Word
Даже если эти цветы дорогие, я куплю две синие орхидеи и три белые гвоздики.
Meaning
Even if these flowers are expensive, I will buy two blue orchids and three white carnations.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Даже если эти цветы дорогие, я куплю две синие орхидеи и три белые гвоздики.
и
and
я
I
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
белый
white
Questions & Answers about Даже если эти цветы дорогие, я куплю две синие орхидеи и три белые гвоздики.
Why are the adjectives синие and белые in the nominative plural, while the nouns орхидеи and гвоздики are in the genitive singular?
This is the specific rule for adjectives modifying feminine nouns after the numbers 2, 3, and 4. In the Nominative or inanimate Accusative cases, the feminine noun takes the genitive singular, but the adjective takes the nominative plural. If these were masculine or neuter nouns, the adjectives would be in the genitive plural instead.
The phrase is the direct object of куплю, so shouldn't it be in the accusative case?
It is in the accusative! However, for inanimate objects like flowers, the Accusative forms of the numbers 2, 3, and 4—along with the adjectives and nouns attached to them—are identical to their Nominative forms. If you were buying animate objects (like animals), the phrase would use the animate Accusative, which looks like the Genitive.
Why do орхидеи and гвоздики end in -и here? Are they just in the nominative plural?
They look like the nominative plural, but grammatically they are in the genitive singular, which is required after the numbers 2, 3, and 4. Орхидея changes its -я to -и. Гвоздика changes its -а to -и because of the 7-letter spelling rule that forbids writing -ы after the letter к.
Could I use хотя instead of даже если here?