“Natural” Adjectives in Russian
How do you say “natural” in Russian? The answer depends on what you are talking about. This post will look at the different ways of referring to organic things and when each of them is appropriate.
For the sake of variety, I will be listing the feminine forms of the adjectives in this entry.
This word can be a bit of a tongue twister, so let’s trace down how it came to be. You may remember the word есть in the sense of “there is” or “someone has,” not to be confused with the infinitive есть meaning “to eat”:
У нас есть ко́шка (We have a cat).
Здесь есть туале́т? (Is there a toilet/washroom/restroom here?)
In turn, есть is technically the 3rd person singular conjugation of the word быть, to be. This verb has lost its conjugation in contemporary Russian, but it used to look like this:
ЯесмьМыесмы́Тыесь, еси́Выесте́Он, она, оноестьОнисутьЕстество́ means the nature of something, its unaltered state. Add a suffix, and you get есте́ственная.
Есте́ственная refers to something happening naturally without external intervention, something being self-evident and almost inevitable, or someone behaving naturally.
есте́ственный отбо́р — natural selection
есте́ственные языки́ — natural languages
есте́ственные нау́ки — natural sciences
есте́ственное число́ — natural number
Приро́да means “nature” and belongs to an extended word family with the -род- root, which has to do with birth and blood relations. The primary meaning of приро́дная is “pertaining to nature.” Unlike есте́ственная, it’s not that приро́дная necessarily happened on its own — it’s just that it happened out in “the wild.” However, there may be some overlap with есте́ственная if something nature-made or innate is meant.
приро́дные ресу́рсы — natural resources
приро́дная катастро́фа — natural disaster
приро́дная среда́ — natural environment/habitat
приро́дные да́нные — innate characteristics/talents
приро́дный исто́чник — natural source
Finally, натура́льная quite obviously comes from Latin. Here the emphasis is on being organic and unadulterated. This word is often used for marketing purposes to describe cosmetics or foods without additives. Oftentimes, натура́льная is the opposite of иску́сственная (artificial).
натура́льные проду́кты — natural foods
натура́льный же́мчуг — natural pearls
в натура́льную величину́ — life-size (used as a modifier)
натура́льная ко́жа — genuine leather
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