Ukrainian grammar


The grammar of the Ukrainian language describes the phonological, morphological, and syntactical rules of the Ukrainian language. Ukrainian contains 7 cases and 2 numbers for its nominal declension and 2 aspects, 3 tenses, 3 moods, and 2 voices for its verbal conjugation. Adjectives must agree in number, gender, and case with their nouns.
In order to understand Ukrainian grammar, it is necessary to understand the various phonological rules that occur due to the collision of two or more sounds. Doing so markedly decreases the number of exceptions and makes understanding the rules better. The origin of some of these phonological rules can be traced all the way back to Indo-European gradation. This is especially common in explaining the differences between the infinitive and present stem of many verbs.
This article presents the grammar of the literary language, which is followed by most dialects. The main differences in the dialects are vocabulary with occasional differences in phonology and morphology. Further information can be found in the article Ukrainian dialects.

Phonology

The following points of Ukrainian phonology need to be considered in order to properly understand the grammar of Ukrainian.

Classification of vowels

Two different classifications of vowels can be made: a historical perspective and a modern perspective. From a historical perspective, the Ukrainian vowels can be divided into two categories:
  1. Hard vowels, о, and у or transliterated as a, y
  2. Soft vowels or transliterated as e, i and y. The iotified vowels are considered to be soft vowels
From a modern perspective, the Ukrainian vowels can be divided into two categories:
  1. Hard Vowels. This category as can be seen from the table is different from the historical hard category
  2. Iotified Vowel. To this category can also be added the combination of letters йо/ьо

    Classification of consonants

In Ukrainian, consonants can be categorised as follows:
In the Ukrainian language, the following sound changes have occurred between the Common Slavic period and current Ukrainian:
  1. In a newly closed syllable, that is, a syllable that ends in a consonant, Common Slavic o and e mutate into i if the next vowel in Common Slavic was one of the yers.
  2. Pleophony: The Common Slavic combinations, ToRT and TeRT, where T is any consonant and R is either r or l become in Ukrainian
  3. # TorT gives ToroT
  4. # TolT gives ToloT
  5. # TerT gives TereT
  6. # TelT gives ToloT
  7. The Common Slavic nasal vowel ę is reflected as ja except after a single labial where it is reflected as ″ja, or after a post-alveolar sibilant where it is reflected as a. Examples: Common Slavic *pętь gives in Ukrainian p″jat' ; Common Slavic *telę gives in Ukrainian telja; and Common Slavic kurčę gives in Ukrainian kurča. This Common Slavic nasal vowel is derived from an Indo-European *-en, *-em, or one of the sonorants n and m.
  8. The Common Slavic letter, ě, is reflected in Ukrainian generally as i except:
  9. # word-initially, where it is reflected as ji: Common Slavic *ěsti gives the Ukrainian jisty
  10. # after the post-alveolar sibilants where it is reflected as a: Common Slavic *ležěti gives the Ukrainian ležaty
  11. Common Slavic i and y are both reflected in Ukrainian as y
  12. The Common Slavic combination -CьjV, where C is any consonant and V is any vowel, becomes in Ukrainian the following combination -CCjV, except
  13. # if C is labial or 'r' where it becomes -C"jV
  14. # if V is the Common Slavic e, then the vowel in Ukrainian mutates to a, e.g., Common Slavic *žitьje gives the Ukrainian žyttja
  15. # if V is the Common Slavic ь, then the combination becomes ej, e.g., genitive plural in Common Slavic *myšьjь gives the Ukrainian myšej
  16. # if one or more consonants precede the C then there is no doubling of the consonants in Ukrainian
  17. Common Slavic combinations dl and tl are simplified to l, for example, Common Slavic *mydlo gives Ukrainian mylo
  18. Common Slavic ъl and ьl became ov, while word final lъ became v. For example, Common Slavic *vьlkъ becomes vovk in Ukrainian

