Новый

by Don  

The Russian word for new is новый. It's a perfectly regular adjective in its long forms, and it declines like this:

Masc Neut Fem Pl
Nom новый новое новая новые
Acc * новую *
Gen нового новой новых
Pre новом
Dat новому новым
Ins новым новыми

Hm... what kind of sample sentences should we come up with. Ah, of course. No one is more obsessed with newness than the people who love new cars. Let's work with that:

— Это новая машина?
— Да, новая.
“Is that a new car?”
“Yes, it's new.”
— Он каждый год покупает новую машину. Какой он эгоист!
— По-моему, ты просто завидуешь.
“He buys a new car every year. What an egotist!”
“I think you're just jealous.”
— Я лучше чувствую себя, когда катаюсь на новой машине.
— Это потому, что у тебя комплекс неполноценности.
“I feel better when I'm riding around in a new car.”
“That's because you have an inferiority complex.”
— Где мои новые машины?
— У тебя больше одной???
“Where are my new cars?”
“You have more than one?”
Здесь ничего нового нет. There isn't anything new here.

Here are the short forms and the comparative:

Short forms Comparative
Masc нов новее
Fem нова
Neut ново
Pl новы

And here are a couple ways you can use them:

Всё здесь так ново! Everything is so new here!
Моя машина новее твоей! My car is newer than yours!

1 comment

Comment from: Jakob [Visitor]

For the short form masculine, the last letter is voiced, correct? In that regard, is it only voiceless when followed by a soft sign? So it would be voiced in all forms of this word.

Don responds: In Russian any time voiced obstruents (б, в, г, д, ж, з) occur at word end before a pause, they become devoiced; that is, they are pronounced as п, ф, к, т, ш, с. This applies to нов. The pedantic sentence «Университет нов» is pronounced [u’n'iv’irs’it’et nof].

09/28/11 @ 14:03


Form is loading...