.

My lonely heart cries with happiness,

Rado it's what the sky is beautiful.

(3. Gippius)

Qualitative adjectives

Quality adjectives denote a feature of an object that can manifest itself to a greater or lesser extent.

Most often they denote shape, size, color, property, taste, weight, smell, temperature, sound, internal qualities of living beings.

Qualitative adjectives have a number of characteristics, which include: 1) the presence of a full and short form (A young man- young man, young woman- young woman, young generation- young generation, young people- people are young); 2) the presence of two forms of degrees of comparison - comparative and superlative (smart- cleverer- smartest - the smartest, smartest of all); 3) the ability to form adverbs in -o, -e (good- ok, best- better); 4) the ability to form nouns with an abstract meaning in a suffixed and non-suffixed way (blue- blue- blue, red- red, green- greenery); 5) the ability to form synonymous series and antonymous pairs (cold- fresh- icy, sad- sad- sad; good- bad, cheerful - sad); 6) ability to combine with adverbs of degree (very young, extremely important); 7) the ability to form forms of subjective assessment (young- young, smart- smart).

Relative adjectives

Relative adjectives denote a feature of an object that is not manifested to a greater or lesser extent.

A sign that is expressed relative adjectives, can manifest itself through various relationships: 1) to the material (glass product - glass product, chintz dress- cotton dress); 2) to action (a machine that drills- drilling machine; machine that washes- washing machine); 3) by time (sport in winter- winter sports, task for the day - daily task); 4) to the place (station square - station square, city resident- city ​​dweller); 5) to your face (dormitory for students - student dormitory, playground for children- playground); 6) to the number (the price is three times higher,- triple price, mistake made twice,- double fault).

The basis relative adjectives always derivative. These adjectives do not have short forms or comparative forms.

Possessive adjectives

Possessives adjectives indicate whether an object belongs to a person or an animal and answer the question whose?

Possessive adjectives are formed in a suffix way. According to the method of formation, the following are distinguished: 1) adjectives with suffixes -in- (yn, -nin), -oe- (-ev): grandmother’s scarf, sister’s cloak, brother’s pencil, father’s hat, son-in-law’s coat; 2) adjectives with suffix - j- (graphic -y): bear's den, behind-the-cell[w] tail, fox[w] trail. They all have a zero ending in their initial form.

Adjectives with suffixes -in- (-yn-), -oe- (ev-) used in colloquial speech to a limited extent, found in stable phrases (crocodile tears, pansies, Achilles heel, sword of Damocles, Antonov fire). Instead, combinations are more often used noun+ +noun- type father's office (=fathers' office), mother's dress (=mother's dress), the rustle of a butterfly, the teacher's book, Dahl's dictionary. In addition, on the basis of these adjectives, a large number of proper nouns are formed - surnames of people and names of settlements (composer Borodin, writer Chekhov, Borodino village, Chekhov city).

Transition of adjectives from one category to another

Some adjectives can be used in a figurative meaning and acquire characteristics that are not characteristic of words of their category. As a result, there may be cases transition of adjectives from one category to another. Thus, possessive adjectives (mostly with the suffix - j) can go into the category of relative and qualitative, relative - into the category of qualitative, qualitative (rarely) - into the category of relative.

At transition from one category to another Not only the meanings change, but also the grammatical features of adjectives. So, for example, qualitative adjectives, when used in relative and possessive meanings, lose the ability to form simple forms and adverbs in -o, -e, and relative adjectives, becoming qualitative, on the contrary, acquire this ability. Wed: tripping(quality) - the gait is easy, breathing is easy, But: light industry(rel.); wooden cabinet(rel.), but: wooden gait(quality) - the gait is wooden, the look is dull, wooden.

Full and short forms of adjectives

Qualitative adjectives have full And brief form. Full form of adjective denotes a sign that is conceivable outside of time (steep bank, cheerful girl, round face).Short form of adjective denotes a sign of an object at a given specific moment in time (steep bank- the coast is cool, cheerful girl- cheerful girl, round face- round face).

Adjectives in short form do not change by case, but change by gender and number, that is, they take the corresponding endings of masculine, feminine, neuter and plural, which are attached to the stems of full adjectives.

