a russian adjective () is usually placed before the noun it qualifies, and it agrees with the noun in case, gender, and number. with the exception of a few invariant forms borrowed from other languages, such as 'beige' or 'khaki', most adjectives follow one of a small number of regular declension patterns, except for some which provide difficulty in forming the "short form". in modern russian, the short form appears only in the nominative and is used when the adjective is in a predicative role; formerly (as in the bylinas) short adjectives appeared in all other forms and roles, which are not used in modern language, but are nonetheless understandable to russian speakers as they are declined exactly like nouns of the corresponding gender.