Russian question words that agree: какой, который, чей (какая у вас машина? чей это дом?)

Какая у вас машина? — Красная. Чей это дом? — Это мой дом.What kind of car do you have? A red one. Whose house is this? It's my house.

Some Russian question words behave like adjectives: they have four nominative forms and agree with the noun they ask about (like adjectives, they also change for case, which comes with each case lesson). The three to learn first are какой (what kind of, which), чей (whose) and который (which one). Question words that do not agree with a noun, such as кто, что, где, когда, are in Question words.

Quick shortcut: какой asks about a quality (Какая это книга?), чей asks about the owner (Чья это книга?), который asks which one among several or in order (Который час?). All three agree with the noun: masculine, feminine, neuter, plural.

Forms (nominative)

The endings of какой are those of adjectives (see Adjective agreement in the nominative); чей follows the pattern of the possessive words in Possessive pronouns. The question word takes the gender and number of the noun that it describes, as in Какой дом? Какая книга? Какое окно? Какие книги?

какой: what kind of?

Какой asks about the qualities of a person or thing, and the answer is usually an adjective:

• Какой у вас дом? — Большой. (What kind of house do you have? A big one.)
• Какая это книга? — Интересная. (What kind of book is this? An interesting one.)
• Какое сегодня число? (What is the date today?) Какой сегодня день? (What day is it today?)
• Какие фильмы ты любишь? (What films do you like?)
• Какой твой любимый цвет? (What is your favourite colour?)

It can also mean "which" when you choose: Какую книгу вы читаете? (Which book are you reading?) The accusative какую is covered with the accusative case.

чей: whose?

Чей asks who owns something. It agrees with the thing, not with the owner: Чей это дом? (Whose house is this?) Чья это сумка? (Whose bag is this?) Чьё это окно? Чьи это книги? The answer is a possessive word or a genitive: Это мой дом. Это сумка Ани. See Possessive pronouns and The genitive case: possession and "у меня есть".

который: which one?

Который asks which one of several things or people: Который ваш дом? (Which one is your house?) It is most important for one fixed phrase, the question about time: Который час? (What time is it?). Russian says который here, not какой. Который also introduces clauses such as "the house that I saw"; that use comes later. For now it is enough to know Который час? and to recognise который in the forms above.

Where the question word goes

In a question the question word usually comes first, and the noun or the rest of the sentence follows:

• Какой это дом? or Это какой дом?
• Какая у тебя машина? (literally "What kind by you car?")
• Чей это телефон?

In the present tense there is no word for "is", as in Zero copula and existential есть in the present.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Какой книга интересная? → ✅ Какая книга интересная? (книга is feminine)
• ❌ Чей это книга? → ✅ Чья это книга? (книга is feminine)
• ❌ Какая цвет? → ✅ Какой цвет? (цвет is masculine)
• ❌ Какой час? → ✅ Который час? (the question about time uses который)
• ❌ Чьи это дом? → ✅ Чей это дом? (дом is singular)

Quick check

Which form fits each gap?

1. ____ книга интересная? (what kind of)
2. ____ это дом? (whose)
3. ____ цвет тебе нравится? (which)
4. ____ это окна? (whose)
5. ____ час? (what time)

Key takeaways

• Какой / какая / какое / какие asks what kind or which one; чей / чья / чьё / чьи asks whose; который asks which one, above all in Который час?.
• These question words agree with the noun in gender and number, like adjectives.
• The answer to какой is usually an adjective; the answer to чей is a possessive word or a genitive.
• Question words that do not agree with a noun (кто, что, где…) are in a separate lesson.