Describing a thing — its colour, its size, whether it's nice — is among the first things you want to do in any language, and in Ukrainian it pulls together two ideas at once. First, every descriptive word agrees with the noun it describes: "red" is черво́ний for a masculine noun, черво́на for a feminine one, черво́не for a neuter one, and черво́ні in the plural. There's no single invariant "red." Second, the very question "what colour is it?" is built on a case English doesn't use here: Яко́го ко́льору…?, literally "of what colour," with both words in the genitive. This page shows how to put colour and quality adjectives into real sentences — agreeing, questioning, and describing people and things.
Колі́р and the question Яко́го ко́льору…?
The noun for "colour" is колі́р (genitive ко́льору — note the stress shift and the soft л). To ask what colour something is, Ukrainian doesn't say "what colour is X" with a nominative; it asks Яко́го ко́льору X? — literally "of what colour is X?" Both яко́го and ко́льору are in the genitive, because the frame means "X is of a certain colour." The answer can be a full sentence or just the colour adjective agreeing with X.
| Ukrainian | English |
|---|---|
| Яко́го ко́льору…? | What colour is…? |
| Яко́го ко́льору твоя́ маши́на? | What colour is your car? |
| Вона́ черво́на. | It's red. (agreeing with feminine маши́на) |
| Яки́й це колі́р? | What colour is this? (pointing at a colour itself) |
Яко́го ко́льору твоя́ но́ва ку́ртка? — Те́мно-си́ня.
What colour is your new jacket? 'Dark blue.' (Яко́го ко́льору — genitive question frame; те́мно-си́ня agrees with feminine ку́ртка.)
Яко́го ко́льору не́бо пе́ред грозо́ю? — Майже́ сі́ре.
What colour is the sky before a storm? 'Almost grey.' (сі́ре — neuter, agreeing with не́бо.)
Agreement: one adjective, four endings
A Ukrainian adjective changes its ending to match the noun's gender, number, and case. In the nominative — the dictionary form — the four shapes of a hard-stem adjective like черво́ний "red" are:
| Gender / number | "red" + noun | English |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | черво́ний све́тр | a red sweater |
| feminine | черво́на спідни́ця | a red skirt |
| neuter | черво́не я́блуко | a red apple |
| plural | черво́ні кві́ти | red flowers |
The endings -ий / -а / -е / -і are the workhorse hard-stem set. Most colour and quality words follow it: вели́кий "big," нови́й "new," до́брий "kind," смачни́й "tasty." A few are soft-stemmed — most importantly си́ній "blue," which gives си́ній / си́ня / си́нє / си́ні (note -є, not -е, in the neuter). The full table of endings is on colour and quality adjectives.
У ме́не нови́й телефо́н і нова́ ку́ртка.
I've got a new phone and a new jacket. (нови́й — masculine; нова́ — feminine; same adjective, two endings.)
Я люблю́ си́нє не́бо й зеле́ну траву́.
I love the blue sky and the green grass. (си́нє — soft-stem neuter -є; зеле́ну — accusative feminine.)
Це вели́кий буди́нок із черво́ним да́хом.
It's a big house with a red roof. (вели́кий — masculine nominative; черво́ним — instrumental after із.)
це + adjective: "this is nice"
To say "this/that is [adjective]" about a situation in general — not a specific noun — Ukrainian uses це "this/it" plus a neuter adjective or an adverb. "It's beautiful" (about the view, the idea, the weather) is Це га́рно or Це краси́во. Here the predicate is impersonal, so the neuter/adverb form is the default. And remember: in the present there's no "is" — the copula is dropped (see the present of бу́ти).
Це га́рно з твого́ бо́ку — дя́кую!
That's kind of you — thanks! (Це га́рно — це + neuter/adverb, no word for 'is'.)
Нова́ ка́ва тут смачна́, а ціна́ — норма́льна.
The new coffee here is tasty, and the price is fine. (смачна́ — feminine, agreeing with ка́ва; copula dropped.)
Describing people and things
In practice you describe two kinds of thing: people (tall, kind, beautiful) and objects (big, new, tasty, expensive). The adjective agrees with whichever noun it modifies, and word order is normally adjective-before-noun, just as in English.
| Ukrainian | English |
|---|---|
| висо́кий хло́пець | a tall boy |
| висо́ка дівчи́на | a tall girl |
| га́рний / краси́вий | handsome / beautiful |
| до́брий, привітни́й | kind, friendly |
| смачна́ ка́ва | tasty coffee |
| нова́ кни́га | a new book |
| дороги́й / деше́вий | expensive / cheap |
| мали́й / вели́кий | small / big |
Яка́ га́рна дівчи́на! І така́ розу́мна.
What a beautiful girl! And so clever. (га́рна, розу́мна — feminine, agreeing with дівчи́на.)
Він висо́кий, темноволо́сий і ду́же привітни́й.
He's tall, dark-haired, and very friendly. (a string of masculine adjectives, all agreeing with він.)
Ця нова́ ка́ва смачна́, але́ тро́хи задорога́.
This new coffee is tasty, but a bit too expensive. (нова́, смачна́, задорога́ — all feminine, matching ка́ва.)
