20 



6e3 MX KHHT "without their books" 



6e3 HMX "without them" 



fl ee BHHCy. "^ see her." 



H BHHCy ee WHMTVI. "I see her books." 



The forms: cefifl . etc. refer back to the subject and are to be translated "oneself, my- 

 self, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves", depending on the 

 translation of the subject word. For example, 



Ona BSHJia na CbSh OTBeTCTBeHHOCTb. "She took upon herself the responsibility." 

 Mh nOCTaSHJIM Ce6e STy ueJIB. "IVe set for ourselves this goal." 



You and You 



Russian has two words for "you": th and bu in the nominative case. The pronoun th 

 designates one person with whom the speaker or writer shares an informal relationship 

 (member of family, child, friend, colleague, etc.), while ^u_ denotes either 1) two or 

 more persons, or 2) one person with whom the speaker is on more formal terms( stranger, 

 employer, visitor, etc.). The same distinction is reflected in the two sets of forms for 

 the pronominal adjective: "your", tboM (informal) and sam (formal). 



COMPARISON 



Things or actions may be compared or contrasted by the use of comparative or 

 superlative forms of adjectives. Comparative forms are made by the use of 6oJiee 

 "more" or MBHse "less" before a regular adjective form; the basic adjective forms 

 change in case and number, but the forms 6ojiee / MeHee do not. For example, 



dOJiee rJiydOKafl pena "a deeper[more deep] river" 



MBHee JlOporOM HHCTpyMBHT "a less expensive instrument" 



Ha dOJiee 6hCTP0M nOHe "on a faster[more fast] mount" 



The linking word "than" is expressed by geM ., e.g. 



MwCCHCMnH - 60Jie6 rJiyfiOKafl pBKa, ^BM MwCCypW. "The Mississippi is a deeper 



river than the Missouri." 



Superlatives 



The superlative degree is achieved by the use of the appropriate form of the adjective 

 caMHH before the basic adjective; e.g. , 



CaMaH rJiyfiOKafl peKa "the deepest[most deep] river" 



Ha CaMOM 6HCTpOM KOHB "on the fastest [most fast] mount" 



Adverbs of Comparison 



It is possible to form comparative adverbs from a large number of adjectives. 

 As adverbs, these forms do not change for number(i.e. sg./pl.) or gender; in usage 

 they appear only in the predicate(e.g. , he is bigger , he talks more than he works, etc. ). 

 For many words the transition from adjective to adverb of comparison is accomplished 

 simply by adding -ee(/-ePi) to the adjective base; e.g. , 



6HCTp-HH "fast" dHCTp-ee "faster" 



deJI-Hfi "white" deJl-ee "whiter" 



MHTepeCH-HM "interesting" MHTBpBCH-ee "more interesting" 