During education short forms masculine the following features can be observed: 1) the appearance of fluent vowels o or e (strong- strong, smooth- smooth, harmful - harmful, sick - sick); 2) repression short forms masculine on -enen short forms on -en (insensitive- insensitive, senseless- meaningless, numerous- numerous).

In a sentence short form usually serves as the nominal part of a compound predicate, for example: Rest in vain. Road cool. Evening beautiful. I'm knocking on the gate (A. Blok). It can also act as a separate definition related to the subject. For example: Dika, sad, silent, timid as a forest deer, she seemed like a stranger in her own family (A. Pushkin).

Traces of oblique cases short forms preserved in some stable phrases, as well as in folklore: on bare feet, in broad daylight, in broad daylight, from young to old; good fellow, fair maiden, green wine.

Some adjectives (glad, much, must, love, necessary etc.) are used in modern Russian only in short form. In sentences, like most short forms, are part of the predicate. For example:

Glad to forget, may I not forget; Glad to fall asleep, but I won’t fall asleep. (D. Merezhkovsky)

Degrees of comparison of qualitative adjectives

Majority qualitative adjectives It has degrees of comparison: comparative and superlative. Comparative and superlative forms can be simple (synthetic) or compound (analytic).

comparative

comparative indicates that this characteristic is contained in one object to a greater extent than in another.

Simple form with to an equal degree formed from the base of the initial form using suffixes -ee (her), -e, -she, -same.

Productive suffix her(her) forms a shape comparative degree from stems to a consonant (except for non-derived stems to g, x, d, t, cm): light- lighter, weaker- weaker, charming - more charming, envious- more envious.

Non-productive suffix -e observed in forms comparative degree, formed: 1) from non-derivative bases on g, x, d, t, an(expensive - more expensive, dry ~ drier, young- younger, rich - richer, simple ~ simpler); 2) from adjectives with a suffix -To-, having the short masculine form of -ok: short-k-y (short) - in short, low-ky (low) - lower, loud-k-y (loud)- louder); 3) from some other adjectives (high - higher, wide- wider, cheap - cheaper). Forming comparative forms using a suffix -e usually accompanied by alternation of the final consonants of the stem: Expensive- expensive, loud- louder, dry- drier, cheap - cheaper.

Unproductive suffixes -she, -zhe form shapes comparative degree in isolated cases: far- next, thin- thinner, deeper- deeper

Some adjectives form degrees of comparison from different stems: good- worse, bad - better, small- less.

In colloquial speech forms comparative degree can be used with the prefix By-, mitigating the degree of manifestation of the symptom: cheaper - cheaper, more expensive- more expensive, lighter- lighter.

comparative degree is formed by combining the initial form of an adjective with the words more, less: fresh- more fresh - less fresh, difficult- more difficult- less difficult, perfect - more perfect- less perfect.

comparative degree do not change by gender, number, or case. In a sentence they usually serve as the nominal part of a compound predicate, for example: More bearable many was Evgeny... (A. Pushkin). They can also act as an inconsistent definition, in this case they appear after the word being defined, for example: A short* beard, slightly darker than the hair, slightly shaded the lips and chin (I. Turgenev). Compound (analytic) forms function in a sentence in the same way as regular full forms of qualitative adjectives.

Superlative

Superlative shows that one of many similar objects possesses this characteristic to the highest degree.

The simple superlative form is formed from the base of the initial form using suffixes -eysh, -aysh, -sh: kind- kindest, smartest- smartest, tallest- highest, strict- the strictest. In book speech, a prefix can be added to words nai-, increasing the degree of manifestation of a symptom: good- best, bad- worst, small- least.

Composite (analytic) form superlatives is formed in three ways: 1) by connecting the initial form with words the most beautiful- the most beautiful, tall- highest); 2) by connecting the initial form with words most, least (successful- the most successful, interesting- least interesting); 3) by combining the simple form of the comparative degree of the adjective with pronouns everything, everyone in the genitive case (funny- the most fun of all, wide- wider than all, warm- warmest).

Complex shapes superlatives have not only grammatical, but also stylistic differences:

Simple (synthetic) forms superlatives vary by gender (famous singer, famous singer), numbers (famous singers), cases (I'm talking about the famous singer). In a form sentence superlatives perform the function of the nominal part of a compound predicate or agreed definition, for example: Noise was huge(E. Krenkel). Her huge eyes looked sad.

