Breakdown of Давайте купим две красивые орхидеи, четыре ароматных тюльпана и три зелёные ветки.
и
and
красивый
beautiful
зелёный
green
три
three
четыре
four
две
two (f)
купить
to buy (perfective)
ветка
branch
давайте
let's (formal or plural)
ароматный
fragrant
тюльпан
tulip
орхидея
orchid
Questions & Answers about Давайте купим две красивые орхидеи, четыре ароматных тюльпана и три зелёные ветки.
Why is it ароматных (Genitive plural) for the tulips, but красивые and зелёные (Nominative plural) for the orchids and branches?
This is the main rule for adjectives following the numbers 2, 3, and 4. If the noun is masculine or neuter (like тюльпан), the adjective takes the Genitive plural (ароматных). If the noun is feminine (like орхидея and ветка), the adjective takes the Nominative plural (красивые, зелёные).
Wait, the adjectives are plural, but aren't the nouns in the Genitive singular here?
Exactly! After the numbers 2, 3, and 4 (when in the Nominative or inanimate Accusative cases), the noun is always in the Genitive singular (орхидеи, тюльпана, ветки). However, the adjectives describing them go into a plural form. It feels like a grammatical mismatch, but it is the strict rule you must follow!
Why does the sentence use две for the orchids, when the other numbers don't seem to show gender?
The number 2 is unique among these because it has gendered forms in the Nominative and inanimate Accusative cases: два for masculine and neuter nouns, and две for feminine nouns. Since орхидея is feminine, we must use две. The numbers 3 (три) and 4 (четыре) have only one form for all genders.
Why use купим here instead of the infinitive купить after давайте?
When suggesting a one-time, completed action ("let's buy"), Russian uses давайте followed by the first-person plural ("we") form of a perfective verb in the future tense. Купим is this perfective future form. You only use the infinitive after давайте if the verb is imperfective (for example, давайте покупать, meaning "let's spend time buying/shopping").
Learn Давайте купим две красивые орхидеи, четыре ароматных тюльпана и три зелёные ветки and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free