    Current changes

  19. The first palatalisation concerns the velars and the following vowels: e, y from Common Slavic i, a/i from Common Slavic ě, derived from the Indo-European ē. Before these vowels,
  20. # h/g mutates into ž.
  21. # k mutates into č.
  22. # x mutates into š.
  23. The second palatalisation concerns the velars and the following vowels: y from Common Slavic i that is derived from an Indo-European diphthong and a/i from Common Slavic ě, derived from an Indo-European diphthong. Before these vowels,
  24. # h/g mutates into z.
  25. # k mutates into c.
  26. # x mutates into s.
  27. The iotification concerns all consonants and the semi-vowel j. The following changes occur:
  28. # The labials insert an l between the labial and the semivowel: Common Slavic *zemja give Ukrainian zemlja.
  29. # The velars followed by a semivowel mutate as in the first palatalisation. The semivowel is dropped. This change can be traced back to Common Slavic.
  30. # ktj, tj becomes č
  31. # dj becomes ž, except in verbs where it becomes dž
  32. # sj becomes š
  33. # stj, skj become šč
  34. # zdj, zhj become ždž
  35. # zkj becomes žč
  36. # l, n, r becomes lj, nj, rj
  37. In Ukrainian, when two or more consonants occur word-finally, then a float vowel is inserted under the following conditions. Given a consonantal grouping C1C2, where C is any Ukrainian consonant. The fill vowel is inserted between the two consonants and after the ь. A fill vowel is only inserted if C2 is one of the following consonants: k, v, l, m, r, n, and c. In this case:
  38. # If C1 is one of the following h, k, or x, then the fill vowel is always o
  39. # If C2 is k or v, then the fill vowel is o. No fill vowel is inserted if the v is derived from a voiced l, for example, vovk
  40. # If C2 is l, m, r, or c, then the fill vowel is e
  41. # The only known exception is vid′om, which should take e as the fill vowel, but instead adds an o.
  42. # The combinations, -stv and -s′k are not broken up
  43. # If the C1 is j, then the above rules can apply. However, both forms often exist

    Assimilation

The following assimilations occur:
The most common dissimilation is encountered in the infinitive of verbs, where + т dissimilates to ст, for example, крад + ти gives красти and плет + ти gives плести.

Morphology

Nominal

Nouns

The nominal declension has seven cases, in two numbers, and absolutely obeying grammatical gender. Adjectives, pronouns, and the first two cardinal numbers have gender specific forms.
A third number, the dual, also existed in Old East Slavic, but except for its use in the nominative and accusative cases with the numbers two, three and four, e.g. dvi hryvni/дві гривні vs. dvoje hryven' /двоє гривень, it has been lost. Other traces of the dual can be found when referring to objects of which are commonly in pairs: eyes, shoulders, ears, e.g. plečyma. Occasionally, dual forms can distinguish between meanings.
In Ukrainian, there are 4 declension types. The first declension is used for most feminine nouns. The second declension is used for most masculine and neuter nouns. The third declension is used for feminine nouns ending in ь or a post-alveolar sibilant. The fourth declension is used for neuter nouns ending in я/а.
Most of the types consist of 3 different subgroups: hard, mixed, and soft. The soft subgroup consists of nouns whose roots end in a soft letter. The mixed subgroup consists of the nouns whose roots end in a post-alveolar sibilant or occasionally r. The hard group consists of all other nouns.
If the hard group endings are taken as the basis, then the following rules can be used to derive the corresponding mixed and soft endings:
Nouns ending in a consonant are marked in the following tables with ∅.
First declension
This declension consists of nouns that end in а or я. It consists primarily of feminine nouns, but a few nouns with these ending referring to professions can be either masculine or feminine. In these cases, the genitive plural is often formed by adding -ів. Nouns referring to people can also take this ending.
The second declension consists of masculine and neuter nouns.
Masculine nouns: This group consists primarily of nouns ending in a consonant, a soft sign ь, or й. In this declension, nouns ending in р can belong to any of the three declension subgroups: hard, mixed, and soft. There is no way of knowing from the nominative form, to which group the noun belongs.

Notes:
Neuter nouns:
This category consists of neuter nouns ending in о, е, and substantives ending in я, preceded by either a double consonant, apostrophe, or two consonants, which primarily are derived from verbs. This last category once did end in *ĭjе, but due to the sound change given above developed an я ending.
This declension consists solely of feminine nouns that end in a consonant. This declension has only 2 subgroups: a mixed and soft group.
This declension consists of solely neuter nouns that are derived from Common Slavic *ę. There are two subgroups: those with an н insert, and those with a т insert.