Source-language comparison
For an English speaker, two habits change. First, English adjectives are invariant — "red car," "red apple," "red flowers" — but Ukrainian re-endings the adjective every time to match gender, number, and case (черво́на маши́на, черво́не я́блуко, черво́ні кві́ти). You have to know the noun's gender to pick the ending. Second, "what colour is X?" isn't a fixed string; it's a genitive frame, Яко́го ко́льору X? ("of what colour"), so яко́го and ко́льору both inflect. Treat that as a memorised phrase. Beyond that, word order is friendly (adjective before noun) and the copula is simply dropped (Ка́ва смачна́, no "is").
For a Russian speaker, the agreement machinery is familiar; the things to watch are the standard-Ukrainian colour vocabulary and spelling — си́ній with its soft-stem neuter си́нє (-є), жо́втий "yellow," черво́ний "red" — and the phrase Яко́го ко́льору? with the Ukrainian word колі́р / ко́льору.
Common Mistakes
❌ Яки́й ко́лір твоя́ маши́на? (nominative question frame)
Incorrect — the frame is genitive: Яко́го ко́льору твоя́ маши́на?
✅ Яко́го ко́льору твоя́ маши́на?
What colour is your car? — Яко́го ко́льору, both genitive.
❌ черво́ний маши́на (masculine adjective, feminine noun)
Incorrect — the adjective must agree: черво́на маши́на.
✅ черво́на маши́на
a red car — черво́на agrees with feminine маши́на.
❌ си́не не́бо (hard-stem neuter -е on a soft adjective)
Incorrect — си́ній is soft-stemmed, so the neuter is -є: си́нє не́бо.
✅ си́нє не́бо
blue sky — си́нє, soft-stem neuter ending.
❌ Ка́ва є смачна́. (copula inserted)
Stilted — drop the present copula: Ка́ва смачна́.
✅ Ка́ва смачна́.
The coffee is tasty. — no word for 'is'.
❌ Вони́ га́рна. (singular adjective, plural noun)
Incorrect — agree in number too: Вони́ га́рні.
✅ Вони́ га́рні.
They're nice/good-looking. — plural -і ending.
Key Takeaways
- "What colour is X?" = Яко́го ко́льору X? — a fixed genitive frame ("of what colour"); the noun for colour is колі́р / ко́льору.
- Every descriptor agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case: черво́ний / черво́на / черво́не / черво́ні.
- Most adjectives are hard-stem (-ий/-а/-е/-і); a few are soft-stem, above all си́ній with neuter си́нє (-є).
- "It's nice/beautiful" (general) = це + neuter/adverb: Це га́рно — and the present copula is dropped (Ка́ва смачна́).
- Pile up adjectives and they all carry the same ending: Вона́ висо́ка, розу́мна і до́бра.
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- Colour and Quality AdjectivesA1 — The everyday descriptive words — colours (черво́ний, жо́втий, зеле́ний, чо́рний, бі́лий) and qualities (вели́кий, до́брий, га́рний, висо́кий, дороги́й) — all AGREE with their noun and decline like any adjective: черво́ний прапор / черво́на кві́тка / черво́не я́блуко / черво́ні кві́ти. One colour breaks the mould: си́ній 'blue' is SOFT-stemmed (си́ня / си́нє / си́ні, gen си́нього), unlike hard черво́ний. And the colours combine into the national си́ньо-жо́втий 'blue-and-yellow'.
- Adjective Agreement in All CasesB1 — Every modifier in a Ukrainian noun phrase — possessive, demonstrative, and adjective alike — agrees with the head noun in gender, number, AND case all at once. Decline a full phrase like мій нови́й украї́нський друг through all seven cases (gen мого́ ново́го украї́нського дру́га, dat моє́му ново́му украї́нському дру́гові, instr мої́м нови́м украї́нським дру́гом) and the agreement chain falls into place: change the case of the noun, and every word in front of it changes to match.
- Adjectives: Agreement and the Two Stem TypesA1 — Ukrainian adjectives AGREE with their noun in gender, number, and case — the same word changes ending depending on what it describes. The dictionary form is masculine nominative singular (нови́й, си́ній); each adjective then has feminine, neuter, and plural forms and runs through all seven cases. Every adjective belongs to one of two stem types — HARD (нови́й / нова́ / нове́ / нові́) or SOFT (си́ній / си́ня / си́нє / си́ні) — and the stem type drives every ending.
- Genitive: Possession and 'of'A2 — How Ukrainian shows possession and the English 'of' relationship — by putting the owner in the genitive AFTER the thing owned (кни́га бра́та 'the brother's book', центр мі́ста 'the centre of the city'), with no apostrophe-s and no separate word for 'of', and with the WHOLE possessor phrase declining (маши́на мого́ дру́га), contrasted with possessive pronouns like мій/твій that agree instead.
- The Present of Бути (and the Missing Copula)A1 — Ukrainian normally has NO present-tense 'to be': Він студе́нт 'he is a student', Я вдо́ма 'I'm home' — the copula simply disappears, often replaced in writing by a dash (Київ — столи́ця). The single present form є exists for all persons but is used sparingly: for existence and possession (У ме́не є час 'I have time'), for emphasis or formal definitions (Украї́на є незале́жною держа́вою), and it negates to нема́є + genitive (нема́є ча́су). Inserting є everywhere is a beginner error; forgetting it in 'у ме́не є…' is the opposite error.