Agreement is the connective tissue of a Russian sentence: words that belong together are forced to match in their grammatical features. Two systems do most of the work. Verbs agree with their subject — in person and number in the present and future, and in gender and number in the past. Adjectives (and possessives, demonstratives, participles) agree with their noun in gender, number, and case. Most of this is mechanical once you know the endings. The reason this page exists is the handful of tricky cases where Russian agreement does something English never does — and where learners reliably go wrong because they import English intuitions.
Subject-verb agreement: two regimes
The verb's agreement target depends on the tense:
- Present and future — the verb agrees in person and number (я, ты, он/она́/оно́, мы, вы, они́). Gender is irrelevant: я чита́ю whether the speaker is a man or a woman.
- Past — the verb agrees in gender and number, because the past tense is historically a participle. Singular: masculine -л, feminine -ла, neuter -ло; plural -ли for all genders. So он чита́л, она́ чита́ла, оно́ чита́ло, они́ чита́ли.
Я живу́ в Москве́, а мои́ роди́тели живу́т в Ки́еве.
I live in Moscow, and my parents live in Kyiv. (present: 1sg живу́, 3pl живу́т)
Когда́ я была́ ма́ленькой, мы жи́ли у ба́бушки.
When I was little, we lived at grandma's. (past: feminine была́ — a female speaker; plural жи́ли)
The past-tense gender agreement is itself a frequent stumbling block and is treated in detail on past-tense gender agreement. The point to carry forward: in the past, the verb tells you the subject's gender — я сказа́л (a man speaking) vs я сказа́ла (a woman speaking).
Adjective-noun agreement: gender, number, case
An adjective (and every other agreeing modifier) copies its noun's gender, number, and case all at once. кра́сный ("red") becomes кра́сная with a feminine noun, кра́сное with a neuter, кра́сные in the plural — and then changes again for every case.
Я купи́л но́вую маши́ну своему́ ста́ршему бра́ту.
I bought a new car for my older brother. (но́вую маши́ну: feminine accusative; своему́ ста́ршему бра́ту: masculine dative — every modifier matches its noun)
В э́том ма́леньком го́роде нет хоро́ших гости́ниц.
There are no good hotels in this small town. (э́том ма́леньком го́роде: masculine prepositional; хоро́ших гости́ниц: feminine genitive plural)
The reflexive possessive свой also agrees with the noun it modifies (not with the owner) — its agreement and its "belonging to the subject" meaning are on свой.
Tricky case 1: numeral subjects → neuter singular verb
This is the one that trips up nearly every learner. When the subject is a number plus a noun (пять челове́к, два́дцать студе́нтов), the verb in the past most often goes neuter singular, not plural — even though English would unhesitatingly use a plural. The reason is that the numeral phrase is felt as a single quantity, an amount, rather than a set of acting individuals.
На ле́кцию пришло́ пять челове́к.
Five people came to the lecture. (numeral subject пять челове́к → neuter singular пришло́, NOT пришли́)
Прошло́ два го́да.
Two years have passed. (numeral subject → neuter singular прошло́)
В о́череди стоя́ло челове́к два́дцать.
About twenty people were standing in the queue. (approximate numeral → neuter singular стоя́ло)
A plural verb (Пришли́ пять челове́к) is heard, especially when the people are definite, known, and viewed as individual agents — but the neuter singular is the neutral, safe default, and the only fully correct choice with approximate or large quantities. This is part of the larger pattern of genitive-subject quantity constructions, where the verb being impersonal-neuter goes hand in hand with the counted noun being genitive (пять челове́к = "five of-people").
Tricky case 2: кто is masculine, что is neuter
The interrogative/relative кто ("who") is grammatically masculine singular, and что ("what") is grammatically neuter singular — regardless of who or what is actually referred to. So a past-tense verb agreeing with кто is masculine even if the answer is a woman or a crowd.
Кто пришёл?
Who came? (пришёл is masculine — even if the person who came is a woman or several people)
Все, кто опозда́л, оста́лись без ме́ста.
Everyone who was late was left without a seat. (опозда́л masculine sg agreeing with кто, though 'everyone' is plural in sense)
Что случи́лось?
What happened? (случи́лось neuter — agreeing with neuter что)
This is purely grammatical gender overriding real-world reference. English "who came?" carries no gender; Russian's кто defaults to masculine. The same holds for никто́ ("nobody", masculine) and ничто́ ("nothing", neuter): Никто́ не пришёл ("Nobody came", masculine пришёл).
Tricky case 3: polite вы, "мы с …", coordinated subjects → plural
Three subject types reliably take a plural verb:
- Polite вы (one person addressed respectfully) takes a plural verb, just like the plural "you": Вы пришли́ во́время ("You came on time"), even to one person. A predicate adjective, however, may go singular if clearly one person: Вы так добры́ (plural) but Вы така́я до́брая (singular, to one woman).
- мы с бра́том ("my brother and I", literally "we with brother") means two people and takes a plural verb: Мы с бра́том пое́хали ("My brother and I went").
- Coordinated subjects joined by и ("and") take a plural verb: Ма́ма и па́па прие́хали.
Мы с подру́гой ходи́ли в кино́.
My friend and I went to the cinema. (мы с подру́гой = two people → plural ходи́ли)
Вы не зна́ете, где здесь апте́ка?
Do you know where there's a pharmacy here? (polite вы to one person → plural зна́ете)
Брат и сестра́ ча́сто ссо́рятся.
