GrammatikDeterminativ

Determinative pronouns (определи́тельные местоиме́ния) are words that define or generalise a noun — they tell us all of it, each of it, the very one, another one, or the thing/person itself. The main ones are:

• весь (all, the whole)
  • Он рабо́тал весь день. (He worked all day.)
• ка́ждый (each, every)
  • Ка́ждый день я гуля́ю. (Every day I take a walk.)
• вся́кий (every kind of, any)
  • Сюда́ прихо́дят вся́кие лю́ди. (All sorts of people come here.)
• любо́й (any one you like)
  • Возьми́ любо́й каранда́ш. (Take any pencil.)
• сам (-self, in person — emphasized)
  • Я сам всё сде́лал. (I did everything myself.)
• са́мый (the very…, the most…)
  • Э́то са́мый вку́сный торт. (This is the tastiest cake.)
• друго́й (other, another)
  • Э́то друго́й вопро́с. (That's a different question.)

Nearly all of them behave like adjectives: they agree with their noun in gender, number and case. The one that is genuinely irregular is весь, so we start there.

весь: all / the whole

весь means all or the whole (of). Like an adjective it has four dictionary forms, one for each gender and one for the plural:

Declension of весь

The endings are soft and a little irregular. Watch the instrumental and prepositional in particular:

Two forms may be surprising: the instrumental is всем (m/n) and все́ми (pl); and the preposition о becomes обо before these words: обо всём (about everything), обо всех (about everybody). Some examples across the cases:

• Я прочита́л всю кни́гу. (I read the whole book.) — accusative feminine
• во всём ми́ре (in the whole world) — prepositional
• со все́ми друзья́ми (with all my friends) — instrumental plural

всё = everything, все = everybody

On their own, without a following noun, the neuter and plural forms become independent pronouns:

• всё (everything) — Я всё понима́ю. (I understand everything.)
• все (everybody) — Все уже́ здесь. (Everybody is already here.)

Because всё means everything it takes a singular verb; and because все means people, it takes a plural verb:

• Всё хорошо́. (Everything is fine.)
• Все зна́ют э́то. (Everybody knows this.)

ка́ждый, вся́кий, любо́й: each / every / any

These three overlap in English but are different in Russian. All three decline like ordinary adjectives (ка́ждый, ка́ждого, ка́ждому…).

Compare them in examples:

• Ка́ждый студе́нт получи́л уче́бник. (Each student got a textbook.) — each one
• В магази́не есть вся́кие фру́кты. (In the shop there are all kinds of fruit.) — variety
• Приходи́ в любо́е вре́мя. (Come at any time you like.) — free choice

A useful rule of thumb: ка́ждый counts through a group, while любо́й offers a free pick. “Every day” is ка́ждый день (not любо́й день), but “choose any book” is вы́бери любу́ю кни́гу.

сам: myself, himself…

сам emphasises that a person did something on their own or in person. It agrees with the noun or pronoun it stresses:

Full declension of сам

The stress jumps onto the ending for all forms (the opposite of са́мый below, which keeps its stress on са́-):

• Дире́ктор сам позвони́л мне. (The director called me himself / in person.)
• Я ви́дел самого́ президе́нта. (I saw the president himself.) — genitive/animate accusative

сам vs the reflexive себя́

Do not confuse сам with the reflexive pronoun себя́ (oneself, as an object). сам stresses who does the action; себя́ is the object that receives it:

• Он сам купи́л биле́т. (He bought the ticket himself.) — nobody helped him
• Он купи́л биле́т для себя́. (He bought a ticket for himself.) — the ticket is for him

More about себя́ in the reflexive pronoun article.

са́мый: the very… / the most…

са́мый is a regular hard adjective and keeps its stress fixed on са́- all through the table:

It has two everyday jobs:

1. Building the superlative

Put са́мый in front of an adjective to say “the most…”, the commonest way to form the superlative:

• са́мый большо́й дом (the biggest house)
• са́мая краси́вая пе́сня (the most beautiful song)
• са́мое ва́жное реше́ние (the most important decision)

2. “the very…”

With a noun it means “the very…”, marking an exact point:

• в са́мом нача́ле (at the very beginning)
• до са́мого конца́ (to the very end)
• тот же са́мый челове́к (the very same person)

Critical contrast: сам vs са́мый

These two look almost identical but mean completely different things. Learn them as a pair:

Parallel pairs make the difference obvious:

• Он сам реши́л зада́чу. (He solved the problem himself.) vs Э́то са́мая тру́дная зада́ча. (This is the hardest problem.)
• Сам дире́ктор пришёл. (The director himself came.) vs Он са́мый лу́чший дире́ктор. (He is the very best director.)
• Она́ сама́ написа́ла письмо́. (She wrote the letter herself.) vs Э́то са́мое дли́нное письмо́. (This is the longest letter.)

Watch out: several forms are spelled identically and differ only in where the stress falls. So in speech you can hear the difference and in writing you need to rely on the context for the meaning.

друго́й: other / another

друго́й means a different one or the other one. It declines like an ordinary hard adjective with the stress on the ending (the и in some endings is just the regular spelling after г):

• Дай мне другу́ю кни́гу. (Give me a different book.)
• На друго́й день он уе́хал. (The other day he left.)
• С друго́й стороны́… (On the other hand…)
• Други́е лю́ди ду́мают ина́че. (Other people think differently.)

друго́й vs ещё оди́н

English “another” can mean two things. Use друго́й for a different one, and ещё оди́н for one more of the same kind:

• Да́йте ещё оди́н ко́фе. (Give me one more coffee.) — another of the same
• Да́йте друго́й ко́фе. (Give me a different coffee.) — swap it for another kind

Common mistakes

• Mixing up сам and са́мый. One means “-self”, the other “the most”.
  Он са́мый сде́лал э́то (wrong) → Он сам сде́лал э́то (correct)
• Confusing все and всё. все = everybody (plural), всё = everything (singular).
  Все хорошо́ (wrong) → Всё хорошо́ (correct — "everything is fine")
• Forgetting to agree весь. It changes for gender, number and case like an adjective.
  весь кни́гу (wrong) → всю кни́гу (correct)
• Using любо́й for a habit. A repeated action needs ка́ждый.
  Я рабо́таю любо́й день (wrong) → Я рабо́таю ка́ждый день (correct)

Summary

• Determinative pronouns define or generalise a noun: all, each, any, -self, the very, other.
• весь (весь/вся/всё/все) is irregular — note всем, все́ми, обо всём.
• Standalone, всё = everything, все = everybody.
• ка́ждый = each; вся́кий = every kind of; любо́й = any you choose.
• сам = -self (emphasis, stress moves to the ending); contrast with the reflexive себя́.
• са́мый = the most / the very, and it builds the superlative (stress stays on са́-).
• друго́й = a different one; ещё оди́н = one more of the same.