Nouns in English may be modified by adjectives (awesome nerd) or by nouns (high school nerd). In Russian only adjectives may modify nouns, which means that nouns and verbs must be converted to adjectives before they can modify nouns. The verbal adjective form is called a participle; adjectives from nouns are called 'relational adjectives'. In English, for example, one may say 'city transportation' but in Russian the word город 'city' must first be converted to an adjective, городской, before this phrase is possible: городской транспорт.
That's it. Just to let you know, here are some examples of nouns which have been converted to adjectives.
| Noun | Adjective | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| база | базовый | base |
| бал | бальный | ball, dance |
| восток | восточный | east |
| восторг | восторженный | delight, enthusiasm, rapture |
| выпуск | выпускной | graduates |
| город | городской | city |
| грудь | грудой | chest |
| дети | детский | children |
| диплом | дипломный | diplom |
| завод | заводной | factory |
| запад | западный | west |
| звезда | звёздный | star |
| камень | каменный | stone |
| кольцо | кольцевой | ring |
| мир | мировой | world |
| море | морской | sea |
| мужчина | мужской | man, male |
| мыло | мыльный | soap |
| мясо | мясной | meat |
| ночь | ночной | night |
| огонь | огненный | fire |
| письмо | письменный | letter |
| порог | пороговый | threshold |
| спорт | спортивный | sport |
| телевидение,телевизор | телевизионный | television |
| торжество | торжественный | festival; triumph |
| утро | утренний | morning |
| язык | языковый, языковой | tongue; language |