Learn Hardcore Russian: Новая грамматическая тема: слова «рад», «доволен», «уверен», «свободен», «счастлив» и «занят» для описания состояния человека. - New grammar topic: the words “rad” glad, “dovolen” satisfied, “uveren” confident, “svoboden” free, “schastliv” happy, and “zanyat” busy for describing a person’s state.

Why do these words рад, доволен, уверен, свободен, счастлив and занят look “short”? Are they adjectives, and where are the “normal” long forms?

These are short-form adjectives (and занят is historically a short participle). In Russian, many adjectives have:

a long form – used mainly before a noun (attributive)
a short form – used mainly after the subject (predicative, i.e. “X is Y”)

For your words the usual long–short pairs are:

рад ↔ радостный (glad vs. joyful / cheerful)
доволен ↔ довольный (satisfied / pleased)
уверен ↔ уверенный (sure, confident)
свободен ↔ свободный (free)
счастлив ↔ счастливый (happy)
занят ↔ занятый (busy, occupied)

In the sentence you gave, we are specifically talking about the short forms, which are typically used to describe someone’s current state:

Я рад. – I am glad.
Он уверен. – He is sure.

How do I actually say “I am glad / happy / confident / free / busy” with these words?

You choose the form according to gender and number of the subject.

Masculine (я = a man):

Я рад. – I am glad.
Я доволен. – I am satisfied / pleased.
Я уверен. – I am confident / sure.
Я свободен. – I am free.
Я счастлив. – I am (very) happy.
Я занят. – I am busy.

Feminine (я = a woman):

Я рада.
Я довольна.
Я уверена.
Я свободна.
Я счастлива.
Я занята.

Neuter (about “it”):

Оно радо.
Оно довольно.
Оно уверено (rare; usually phrased differently).
Оно свободно.
Оно счастливо.
Оно занято.

Plural (we / they):

Мы / они рады, довольны, уверены, свободны, счастливы, заняты.

No extra verb is needed in the present tense: я рад, мы заняты, etc. already mean “am/are …”.

Do these words change for gender, number, and case?

They do change for gender and number, but not for case in the way long adjectives do.

The patterns are:

Masculine: рад, доволен, уверен, свободен, счастлив, занят
Feminine: рада, довольна, уверена, свободна, счастлива, занята
Neuter: радо, довольно, уверено, свободно, счастливо, занято
Plural: рады, довольны, уверены, свободны, счастливы, заняты

They usually stand in the predicate position:

Мама довольна. – Mum is satisfied.
Студенты заняты. – The students are busy.

The subject (мама, студенты) is in the nominative. The short-form adjective agrees in gender and number with that subject, but you do not decline it for other cases.

Why is there no verb “to be” in Russian, like я рад instead of я есть рад?

In present tense Russian, the verb быть (to be) is usually omitted in simple “X is Y” sentences. So:

Я рад. literally is “I glad” but means “I am glad.”
Он свободен. – “He (is) free.”

The form есть as “is/are” is normally not used here in modern standard Russian, except in some special emphatic or contrastive cases which are quite rare.

In past and future you do use быть:

Я был рад. – I was glad.
Я буду свободен. – I will be free.

Can I put these words before the noun, like рад человек?

Normally no. The short forms are predicative: they go after the subject and form part of the sentence “X is Y”.

Человек рад. – The person is glad.
Студент уверен. – The student is sure.

When you want to say “a happy person”, “a confident student” as an attribute before a noun, you use the long form:

радостный человек – a joyful person
счастливый человек – a happy person
уверенный студент – a confident student
занятый человек – a busy person

So:

✅ человек рад
❌ рад человек (sounds wrong in normal speech, except in some poetic or very specific stylistic contexts).

What is the difference between рад, счастлив, and доволен? They all seem like “happy / pleased”.

They all express a positive emotional state, but with different nuances:

рад – glad about some specific event or situation.
- Я рад тебя видеть. – I’m glad to see you.
- It’s usually about a concrete reason.
счастлив – happy in a deeper, often more general or stronger sense.
- Я счастлив с тобой. – I’m happy with you.
- Can describe life satisfaction, not just one event.
доволен – satisfied, content, pleased (but not necessarily ecstatic).
- Я доволен результатом. – I’m satisfied/pleased with the result.
- Often sounds calmer and more rational than счастлив.

Roughly:

рад – glad (short-term, about something).
счастлив – happy (often deeper, more emotional).
доволен – satisfied/pleased (often evaluative, “this is good enough”).

What prepositions and cases do these words use when we say “glad about”, “sure of”, “busy with”, etc.?

Each word has its own typical patterns. Some common ones:

рад / счастлив

With the dative (often for people or abstract causes):
- Я рад тебе. – I’m glad about you / I’m glad for you.
- Мы счастливы ребёнку. – We are happy about the child.
With infinitive:
- Я рад помочь. – I’m glad to help.
- Мы счастливы быть здесь. – We’re happy to be here.
With что-clauses:
- Я рад, что ты пришёл. – I’m glad that you came.