Adjectives

Ukrainian adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case.
In Ukrainian, there exist a small number of adjectives, primarily possessives, which exist in the masculine in the so-called short form. This "short" form is a relic of the indefinite declension of adjectives in Common Slavic. Common examples of this anomalous declension are бабин compared to бабина ; братів compared to братова ; and повинен compared to повинна. This short form only exists in the masculine nominative form. All other forms are regular.
Declension
In Ukrainian, there are 2 different declension types: hard and soft. The soft type can be further subdivided into two types. Unlike for the nouns, the post-alveolar sibilants are counted as hard. There also exists a special mixed declension for adjectives ending in -лиций. These adjectives are derived from the noun лице, describing types of faces, for example, білолиций.
Note about the declensions:
In Ukrainian adjectives also have a comparative and superlative forms.
The comparative form is created by dropping ий and adding the ending -ший. The resulting form is declined like a regular hard stem adjective. As usual, some adjectives have irregular forms.
The superlative form is created by prefixing най- to the comparative form. Words associated with religion often prefix пре- to the comparative form. As usual, some adjectives have irregular forms.

Adverbs

In Ukrainian, adverbs are formed by taking the stem of the adjective or −йа and adding the ending
For example, гарний gives гарно. The comparative and superlative forms of an adverb are formed by taking the corresponding form of the adjective and replacing −ий by -е, for example, гарніше from гарніший.
Adverbs can also be derived from the locative or instrumental singular of a noun, for example, ввечері, нагорі.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns
The personal pronouns are declined as follows.
1st sing2nd sing3rd sing masc3rd sing fem3rd sing neut1st pl2nd pl3rd pl
Nominativeятивінвонавономививони
Genitiveменетебейого / ньогоїї / неїйого / ньогонасвасїх / них
Dativeменітобійомуїййомунамвамїм
Accusativeменетебейогоїїйогонасвасїх / них
Instrumentalмноютобоюнимнеюнимнамиваминими
Locativeменітобіньому / німнійньому / німнаcвасних
Demonstrative pronouns
The demonstrative pronoun, той, is declined as follows.
masculineneuterfeminineplural
Nominativeтойтетаті
Genitiveтоготоготієїтих
Dativeтомутомутійтим
AccusativeN or GтетуN or G
Instrumentalтимтимтієютими
Locativeтому / тімтому / тімтійтих
Possessive pronouns
The first and second person singular possessive pronouns are declined similarly as can be seen from the table below.
masculineneuterfemininepluralmasculineneuterfeminineplural
Nominativeміймоємоямоїтвійтвоєтвоятвої
Genitiveмогомогомоєїмоїхтвоготвоготвоєїтвоїх
Dativeмоємумоємумоїймоїмтвоємутвоємутвоїйтвоїм
AccusativeN or GмоємоюN or GN or GтвоєтвоюN or G
Instrumentalмоїммоїммоєюмоїмитвоїмтвоїмтвоєютвоїми
Locativeмоємумоємумоїймоїхтвоємутвоємутвоїйо твоїх

The first and second person plural possessive pronouns are declined as below. The masculine nominative forms are the short forms.
masculineneuterfemininepluralmasculineneuterfeminineplural
Nominativeнашнашенашанашівашвашевашаваші
Genitiveнашогонашогонашоїнашихвашоговашоговашоїваших
Dativeнашомунашомунашійнашимвашомувашомувашійвашим
AccusativeN or GнашенашуN or GN or GвашевашуN or G
Instrumentalнашимнашимнашоюнашимивашимвашимвашоювашими
Locativeнашомунашомунашійнашихвашомувашомувашійваших

The third person plural possessive pronoun, їхній, is declined as a normal soft adjective.
Interrogative pronouns
The interrogative pronouns, хто and що, are declined as follows.
Nom.Gen.Dat.Acc.Inst.Loc.
хтокогокомукогокимкому
щочогочомущочимчому

The interrogative pronoun, чий, is declined as given in the table below.

