Adjectives for People
| adjective | |
|---|---|
| умный | clever, intelligent |
| сильный | strong |
| богатый | rich |
| бедный | poor |
| спокойный | calm |
| свободный | free, available |
All six are ordinary hard-stem adjectives and agree exactly as you would expect: умный брат, умная сестра, умное решение.
| My brother is very clever. | Мой брат очень умный. |
The Rich and the Poor Pair
Богатый and бедный are direct opposites. Бедный carries a second sense Russian uses constantly — poor in the sense of pitiable, as in English "the poor thing".
| The poor student works a lot. | Бедный студент много работает. |
Свободный: Free, Not Free-of-Charge
Свободный means free as in unoccupied or available — a free seat, a free evening, a free person. It does NOT mean free of charge; Russian uses a different word for that.
| Today is a free day. | Сегодня свободный день. |
Занят: a Short Adjective
Занят is the opposite of free, and like рад it is a SHORT adjective — predicate only, never in front of a noun. It agrees: занят (m), занята (f), заняты (pl).
Я занят. — I'm busy. (a man speaking) Я занята. — I'm busy. (a woman speaking)
The stress moves in the feminine, onto the final syllable: за-ня-ТА.
| The director is busy today. | Директор занят сегодня. |