доволен

Takes instrumental for what you are satisfied with:
- Он доволен результатом. – He’s satisfied with the result.
- Я доволен работой. – I’m satisfied with the work.

уверен

уверен в + prepositional:
- Она уверена в себе. – She is confident (in herself).
- Мы уверены в успехе. – We are sure of success.
With что-clause:
- Я уверен, что он придёт. – I’m sure that he will come.

свободен

свободен от + genitive (free from):
- Он свободен от обязанностей. – He is free from duties.
Also simple “not occupied / available”:
- Ты сегодня свободен? – Are you free today?

занят

Usually instrumental for what you are busy with:
- Я занят работой. – I’m busy with work.
- Она занята детьми. – She is busy with the children.
Or with phrases like на работе, с клиентами, etc.:
- Он сейчас занят на работе. – He’s busy at work now.

Can I use the long forms счастливый, уверенный, занятый, etc. instead of these short ones?

Sometimes yes, but they usually sound a bit different in nuance and style.

Short form: focuses on the current state (“he is now X”).
Long form: often more descriptive / characteristic, like an inherent quality.

Compare:

Он счастлив. – He is (currently) happy.
Он счастливый. – He is a happy person (by nature / generally in life).
Я уверен. – I am sure (right now, about this).
Я уверенный. – feels like “I’m a confident person” (more about character).
Мы заняты. – We’re busy (right now).
Мы занятые люди. – We are busy people (generally, that’s the kind of people we are).

In many everyday sentences about your state right now, the short form is the most natural.

Are there neuter and plural forms of these words, and when would I use them?

Yes. They agree with the subject.

Neuter (оно) – used for neuter nouns such as дело, место, время:

Дело в том, что всё не так просто. Дело сложное, но я этим делом доволен.
Место свободно. – The seat/place is free.
Моё сердце счастливо. – My heart is happy.
Место уже занято. – The place is already taken.

Typical neuter forms: радо, довольно, уверено (rare), свободно, счастливо, занято.

Plural – for plural subjects (we, they, people, things):

Мы рады. – We are glad.
Они довольны. – They are satisfied.
Все уверены. – Everyone is sure.
Места свободны. – The seats are free.
Дети счастливы. – The children are happy.
Все заняты. – Everyone is busy.

Is занят an adjective or a participle? Does that matter for me as a learner?

Historically, занят is a short passive participle of the verb занять (to occupy). But in modern everyday Russian it behaves almost like an adjective describing state:

Я занят. – I am busy / occupied.
Комната занята. – The room is occupied.

For you as a learner, you can safely treat it like the other short-form adjectives:

It agrees in gender and number: занят / занята / занято / заняты.
It appears in the predicate: Он занят, Мы заняты.
It takes instrumental for what you’re busy with: занят работой, занята учёбой.

The participle origin mostly matters for historical grammar; in normal use, it’s just “the word for busy/occupied”.

What is the difference between свободен and не занят? Do they always mean the same thing?

They overlap, but are not always identical.

свободен can mean:
- not occupied / not busy (time or person)
- not taken (seat, room, partner)
- free in a broader sense (free from obligations, free in a political sense, etc.)
не занят is more literally “not busy / not occupied”.

Examples:

Ты сегодня свободен? – Are you free today?
(Could mean: do you have time, are you available, no other plans?)
Ты сегодня не занят? – Are you not busy today?
(Focuses specifically on workload/activities.)

For a seat:

Это место свободно? – Is this seat free (not taken)?
Это место не занято? – Is this seat not occupied?

Both pairs can be used in many of the same contexts, but свободен sounds a bit broader and more natural when you mean general availability, while не занят is more narrowly “not occupied with something”.

How do I negate these words correctly?

You just put не in front of the adjective:

Я не рад. – I am not glad.
Она не довольна. – She is not satisfied.
Мы не уверены. – We are not sure.
Я не свободен. – I am not free.
Он не счастлив. – He is not happy.
Они не заняты. – They are not busy.

If you need stronger contrast, you can stress не or add more context:

Я совсем не рад. – I’m not glad at all.
Она вовсе не уверена. – She is not at all sure.

Word order still keeps не directly before the word: не рад, не занят, etc.

Can these words describe temporary versus permanent states, or are some of them more “character” and some more “momentary”?

The short forms in your list most naturally describe current / temporary state, but some can also be used about typical situations, depending on context.

Usually temporary / current:
- Я рад. – I am (now) glad.
- Мы заняты. – We are busy (right now).
- Он свободен. – He is free (currently / at the moment).
Can be temporary or more general:
- Он уверен. – He is sure (about this) / He is a confident person (from context).
- Я счастлив. – I am happy (right now) / I’m happy in life.

If you specifically want to talk about someone’s character or typical state, the long form is often more natural:

Он уверенный человек. – He is a confident person.
Она счастливая женщина. – She is a happy woman.
Он занятый человек. – He is a busy man (always has a lot to do).

So: short form = state now, long form = quality/character, but context can blur this a bit.