The brother and sister often quarrel. (coordinated subjects → plural ссо́рятся)
The мы с + instrumental pattern is a genuine surprise for English speakers: it literally says "we with X" but means "X and I" — and it counts as two people, hence the plural verb.
Tricky case 4: collective nouns are singular
Russian collective nouns — молодёжь ("the youth, young people"), наро́д ("the people"), большинство́ ("the majority"), челове́чество ("humanity") — are grammatically singular and take a singular verb. This is the reverse of British English, which often treats "the youth / the government / the team" as plural.
Молодёжь сего́дня лю́бит совсе́м другу́ю му́зыку.
Young people today like completely different music. (молодёжь is singular → лю́бит, NOT лю́бят)
Большинство́ проголосова́ло за.
The majority voted in favour. (большинство́ → neuter singular проголосова́ло)
Наро́д уста́л от обеща́ний.
The people are tired of promises. (наро́д singular → masculine singular уста́л)
English "young people are", "the people are" pushes you toward a plural verb; Russian insists молодёжь and наро́д are singular collectives. With большинство́ ("the majority") a plural verb does appear when followed by a plural genitive of animate beings (Большинство́ студе́нтов проголосова́ли), but the bare collective always agrees in the singular.
The distinguishing insight: form can outrank meaning
The thread tying the tricky cases together is that Russian agreement often follows grammatical form, not real-world sense. A numeral phrase is formally a quantity → neuter singular, regardless of how many people it names. кто is formally masculine → masculine verb, regardless of who came. молодёжь is formally a singular noun → singular verb, regardless of how many young people there are. English agreement leans the other way — toward notional, meaning-based agreement ("the team are deciding" because a team is many people). When the two systems clash, trust the Russian form: count the grammatical gender and number of the actual subject word, not the headcount in the world. (The one major exception runs through this whole topic — quantified and negated subjects, where the form is genitive and the verb goes impersonal-neuter; see genitive-subject constructions.)
Common Mistakes
❌ На ле́кцию пришли́ пять челове́к.
Dispreferred — a numeral subject takes the neuter-singular verb as the neutral default, not the plural.
✅ На ле́кцию пришло́ пять челове́к.
Five people came to the lecture. (neuter singular пришло́)
❌ Кто пришла́?
Wrong — кто is grammatically masculine; the verb is masculine even when the person is a woman.
✅ Кто пришёл?
Who came? (masculine пришёл agreeing with кто)
❌ Молодёжь лю́бят э́ту му́зыку.
Wrong — молодёжь is a singular collective noun; it takes a singular verb.
✅ Молодёжь лю́бит э́ту му́зыку.
Young people like this music. (singular лю́бит)
❌ Я и брат пое́хал на да́чу.
Wrong — coordinated subjects (and the мы с + instr. pattern) take a plural verb.
✅ Мы с бра́том пое́хали на да́чу.
My brother and I went to the dacha. (plural пое́хали)
❌ Вы пришёл во́время. (to one person, politely)
Wrong — polite вы takes a plural verb even when addressing one person.
✅ Вы пришли́ во́время.
You came on time. (plural пришли́ with polite вы)
Key Takeaways
- Verbs agree in person+number (present/future) and gender+number (past); adjectives/modifiers agree in gender, number, and case with their noun.
- Numeral subjects → neuter-singular verb as the neutral default: Пришло́ пять челове́к, Прошло́ два го́да.
- кто → masculine, что → neuter, regardless of real-world gender: Кто пришёл? Что случи́лось?
- Plural-triggering subjects: polite вы (Вы пришли́), мы с бра́том (= two people), and coordinated и-subjects.
- Collective nouns are singular: молодёжь лю́бит, наро́д ждёт — the opposite of English "the youth are".
- When form and meaning clash, trust the grammatical form of the subject word, not the headcount in the world.
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Start learning Russian→Related Topics
- Past-Tense Gender and Number AgreementA2 — The Russian past tense agrees with its subject in gender (singular) and number — он чита́л, она́ чита́ла, оно́ чита́ло, они́ чита́ли. The traps: я/ты take the gender of the real speaker or addressee; polite Вы always takes plural -ли even for one person; кто forces masculine and что forces neuter regardless of the real referent. This page works through every agreement target.
- Subjectless Genitive ConstructionsB2 — In a striking break from English, Russian sometimes puts the logical subject in the genitive rather than the nominative — and demotes the verb to an impersonal neuter singular. This happens with existential negation (Его́ не́ было до́ма), with quantified subjects (Пришло́ мно́го госте́й), and with verbs of sufficiency and abundance (Воды́ хвата́ет). The case shift is not decoration: nominative names a specific, individuated subject, while genitive presents an amount, a presence, or an absence.
- Basic Word Order and Its FlexibilityA1 — Russian's default is subject–verb–object (Студе́нт чита́ет кни́гу), but the order is flexible because the case endings, not the positions, mark who does what to whom. The governing principle is information structure: the START of the sentence carries known information (the topic), the END carries the new, important point (the focus). Russians reorder constantly for emphasis — Кни́гу чита́ет студе́нт answers 'who's reading the book?'. The flexibility is purposeful, not free: change the order and you change which word is in focus.
- Свой: The Reflexive PossessiveB1 — свой ('one's own') points back to the subject of the clause and agrees with the possessed noun like мой (свой/своя́/своё/свои́). It is what disambiguates Он лю́бит свою́ жену́ ('his own wife') from Он лю́бит его́ жену́ ('another man's wife'). This page gives the full declension, the subject-reference rule, why it can't stand in the subject slot, and the idiom свой челове́к.