Russian Intensifiers: очень, довольно, слишком
By Michael McGettrickUpdated 27 September 2026
Three little words sit in front of almost every Russian adjective and adverb you will use, and none of them ever change form: (very), (quite, rather) and (too, too much). A fourth structure works differently but does a related job: the prefix -, glued straight onto an adjective with no space, flips its meaning to the opposite.
Between them, these four cover most of the ways Russian adjusts a description up, down or into reverse, and GCSE Russian expects you to use all four accurately, including the tone each one carries.
очень: very
goes immediately before the adjective or adverb it strengthens, and it never changes, regardless of gender, number or tense:
.- He is very tired.
.- She cooks very well.
.- This is very important.
One limit worth knowing early: cannot go in front of a bare noun to mean a lot of. For that job Russian uses instead: У (I have a lot of work), never . only ever intensifies an adjective, an adverb, or occasionally a verb of feeling (Я , I really want to go), never a noun on its own.
There is no separate negative очень either: for not very, Russian simply puts ordinary in front of itself, (not very, not really), which has become a set phrase in its own right, used almost as a polite way of saying no: ? - . (Do you like the film? - Not really.)
довольно: quite, rather (not довольный)
means quite or rather, and it leans positive: it softens a description rather than complaining about it.
.- The film was quite interesting.
.- She learns quite quickly.
The trap is a near-identical word, , an ordinary adjective meaning satisfied or pleased, which declines exactly like any other long adjective and behaves completely differently in a sentence:
дово́лен.- He is satisfied. (short-form adjective, agrees with он)
.- He is quite clever. (invariable intensifier, no agreement at all)
Same stem, two different jobs. in front of an adjective or adverb is always the intensifier; дово́лен, , (the short forms of ) are the separate adjective, and they change for gender and number where never does.
слишком: too, too much
means too in the sense of excessively, and unlike and , it always signals a problem: the thing being described has gone past what is wanted or acceptable.
.- This is too expensive.
.- He speaks too fast.
.- Too late.
Combine it with for too much or too many: (too much work), (too many people). The difference in tone between (very expensive, a neutral observation) and (too expensive, meaning you will not pay it) is exactly the difference between very and too in English, and Russian marks it just as consistently.
A second near neighbour of is , whose core meaning is enough. is quite interesting (a degree of interest); is most safely read as interesting enough (meets some standard, for example, to be worth watching). Modern speech also uses loosely for fairly, but for GCSE keep for quite and for enough.
Word order: always immediately in front
All three intensifiers behave the same way structurally: they sit directly before the word they strengthen, with nothing in between, and none of them ever changes form for gender, number, tense or case. That invariability is what marks them as intensifiers rather than adjectives, and it is also what makes them easy to use correctly once you have the vocabulary: there is no agreement to get wrong, only the choice of which of the three fits the tone you want.
The не- prefix: making an adjective mean the opposite
A different structure does a related but distinct job: attaching - directly onto the front of an adjective, with no space and no hyphen, to make it mean the opposite:
| adjective | with не- | English |
|---|---|---|
| | small (not big) |
| | short (not tall) |
| | wrong, incorrect |
| | unattractive |
Because the result is still an ordinary long-form adjective, it declines exactly like any other: , , , . The same prefix works on the -o adverb and short adjective forms too:
.- This is not bad. (often meaning: this is pretty good)
.- The ticket is not expensive. / The ticket is cheap.
.- It doesn't matter. (literally: this is not important)
is worth singling out, because Russian speakers use it constantly as understatement, the same way English speakers say not bad to mean genuinely good: ? - (How are you? - Not bad) is a normal, cheerful answer, not a hedge.
There is one spelling rule attached to - worth knowing: it is written as one glued-together word when it forms a genuine antonym (, small), but written as two separate words, , when you are directly contrasting or denying something rather than naming its opposite, typically with а introducing the alternative: , а (this isn't a big house, it's a small one). The one-word spelling names a quality; the two-word spelling denies a specific claim.
You can also combine - with the intensifiers above, since they belong to different layers of the sentence and do not clash: (quite good, understating a compliment further) and (not very interesting, negating the whole phrase with the ordinary rather than the prefix) are both natural. Notice the second example uses plain with a space, negating as a unit, which is a different job again from the fused - on a single adjective; Russian negation sets out that separate word in full.
Which form exists: adjective, adverb, or both
Not every не- word has a matching pair in both the adjective and the -o adverb form, and GCSE only expects you to recognise the one that is actually common:
| adjective (long form) | -o adverb / predicate | notes |
|---|---|---|
| | both common: wrong (thing) / wrongly (done) |
| rare in this sense | mostly used as the adjective: a small X |
невозможный | | both exist; it's impossible is the commonest |
behaves as a full adjective, agreeing with its noun ( , the wrong answer; , the wrong shape), while its -o partner describes how something was done ( , he did it wrong) or stands alone as a verdict ( , that's wrong). Where one form dominates everyday use, as with (adjective) or (predicate), learn that one first rather than trying to manufacture its missing partner.
Mistakes English speakers make
Confusing with . (quite interesting, invariable) and дово́лен (he is satisfied, agrees with он) look related and are not. If the word changes for gender, it is ; if it never changes, it is the intensifier.
Using in front of a noun. cannot mean a lot of; that job belongs to . Keep for adjectives, adverbs and verbs of feeling only.
Missing the difference in tone between and . is a neutral very expensive; announces that the price is a problem. Picking the wrong one changes whether the sentence sounds like praise or a complaint.
Splitting - into two words by habit. English writes not big as two words, so learners write even when they mean the plain antonym small. Write it as one word, , unless you are specifically contrasting it with something else.
Treating and as interchangeable. Both can translate as enough in a dictionary (! on its own means that's enough!), but in front of an adjective intensifies (quite) and measures against a standard (enough). Read the sentence for which job is being done before reaching for either.
What to do next
Learn , and as a set with one example each, since the three-way tone difference (neutral, quite, too much) is the part worth drilling, not the grammar, which barely changes. Add to the same set once the other three are secure, precisely because it looks so much like and needs to be kept in its own box. For -, build five or six opposite pairs from adjectives you already know (/, /) rather than trying to memorise a rule, since the pattern is completely regular once you have the base word, and note which of each pair actually gets used as an adjective, an adverb, or both. Russian negation covers the separate word that negates a whole sentence, which is worth contrasting with this prefix once both are familiar, and the Russian course uses all four of these words from the earliest chapters, since describing things is most of what a beginner needs to say.