Thread: What about suffixes: -ен, -но, -на? What is this rule?

Hello There!

I want to know about suffixes -ен, -но, -на in adjectives. For exemple, I said, I don't remember where, this sentence: Я счастливый. And somebody corrected me to say: Я счастливен.
Somebody said if I say Я счастливый is general.

And why say Я счастливен??? colloquial?

Ahh. They said to me -ен is for men and -на for women. Is that correct? How you call this?

Thank you very much!

I said, I don't remember where, this sentence: Я счастливый. And somebody corrected me to say: Я счастливен.

They could be right in that your phrase was not entirely correct -- depends on context -- but there is no such word as "счастливен". What they most probably meant was "Я счастлив".

Счастливый and счастлив are adjectives, full and short form, respectively.
You may want to read another thread on this topic: Краткая форма прилагательного

They said to me -ен is for men and -на for women. Is that correct?

It is partially correct. It does not apply to all short adjectives. Only to some.

According to "A Comprehensive Russian Grammar" by Terrance Wade, short form adjectives are used to describe temporary states.

For example, "Он болен." ('He is (temporarily) sick.')

The long form adjectives are use for more permanent descriptions.

"Он больной." ('He is (chronically) sick.')

With this and the context of your question, "счастлив" would be the correct from to use, because you are happy at a given moment (or for some specific reason), rather than happy all the time.

Originally Posted by krwright13

According to "A Comprehensive Russian Grammar" by Terrance Wade, short form adjectives are used to describe temporary states.

Well... This is right... but not exactly right. Grammatically in phrases like "A is B" in literary Russian, B can be either short form adjective or noun, but not full form adjective. When B looks like a full form adjective, in fact it is an adjectival noun.

So "Он болен"="He is sick", "Он - больной"="He is a sick person" or "He is a patient"

Often it has effect described as "short term VS permanent", but not always.