In most of situations we use normal (long) forms of adjectives and they usually precede the noun they describe:

– краси́вый сад – a beautiful garden

– краси́вая же́нщина – a beautiful woman

– краси́вое ме́сто – a beautiful place

– краси́вые цветы́ – beautiful flowers

Let’s see some examples of using these adverbs for describing actions:

– Анто́н говори́т краси́во. – Anton speaks beautifully.

– Мари́на не всегда́ пи́шет пра́вильно. – Marina does not always write correctly.

– Почему́ ты так бы́стро е́дешь? – Why are you driving so fast(ly)?

– О́льга предпочита́ет ходи́ть по па́рку ме́дленно. – Olga prefers to walk slowly in the park.

Please note how we use the word “so/such” in Russian: with long adjectives (like with long adjectives (like краси́вый, краси́вая, краси́вое, краси́вые) we use the forms тако́й, така́я, тако́е, таки́е:

– тако́й краси́вый го́род – such a beautiful city / so beautiful city

– така́я краси́вая у́лица – such a beautiful street / so beautiful street

– тако́е краси́вое зда́ние – such a beautiful building / so beautiful building

– таки́е краси́вые дере́вья – such beautiful trees / so beautiful trees

With the forms ending by -o we always use the form так, regardless of the noun/adjective gender:

– Па́вел так краси́во поёт! – Pavel sings so beautifully!

The same is true for the words “како́й” and “как”: како́й, кака́я, како́е, каки́е are used with long adjectives, whereas как is used with the o-forms:

– како́й краси́вый го́род – what a beautiful city

– кака́я краси́вая у́лица – what a beautiful street

– како́е краси́вое зда́ние – what a beautiful building

– каки́е краси́вые дере́вья – what beautiful trees

but:

– Как краси́во Па́вел поёт! – How beautifully Pavel sings!

Now let's see another situation, when the o-forms are used.

First of all, we use them in impersonal sentences, when in English “it is”, “it was”, “it will be” are used (like «It's warm», «It was dark in the room», «It will be hard to do this»):

– Сего́дня жа́рко. – It's not today.

– На у́лице дождли́во. – It's rainy outside.

– Вчера́ бы́ло со́лнечно. – Yesterday it was sunny.

– За́втра бу́дет ве́трено. – Tomorrow it will be windy.

– and the pronouns derived from “что” like ниЧТО́ (nothing), кое-ЧТО́, ЧТО́-то, ЧТО́-нибудь, ЧТО́-либо (all of them mean “something” or “anything” in English, but are used in different situations):

Let’s see more examples:

– Я ду́маю, э́то о́чень тру́дно. – I think this will be very difficult.

– Всё бы́ло о́чень интере́сно. – Everything was very interesting.

– Ничто́ не ве́чно. – Nothing is eternal.

Some adjectives change stress (or even the stem) in the o-form. Such adjectives should be memorized and we are going show to the most used of them:

Examples:

– На у́лице темно́ и тепло́. – It's dark and warm outside.

– Вчера́ здесь бы́ло хо́лодно. – It was cold here yesterday.

– Всё бу́дет хорошо́. – Everything will be fine.

– В э́том магази́не всё о́чень до́рого, а на ры́нке всё дово́льно дёшево. – In this store everything is very expensive, but in the market everything is quite cheap.

I hope this article was helpful. If you have any questions, doubts of suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Best regards,

Yevgeni Yeliseyev