Numbers

SymbolCardinalOrdinalCounting
0нульнульовий--
1один, одна, однепершийраз
2два, двідругийдвічі
3тритретійтричі
4чотиричетвертийчотири рази
5п’ятьп’ятийп’ять разів
6шістьшостийшість разів
7сімсьомийсім разів
8вісімвосьмийвісім разів
9дев’ятьдев’ятийдев’ять разів
10десятьдесятийдесять разів
teens cardinal+надцятьcardinal+надцятийcardinal+надцять разів
20двадцятьдвадцятийдвадцять разів
21двадцять одиндвадцять першийдвадцять один раз
30тридцятьтридцятийтридцять разів
40сороксороковийсорок разів
50п’ятдесятп’ятдесятийп’ятдесят разів
60шістдесятшістдесятийшістдесят разів
70сімдесятсімдесятийсімдесят разів
80вісімдесятвісімдесятийвісімдесят разів
90дев’яностодев’яностийдев’яносто разів
100стосотийсто разів
200двістідвохсотийдвісті разів
300тристатрьохсотийтриста разів
400чотиристачотирьохсотийчотириста разів
500п’ятсотп’ятисотийп’ятсот разів
600шістсотшестисотийшістсот разів
700сімсотсемисотийсімсот разів
800вісімсотвосьмисотийвісімсот разів
900дев’ятсотдев’ятисотийдев’ятсот разів
1000тисячатисячнийтисяча разів

Comments:
In general, the following rules are used to determine agreement between the cardinal number and a noun. In the nominative case, the nouns agree with the last number in any compound number. Nouns that must agree with a number ending in 2, 3, or 4 are in the nominative plural, but retain the stress of the dual, that is the genitive singular. Nouns, which must agree with a number ending in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, and all the teens are in the genitive plural. In any other case, the nouns and numbers are in the same case.

Verbs

is subject to three persons in two numbers and three simple tenses, with periphrastic forms for the future and Conditional, as well as imperative forms and present/past participles, distinguished by adjectival and adverbial usage. There are two voices, active and middle/passive, which is constructed by the addition of a reflexive suffix -ся/сь to the active form. An interesting feature is that the past tense is actually made to agree in gender with the subject, for it is the participle in an originally periphrastic perfect formed with the present of быть ,"to be." Verbal inflection today is considerably simpler than in Common Slavic. The ancient aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect have been lost. The loss of three of the former six tenses has been offset by the reliance, as in other Slavic languages, on verbal aspect. Most verbs come in pairs, one with imperfective or continuous connotation, the other with perfective or completed, usually formed with a prefix, but occasionally using a different root.
The present tense of the verb бути, "to be", today normally has the form, є used for all persons and numbers. Previously and occasionally in liturgical settings, aspects of the full conjugation, can be found. The paradigm shows as well as anything else the Indo-European affinity of Ukrainian:
EnglishUkrainianIPALatinPIE
"I am"я єсьми*suméǵh₂om H₁ésmi
"you are" ти єсиestúh₂ H₁ési
"he, she, it is"він, вона, воно єсть, єestkhī H₁ésti
"we are"ми єсьмо*sumuswéy H₁smés
"you are" ви єсьте*estisju H₁ste
"they are"вони суть*sunttō H₁sónti

Note: Ukrainian forms followed by * are considered archaic in Standard Ukrainian and are replaced by є. In the present tense, the verb бути is often omitted, for example, "Мій брат — вчитель". "—" is not used when the subject is a pronoun, "Я студент".

