Akuzativ (4. pád) a životnost

The accusative (знахідний відмінок, questions кого? що? "whom? what?") marks the direct object, the person or thing a verb acts on: "I'm reading a book", "I see my brother". English shows this in a handful of pronouns ("he" vs "him"). Ukrainian shows it in nouns too, though less often than you might fear: for many nouns the accusative looks exactly like the nominative.

The forms

Animacy: who or what?

For masculine nouns, Ukrainian asks the question English asks with "who" and "what". If the noun is a living being, an істота (хто?), its accusative borrows the genitive form. If it is a thing (що?), it stays as it is. Compare:

• Я чекаю брата. "I'm waiting for my brother." - a person, genitive form.
• Я чекаю автобус. "I'm waiting for the bus." - a thing, no change.
• Ми запросили Андрія. "We invited Andrii."

Masculine names and nouns in -а take the feminine-type ending: Я знаю Миколу. (Микола → Миколу). Those in -о follow the animate rule: Я бачу тата. (тато → тата), Чекаю батька. (батько → батька).

In the plural

Animacy reaches every gender in the plural. People take the genitive form: Я бачу студентів "I see the students", Я люблю сестер "I love my sisters". Things stay in the nominative: Я бачу столи, Я купила книги. For animals in the plural both are heard and both are accepted: пасти корови and пасти корів "to graze the cows".

Typical slips

• Leaving a feminine object in the dictionary form: *Я читаю книга. It is книгу.
• Treating a masculine person like a thing: *Я бачу брат. It is брата.
• Using the accusative where the verb wants another case: дякувати "to thank" takes the dative (дякую мамі), чекати takes the accusative (чекаю маму).