Adjectives: Agreement and Declension

01

Three Adjective Types

Adjectives come in three ending-families, each with a masculine and a feminine form:

• -as / -a: geras / gera (good), naujas / nauja (new), baltas / balta (white)
• -us / -i: gražus / graži (beautiful), skanus / skani (tasty)
• -is / -ė: didelis / didelė (big)

• geras vyras

  a good man (masculine)

• gera knyga

  a good book (feminine)

• graži gatvė

  a beautiful street

02

Agreeing in Number

In the plural the adjective takes a plural ending to match its noun:

• geri vyrai

  good men

• geros knygos

  good books

• gražūs namai

  beautiful houses

03

Agreeing in Case

When the noun changes case, the adjective follows it into the same case. Watch geras track its noun through several roles:

• Tai geras draugas.

  That is a good friend. (nominative)

• Turiu gerą draugą.

  I have a good friend. (accusative)

• Tai gero draugo knyga.

  That is a good friend's book. (genitive)

• Kalbu su geru draugu.

  I talk with a good friend. (instrumental)

The adjective and noun do not always show identical letters, but they always carry the same gender, number and case - they move together.

04

Adjective After "to be"

Used as a predicate (after "is/are", often with yra dropped), the adjective still agrees with the subject in gender and number:

• Kava karšta.

  The coffee is hot. (feminine)

• Filmas įdomus.

  The film is interesting. (masculine)

• Vaikai laimingi.

  The children are happy. (plural)

05

Word Order and Emphasis

The natural order is adjective before noun, but for emphasis or in a predicate the adjective can follow:

• Diena graži.

  The day is beautiful.

• Graži diena!

  A beautiful day!

06

The Adjective's Case Endings

Through the singular cases, geras (good) takes these endings, always matching the gender of its noun:

• Nominative: geras (m) / gera (f)
• Genitive: gero (m) / geros (f)
• Dative: geram (m) / gerai (f)
• Accusative: gerą (m) / gerą (f)
• Instrumental: geru (m) / gera (f)
• Locative: gerame (m) / geroje (f)

You do not need to drill the whole table now - the point is that the adjective copies the noun's case, so once you can decline the noun you can predict the adjective.

07

From Adjective to Adverb

To describe a verb instead of a noun, most adjectives become an adverb: -as types take -ai, and -us types take -iai:

• geras → gerai

  good → well.

• greitas → greitai

  fast → quickly.

• gražus → gražiai

  beautiful → beautifully.

(Adverbs have their own topic; this is just the bridge between the two.)