Classification of verbs

There exist two different classification of verbs: traditional and historical/linguistic.
The traditional classification of verbs subdivides the verbs into two categories based on the form of the 3rd person singular present indicative form of the verb.
  1. The е stems, which have the ending -е or -є in the 3rd person singular.
  2. The и stems, which have the ending -ить in the 3rd person singular.
The historical/linguistic classification of verbs subdivides the verbs into 5 categories. Classes 1,2 and 3 correspond to the е stems of the traditional classification, while class 4 corresponds to the и stems. Class 5 consists of the athematic verbs.
  1. Class 1: Stems in -е
  2. * The same stem in the Present and the Infinitive
  3. ** The same consonantal stem :
  4. ***нести / несе
  5. ***пекти / пече
  6. ***умерти / умре
  7. ***почати / почне
  8. ** The same vowel stem
  9. ***плисти / пливе
  10. * Infinitive in -ати
  11. ** Consonantal stem
  12. *** брати / бере
  13. ** Vowel stems
  14. *** рвати / рве
  15. Class 2: "n" verbs
  16. * двигнути / двигне
  17. Class 3: Presents in є
  18. * Primary verbs
  19. ** Same stem in the Present and Infinitive
  20. *** Same vowel stem
  21. **** знати / знає
  22. *** Same consonantal stem
  23. **** молоти / меле
  24. **** полоти / поле
  25. ** Infinitive in -ати
  26. *** Same vowel stem
  27. **** сіяти / сіє
  28. *** Same consonantal stem
  29. **** орати / оре
  30. *** Stems that undergo the changes associated with the doubling of the consonants
  31. **** бити: б’ю, б’єш...
  32. **** пити
  33. **** лити: ллю, ллєш...
  34. * Derived Verbs
  35. ** a-stems
  36. *** думати / думає
  37. ** ě-stems
  38. *** жовтіти / жовтіє
  39. ** uva-stems
  40. *** купувати / купує
  41. Class 4: i-stems in the Present
  42. *i-stems in both the Present and Infinitive
  43. ** хвалити / хвалить
  44. * ě-stems
  45. **вертіти / вертить
  46. **лежати / лежить
  47. Class 5: Athematic Verbs
  48. * їсти
  49. * дати
  50. * -вісти
  51. * бути

    Voices

Ukrainian had 2 voices: active voice and passive voice. The active voice is the only voice with a complete set of conjugations. The active voice, in general, shows a direct effect of the verb on its subject.

Indicative active mood

The indicative mood is used to describe events, which have occurred, are occurring, or will occur. In Ukrainian, the indicative mood contains the present, future, and past tenses.
Present tense
Historically, this is derived from the Indo-European present tense. In Common Slavic and later Ukrainian, it retained its present meaning only for imperfective verbs and developed a future meaning for perfective verbs.
For the е stems, the endings are:
singularplural
First Person-у / -ю-емо / -ємо
Second Person-еш / -єш-ете / -єте
Third Person-е / -є-уть / -ють

All verbs whose roots end in a velar undergo the first palatalisation in all forms of the present. The endings in є are used for roots whose stem ends in a vowel. All verbs in Class 3 and those that end in a vowel use -ю and -ють. Furthermore, Class 3 verbs undergo iotification in those forms that use -ю-. For reflexive verbs, in the third person singular, the ending has its historical -ть restored before the participle -ся / -сь is affixed. Thus, the ending becomes -еться.
For the и stems, the endings are:
singularplural
First Person-ю / -имо / -їмо
Second Person-иш / -їш-ите / -їте
Third Person-ить / -їть-ать / -ять

All Class 4 verbs undergo iotification in the first person singular. Thus, there is really only one ending, which due to orthographic reasons is given 2 different forms. Verbs ending in a vowel take the endings in the second column. In the third person plural, verbs ending in a labial insert an л before the ending, -ять. The ending -ать is used after the sibilants ж, ш, щ, or ч.
Examples
[Athematic verb]s
Ukrainian inherited from Indo-European through Common Slavic, the following 3 athematic verbs. These verbs have their own conjugation in the present. Everywhere else they are regular.
singularplural
First Personдамдамо
Second Personдасидасте
Third Personдастьдадуть