Declension of adjectives

The case forms of adjectives are dependent in nature, since they express the meaning of gender, number and case of the noun with which the adjective is agreed. Therefore, the case forms of adjectives seem to repeat the functions of the corresponding forms of nouns. For example: new hat, new hat, new hat, new hat, new hat, (o) new hat.

Declension of qualitative and relative adjectives

There are three different type of declension of qualitative and relative adjectives: 1) hard declination, 2) soft declination, 3) mixed declination.

The spelling of the endings of adjectives in some cases sharply diverges from their sound composition, for example: white- white[ъвъ], summer- letn [въ].

Hard is the declension of adjectives with a stem on a hard consonant (except for stems on ts type scanty, and also on w with stressed ending type big).

Soft is the declension of adjectives with a base on a soft consonant (except g", k", x").

Mixed is the declension of adjectives with a stem on g, k, x (g", k", x"), and w with a stressed ending. These adjectives have both hard and soft endings.

Declension of possessive adjectives with suffixes -in- And -oe- form a special type.

The adjectives in question have noun endings in the nominative, genitive and accusative cases of the masculine and neuter gender, as well as in the nominative and accusative cases of the feminine gender and in the same plural cases. In other case forms they have the usual endings of qualitative and relative adjectives.

In the genitive and dative cases, masculine and neuter genders, instead of the endings of nouns, the endings of full adjectives can be used:

R. Sister's table, windows Sister's table, windows

D. To my sister’s table, window To my sister’s table, window

When declension of adjectives with the suffix -у- the latter does not receive a uniform letter designation in writing.

Adjectives of this variety in the forms of the nominative and accusative (when combined with inanimate nouns) cases have the endings of nouns, and in the remaining cases - the usual endings of qualitative and relative adjectives of the soft variety.

Morphological analysis of the adjective includes the identification of two constant features (category by meaning, degree of comparison for qualitative adjectives) and three non-constant ones (gender, number, case).

Adjectives in Russian are designed to describe the characteristics of objects or actions; they can add expressiveness to any text. Linguists divide adjectives into three types:

• quality;
• relative;
• possessive.

Types of adjectives, including relative ones

The largest group is qualitative adjectives, which serve to describe those characteristics of objects that may be more or less (wide, red, expensive).

Possessives demonstrate ownership of an object or phenomenon and answer the question - whose? (grandfather, bird, walrus). And relative adjectives describe a feature that is constantly inherent in a specific thing or action (phenomenon), and does this through its relationship to something. That is, they emphasize that the object being described refers to something. For example, school years - the adjective school refers to a certain period of time to an educational institution. Or a suede jacket - the adjective suede refers to the product as a specific type of fabric.

Relative adjectives can be divided according to the direction in which they express the relationship:

• to some material from which the object is made - a copper coin, a plastic window, a wooden platform;
• to an individual or other object - a men's shirt, a youth team, a fir cone;
• to the area - sea bay, city transport, Italian ice cream;
• to a specific action - detergent, a running man, a drawn sketch;
• to the number – single case, double strike, triple protection;
• by time - morning fog, night express, midday heat;
• to any abstract concept - a dubious statement, technical task, logical thinking.

The belonging of an adjective to a relative form can be established if it can be correctly replaced with the corresponding noun (paper kite - a kite made of paper, steppe flower - a flower from the steppe, arctic fox collar - a collar made of arctic fox).

Distinctive features of relative adjectives

There are several ways to distinguish relative adjectives from qualitative adjectives, which are most often found in Russian. Firstly, they are subject to change by gender, number and (financial flow, do without daytime sleep, dream about the Egyptian pyramids).

Secondly, next to them you cannot put adverbs denoting degree or measure - unusually or very, quite, also slightly, etc. For example, you cannot be very Moscow, unusually iron, slightly birch. Also, distinctive adjectives cannot form diminutive forms, as is available to qualitative ones: small - tiny (qualitative adjective), and for relative examples there are no examples.

Thirdly, relative adjectives cannot be in a short form, do not have synonyms or antonyms, and cannot be compared in different degrees.

Moreover, in some cases, relative adjectives can become qualitative; usually this process is associated with the use of a word in a figurative meaning. For example, iron ore is an iron man (meaning this person has great strength and health); velvet curtain - velvet skin (meaning the softness and tenderness of the skin).