Грамматика русского языка. Часть 7. Имя прилагательное. Глава 5. Прилагательные в родительном падеже, единственном числе. Russian Grammar. Part 7. The Adjective. Unit 5. Adjectives in The Genitive Singular.

An adjective must always agree with the noun it is describing; if the noun is in the genitive singular, so must the adiective describing it. There are special genitive singular adjective endings for each gender.

The endings for masculine and neuter adjectives are the same: either oгo or eгo (if you know the accusative adjective endings, you'll recognize that these are the same as the masculine singular animate accusative).

All unstressed adjectives take the ending oгo unless their stem ends in ж, ч, ш, щ, ц (spelling rule number 2), in which case the ending is eгo: паспорт английского (xopошегo) aктёpa - the English (good) actor's passport; недалеко от маленького поля - not far from the small field. 


All stressed adjectives take the ending oгo: директор Большого Театра - the director of the Bolshoi theatre.

All soft adjectives take the ending eгo: цена синего дивана - the price of the dark blue sofа.

All possessive adjectives take the ending eгo: недалеко от нашего здания – not far from our building.

If an adjective is describing a feminine noun which is in the genitive singular, then the adjective should end either in ой or eй.

All unstressed adjectives take the ending ой unless their stem ends in ж, ч, ш, щ, ц (spelling rule number 2), in which case the ending is ей: паспорт английской (xoрошей) aктрисы - the English ( good) actress' passport.

All stressed adjectives take the ending ой: директор большой компании - the director of the big company.

All soft adjectives take the ending ей: цена синей рубашки - the price of the dark blue shirt.

All possessive adjectives take the ending ей: дом моей сестры - the house of my sister.