singularplural
First Personїмїмо
Second Personїсиїсте
Third Personїстьїдять

singularplural
First Person-вім-вімо
Second Person-віси-вісте
Third Person-вість-відять
Past active tense
The past tense in Ukrainian has the peculiarity of being originally an adjective, since it derives from the original compound perfect. Thus, the past tense agrees in number and gender with the subject of the verb. The following endings are added to the infinitive with the ending -ти removed :
Class 2 verbs can have forms without the −ну, for example, заслабнути has the forms заслаб, заслабла, заслабло, and заслабли. Not all Class 2 verbs undergo this change.
These forms are often called the active past participle I. The masculine singular evolved from an earlier *-лъ that vocalized.
Future active tense
In Ukrainian, there are 2 different future tenses for imperfective verbs. The first form, called simple, formed by adding to the infinitive of the verb the following endings, which are derived from the Common Slavic verb *jęti :
The second form, called compound, is to take the present tense conjugation of the verb бути and use it with the infinitive of the verb. Thus,
singularplural
First Personбуду їстибудемо їсти
Second Personбудеш їстибудете їсти
Third Personбуде їстибудуть їсти

This will translate as will eat with the appropriate personal pronoun.
The two forms do not differ in function or semantics. However, the compound form tends to be used more often, and is the only way to form a future of the verb бути.

Imperative active mood

The imperative mood is used to give commands. It exists in only the present tense in Ukrainian. There are no forms for the 1st person singular.
In Ukrainian, the imperative mood is formed from the present stem of the verb plus the following endings :
singularplural
First Personnone-ьмо / -ймо / -мо / -імо
Second Person-ь / -й / ∅ / -и -ьте / -йте / -те / -іть
Third Personхай or нехай + 3rd person present singular хай or нехай + 3rd person present plural

The first set of endings is to be used for stems that end in a dentals. The second set of ending is used for stems that end in a vowel. The third set of endings is used for stems that end in labials or post-alveolar sibilants. The fourth set of endings is used with verbs whose unaffixed form have the stress on the ending in the first person singular of the present tense. As well, most Class 2 verbs and those verb roots ending in a consonant plus л or р take these endings. Thus for example, бери and вибери. Class 5 verbs take the first set of endings, but undergo an archaic form of iotation, so that дь becomes ж, for example, їжте < їд+ьте. This does not apply to дати, which is treated as a regular verb with a stem in да-.
Finally note that all verbs with stems that end in к and г undergo the first palatalisation. Class 3 verbs with stems in к, г, and с undergo iotification.

Conditional active mood

The conditional mood is used to state hypothetical states, wishes, and desires. It has 2 tenses in Ukrainian: a present and a past.
Present tense
The present conditional is formed in Ukrainian from the participle би or the short form б, which is derived from the archaic aorist conjugation of the verb, бути, and the active past participle I, which is the same as the past indicative participle. Thus, there is agreement between the subject and the participle. An example of this construction would be я би хотів ....
Past tense
The past conditional is formed in Ukrainian from the participle би or the short form б followed by the active past participle I form of the verb бути and then the active past participle I of the verb. Both participles must agree with the subject. An example of this construction would be як я би був знав.... Alternatively, the past conditional can be formed by using the form якби and the active past participle I form of the verb, for example, якби я знав….

Passive voice

The passive voice has 2 different functions. It shows either that the subject has had something done to itself or that something indeterminate has occurred to the subject.
In Ukrainian, the passive voice is formed as follows:
  1. Use of a reflexive verb: митися
  2. Use of the verb to be and the past passive participle: Він був вбитий.
  3. An impersonal use of the third person plural past active participle I: Його вбили.
  4. The following construction: Було + neuter singular of past passive participle, the "-но/-то" form: Місто було захоплене.

