Question
I’m confused by something I’m learning in Rosetta Stone. There is a picture showing 5 apples, two of which are green. The text is
Здесь два зелёных яблока
I’m confused by the fact that яблока is in the genitive singular but the adjective зелёных appears to be in the genitive plural. As I understand it, два takes the genitive singular, so I would have thought the translation would be
Здесь два зелёного яблока
Can you help me understand this?
Thank you.
Answer
Hi George!
With numerals from 2 onwards, the adjective is used in Genitive plural if the noun is neutral or masculine and the noun can be used in Genitive singular (2,3,4 and all the numerals ending in these numbers, except 12.13 and 14) and in Genitive plural (5-20 and all the numerals that end in 5-9).
Два красивых костюма. Two beaufiful suits.
Три зелёных кресла. Three green armchairs.
If a noun is feminine and if it is used with the numerals 2-4 the adjective is used in Nominative plural.
Три маленькие куклы. Three small dolls.
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