Grammar Reference

Cyrillic alphabet: 33 letters, the unique letters ґ, є, і, ї, and the apostrophe

I can recognise and read the 33 letters of the Ukrainian alphabet, including the unique letters ґ, є, і, ї and the apostrophe.

Key Ukrainian sounds and free, mobile word stress

I can apply the core rules of Ukrainian pronunciation (clear unstressed o, the и vowel, voiced final consonants) and understand that stress is free and can distinguish words.

The personal pronouns я, ти, він/вона/воно, ми, ви, вони

I can use the Ukrainian personal pronouns correctly, including the polite ви, and match third-person pronouns to noun gender.

Possessive pronouns мій, твій, наш, ваш and the invariant його/її/їхній

I can use Ukrainian possessive pronouns with correct gender/number agreement and the invariant його/її.

Demonstratives цей (this), той (that), такий (such) — agreement by gender/number

I can use Ukrainian demonstratives цей/той/такий with correct agreement and the presentational це.

The verb бути: the present-tense copula is usually omitted; the form є

I can form Ukrainian sentences without a present-tense copula, use є for possession/emphasis, and conjugate бути in the past and future.

Two ways to express possession: the verb мати and the у + genitive є construction

I can express having and not having in Ukrainian with both у мене є and мати, and use the genitive after немає.

Present tense of the two conjugations (I: -е-, II: -и-/-ї-)

I can conjugate regular Ukrainian verbs of both conjugations in the present tense.

Past tense formed with -в/-ла/-ло/-ли, agreeing in gender and number

I can form the Ukrainian past tense with -в/-ла/-ло/-ли and make it agree with the subject's gender and number.

The imperative: commands, requests and the polite -те form

I can form Ukrainian imperatives, use the polite -те form with будь ласка, and make negative commands.

Expressing ability, necessity and desire: могти, хотіти, треба, мусити + infinitive

I can express ability, desire and necessity in Ukrainian with могти/хотіти/мусити + infinitive and the impersonal треба/можна + dative.

Verbs ending in -ся/-сь: reflexive, reciprocal and other meanings

I can use Ukrainian reflexive -ся verbs in reflexive, reciprocal and feeling meanings, keeping -ся attached.

Ukrainian verbs come in aspect pairs: imperfective (недоконаний - process, habit, repetition) and perfective (доконаний - one completed result). The perfective has no present tense.

I can choose between imperfective and perfective verbs to say whether an action was a process/habit or a finished result.

Ukrainian has two futures by aspect: the perfective future (single form: прочитаю) and the imperfective future, which has two equal forms - compound (буду читати) and synthetic (читатиму).

I can talk about future plans, using the perfective future for completed actions and either the compound (буду + infinitive) or the synthetic (-му) form for ongoing ones.

Three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) identified by the word ending

I can determine the gender of a Ukrainian noun from its ending and use it for agreement.

Forming the nominative plural by gender

I can form the nominative plural of common Ukrainian nouns according to gender and stem type.

Overview of the seven Ukrainian cases and their case questions

I can name the seven Ukrainian cases, ask the correct case question, and recognise that Ukrainian keeps a living vocative.

The genitive case (кого? чого?): possession, absence, quantity, dates

I can use the Ukrainian genitive for possession, absence (немає/без), quantity after 5+, and dates.

The dative case (кому? чому?): recipient, мені подобається, age, треба

I can use the Ukrainian dative for recipients, with подобається, for age, and with треба.

The accusative (direct object) and the animacy rule for masculine nouns

I can put direct objects in the Ukrainian accusative and apply the animacy rule for masculine nouns.

The instrumental case (ким? чим?): instrument, accompaniment (з), profession

I can use the Ukrainian instrumental for instruments, accompaniment with з, and professions after бути/працювати.

The locative case, always with a preposition (в/у, на, при, по): location

I can use the Ukrainian locative with в/у, на, при, по to say where something is, including the consonant alternations.

The vocative case — the living Ukrainian form of address

I can form and use the Ukrainian vocative to address people, including names and patronymics.

Adjectives agree with their noun in gender, number and case

I can make Ukrainian adjectives agree with their noun in gender and number in the nominative, including hard and soft types.

Comparative and superlative of adjectives and adverbs (-ший, най-)

I can form and use Ukrainian comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives and adverbs, including the common irregulars and ніж/за.

Cardinal numbers 1-100 and the noun forms after 1, 2-4, 5+

I can count to 100 in Ukrainian and use the correct noun form after 1, 2-4 and 5+.

Ordinals (перший, другий…) — declined like adjectives; dates and order

I can form and decline Ukrainian ordinal numbers and use them in dates.

Question words, yes/no questions with чи, and negation with не/ні

I can ask questions with question words and чи, answer with ні, and negate verbs with не using obligatory double negation.

Place vs direction: в/на + locative (де?) vs в/на + accusative (куди?), до/з/від + genitive

I can choose the right preposition and case in Ukrainian to express location (де?), direction (куди?), and origin (звідки?).

Asking and telling the time: Котра година? О котрій? full, half and quarter hours

I can ask and tell the time in Ukrainian, including full, half and quarter hours, and say at what time something happens.

Days of the week, months, seasons, and the time expressions that go with them

I can name the Ukrainian days, months and seasons and use the correct time expressions (у понеділок, у січні, навесні).

Coordinating (і/та, а, але, або) and subordinating (бо, що, щоб, коли, якщо) conjunctions

I can join words and clauses in Ukrainian with the main coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.

Adverbs of manner, place and time, and forming -о/-е adverbs from adjectives

I can use common Ukrainian adverbs of manner, place and time and form -о adverbs from adjectives.