    Participles and verbal nouns

In Ukrainian, there exist traces of all five Common Slavic participles.
Present active participle
This participle is formed by taking the third person plural form, dropping the ть, and adding чи. Most commonly this participle is used as gerund with the form чи with a meaning approaching the equivalent English construction with -ing. Occasionally, it is used as an adjective. In this case its form is чий. Examples of this participle are несучи, знаючи, and хвалячи.
Present passive participle
This participle does not exist in Ukrainian as a separate form. However, it is commonly encountered as an adjective in -мий. Common examples of this participle are відомий and знайомий.
Past active participle I
This participle is encountered in forming the past tense in Ukrainian. Occasionally, it is found as an adjective for intransitive verbs. It is formed by taking the infinitive stem and adding the ending -в, -ла, -ло, and -ли to form the past tense participle and the ending -лий to form the regular adjective. An example of the adjectival form is почорнілий.
Past active participle II
This participle is most commonly encountered as a gerund, while it is only used occasionally as an adjective. It is formed by taking the masculine past participle I and adding the ending -ши. An example of the gerund is знавши, while a common adjective would be the word бувший.
Past passive participle
The past passive participle is the only participle used commonly as an adjective. There are two parallel forms with no difference in meaning: in -тий or in -ний. This participle is formed from the infinitive stem for most verbs. Class 2 verbs can as for other participles drop the suffix ну or only the у, for example, движений from двигнути. Verbs in -ува́ти or -юва́ти will replace the у by о and ю by ь/йо, for example, мальо́ваний from малюва́ти. Finally, Class 3 stems with full voicing have two possible stems: the first is simply obtained by dropping the −ти from the infinitive, while the second is obtained by dropping the last three letters. The ending is determined as follows:
The verbal noun is created by taking the past passive participle, dropping ий, doubling the consonant if permitted by the rules under -ĭjV, and adding a я. This will be a neuter noun declined like all neuter nouns in *ĭjе. If the -е- of the past passive participle is stressed then the е will mutate into an і. Examples include питання from питати and носіння from носити. Note that any Class 3 verbs in -увати or -ювати will restore the у or ю малювання from мальований
The verbal noun in Ukrainian is derived from the Common Slavic verbal noun, where it was formed by adding *-ĭjе to the past passive participle without the *ŭ ending. Thus, in Ukrainian, the consonant is doubled if possible.

Word formation

Ukrainian has a rich set of prefixes, both prepositional and adverbial in nature, as well as diminutive, augmentative, and frequentative suffixes. All of these can be stacked one upon the other, to produce multiple derivatives of a given word. Participles and other inflexional forms may also have a special connotation. For example, the word напіввідкритий can be split into the following prefixes and suffixes:
на + пів + від + кри + тий.

Prefixes

In Ukrainian, prefixes can be added to a root and stacked on top of each as in the above example. The most common prefixes are given in the table below. Although the prefixes have the given meaning, when attached to a root, it is possible that the resulting new word will have a unique meaning that is distantly related to the original meaning of the prefix. If possible the example is given using the verbal root ходити or the nominal root хід.
PrefixEnglish TranslationExample
пере-again, re-переходити
в-/у-, во-into, in, en-входити, вхід
ви-out, ex-вихід, виходити
з-, с-, together, con-сходи
за-beyond, trans-заходити, захід, Закарпаття
спів-co-співробітник
пів-half, mid-південь
під-under-, sub-підходити
від-/од-away fromвідходити
проти-against, contra-протилежний
не-not, un-, non-, in-неходжений
об-, обо-circum-, aroundобходити, обов'язковий
про-throughпроходити, продати
при-closer, near, cis-приходити, Придністров'я
пре-more thanпрекрасний
без-withoutбезробітний
до-to, ad-доходити, додати
на-onнадати
роз-acrossроздати, розходити
перво-, першо-first-первонароджений, першочерговий
пра-before, pre-, fore-прадід
над-on, above, extra-надзвичайний
між-between, inter-міжнародний

The multitude of forms in Ukrainian for the Common Slavic *sŭ is a result of the fact that the initial s could assimilate with the root's initial consonants. As well, since a ь followed there was the potential for further sound changes. Finally, words entered Ukrainian from different Slavic languages with their own peculiarities or that the original origin of the word was lost. The following are examples of all the given possibilities:
In Ukrainian, the normal form is з except before к, п, т, ф and х where the normal form is с.
The following rules are followed when adding a prefix to the root:
  1. If the prefix ends in a consonant and the root starts with an iotified vowel, then an apostrophe is added between the prefix and the root, for example, з'їсти.
  2. If a prefix ends in a consonant and the root starts with two or more consonants, then the vowel і is inserted between the prefix and the root, for example, розібрати. This does not apply to the prefix в, for example, вбрати.

