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How do we have to accord the adjectives with the polite form "вы"? Plural or singular? Should we, for example, tell a man "вы красивый", or "вы красивые"? (logically I would use singular, but I want to be sure!!).

A.A.-S.
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3 Answers3

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The predicate (short) form is mandatorily plural: вы красивы. However, when full-form adjectives are used colloquially as predicates, singular sounds more natural: вы такая красивая, etc.

Nikolay Ershov
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Changing pronoun "ты" to polite form "вы" doesn't affect adjective.

Example: "Вы красивый мужчина" - singular form, masculine gender. “Вы красивая женщина” - singular form, feminine gender.

Soumiruzu
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  • Those are not very relevant examples because the adjective in both agrees with a noun. The question is what do you do when you only have the pronoun to go upon. – Nikolay Ershov Feb 21 '15 at 10:03
  • tell a man "вы красивый": Subject in the sentence in singular form, masculine gender person, replaced with pronoun. – Soumiruzu Feb 21 '15 at 15:35
  • That's different. However, that's only in case you use the full form of the adjective as a predicate, which only happens in colloquial speech. The short form must be plural: вы красивы. – Nikolay Ershov Feb 21 '15 at 18:44
  • Your point is correct but it’s not applicable for this particular case. "вы красивый" is not a whole sentence. – Soumiruzu Feb 21 '15 at 20:11
  • @Soumiruzu It is a complete sentence. Only, with full form adjective a noun is always implied, so they always agree with a real person without cheating, even when there is polite "вы". – Shady_arc Feb 21 '15 at 20:22
  • "Вы красивый." - complete sentence. "вы красивый" - accordance example. – Soumiruzu Feb 21 '15 at 20:34
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In colloquial speech both variants can be used. However, I would prefer to use the first one, especially in formal written language

Mikhail Genkin
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