    Suffixes

In Ukrainian, suffixes can be added to a root and stacked on top of each to produce a family of words. The most common suffixes are given in the table below. The curly brackets denote the various possible different suffixes with a similar meaning
Root Type + Suffix = Resulting Word TypeEnglish TranslationExample
Noun + = Nounone who does, -er, often maleшколяр, ткач, коваль, бандурист, пастух
Noun + = Nounfemale version of a nounкнягиня
Adjective + = Nouna male with the given attribute of the adjectiveгрішник
Noun of a city/nation + = Nouncitizen/inhabitant of the city/nation українець
Noun + = Noundescendant of, son/daughter ofШевченко, Ткачук
Noun + -ихаoften a negative female noun сторожиха
Noun + -няplace where noun can be done/foundчитальня, книгарня
Adjective + -отаbeing in the state described by the nounбіднота
Noun/Verb Stem + -ствоabstract form of the noun, -dom, -ship, -ednessцарство, товариство, жіноцтво
Adjective + -істьpossessing the qualities expressed by the adjective, -nessрадість, старість
Any Word + = Noundiminutive, of various shades of positive meaning млиночок, телятко, вітерець
Any word + = Nounaugmentative with a negative connotationхлопчисько, дідище
Masculine Noun + -ів = Possessive AdjectivePossessive adjectiveбратів
Feminine Noun + -ин = Possessive AdjectivePossessive adjectiveбабин
Nouns + = Adjectivebelonging to, containing the nounдубовий, сільський
Nouns + -ячий = Adjectivebelonging toкурячий, риб'ячий
Nouns + -яний = Adjectivemade of, consisting ofдерев'яний, гречаний
Nouns + -ний = Adjectivemade ofмолочний
Adjective + -ісіньк-/-есеньк- = Adjective'absolutely, most highly, extremely'чистесенький/чистісінький
Adjective + -нький = Adjectival Noundiminutiveчорненький
Adjective in -ський + -щина = NounThe noun refers to the regionКиївщина
Word + -увати = Verbcreates a verb from any other wordкупувати

Adjectives

Two or more adjectives can be combined into a single word using an о as the linking vowel, for example, сільськогосподарський, which consists of the adjectives сільський and господарський. If the second adjective starts with a vowel, then a dash can be used to separate the linking vowel and the second adjective, for example, середньо-європеський.

Verbs

In addition to the suffixes and prefixes that can be added to verbs, Ukrainian verbs have inherited occasional traces of the Indo-European ablaut. The primary ablaut is the difference between long and short Indo-European vowels. In Ukrainian, due to the fact that the long and short vowels experienced different reflexes, this ablaut is reflected as a change in vowels. The resulting verbs are often imperfect-perfect pairs. For example, we have скочити and скакати.

Fundamental sentence structure

Coordination

The common Ukrainian coordinations are:
Common Ukrainian subordinations are:
The basic word order, both in conversation and the written language, is subject–verb–object. However, because the relations are marked by inflexion, considerable latitude in word order is allowed, and all the permutations can be used. The word order expresses the logical stress, and the degree of definiteness.

Negation

Unlike English, Latin, and various other languages, Ukrainian allows multiple negatives, as in “nixto nikoly nikomu ničoho ne proščaje”. Single negatives are often grammatically incorrect because when negation is used in complex sentences every part that could be grammatically negated should be negative.
Objects of a negated verb are placed in the genitive case, where they would be accusative if the verb were not negated.

Inflectional usage

Case

The use of cases in Ukrainian can be very complicated. In general, the nominative, genitive, accusative, and vocative cases can be used without a preposition. On the other hand, the locative and instrumental cases are used primarily with a preposition. Furthermore, and much like in Latin, different prepositions can be followed by nouns in different cases, resulting in different meanings.

Aspect

Ukrainian verbs can have one of two aspects: imperfective and perfective. The imperfective form denotes an action that is taking place in the present, is ongoing, is repetitive, or is habitual. The perfective form indicates an action that is completed, is the result of an action, is the beginning of an action, or is shorter or longer than usual. For example, spaty is imperfective, while pospaty is perfective.

Translation of words

Note: All Common Slavic words quoted are translated faithfully by their Ukrainian forms.
Abbreviations used: