Reading (A2): Grandma's borshch
A short A2 Ukrainian reading text about borshch: what goes into it, what comes to the table with it, green and cold borshch, and a grandmother's recipe. With a word list, grammar notes, an English translation and comprehension questions.
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What you will practise
Read a short text about borshch and the family table, answer questions about it, and practise з + instrumental, без + genitive and the they-form taken from the text.
Read the text first. The questions below are about it, and you can scroll back to it at any time. Check each answer, read the explanation, and continue. Hints and “Show answer” are there when you need them. Stress marks are optional when you type.
The text
Read by a computer-generated voice (OpenAI text-to-speech), not individually checked by a listener. It is not a recording of a native speaker, and a computer voice can occasionally stress or pronounce a word wrongly: the text, with its stress marks, is the reference.
Бабусин борщ
Борщ — це украї́нський суп. Найчасті́ше він черво́ний, бо в ньо́му є буря́к. Головні́ о́вочі в борщі́ — буря́к і капу́ста. Борщ мо́жна вари́ти з м’я́сом, з ри́бою а́бо зо́всім без м’я́са.
У на́шій сім’ї́ борщ ва́рить бабу́ся. До борщу́ вона́ ста́вить на стіл смета́ну і жи́тній хліб. А в неді́лю вона́ ще пече́ пампу́шки з часнико́м.
Коли́ я була́ мале́нька, я допомага́ла бабу́сі на ку́хні. Я ми́ла буря́к і капу́сту, а бабу́ся розповіда́ла, як вари́ти борщ. Тепе́р я зна́ю її́ реце́пт. Ко́жна сім’я́ ва́рить борщ по-сво́єму, і в ко́жної сім’ї́ є свій реце́пт.
Борщ бува́є рі́зний. Навесні́ ва́рять зеле́ний борщ, у ньо́му є щаве́ль. Його́ подаю́ть з яйце́м і смета́ною. Улі́тку їдя́ть холо́дний борщ, холо́дник. А на Святве́чір у багатьо́х сі́м’ях готу́ють борщ без м’я́са.
Коли́ борщ гото́вий, бабу́ся ка́же: «Пригоща́йтеся!» Ми всі сіда́ємо за оди́н стіл і ка́жемо: «Смачно́го!»
Words to know
- найчасті́ше
- most often
- буря́к
- beetroot
- головні́ о́вочі
- the main vegetables
- без м’я́са
- without meat
- ста́вить на стіл
- puts on the table
- смета́на
- sour cream
- жи́тній хліб
- rye bread
- пече́ (пекти́)
- bakes (to bake)
- пампу́шки
- pampushky: small yeast rolls, often with garlic
- по-сво́єму
- in its own way
- щаве́ль
- sorrel, a leafy plant with a sour taste
- подаю́ть
- (they) serve
- холо́дник
- cold borshch
- Святве́чір
- Christmas Eve
- Пригоща́йтеся!
- Help yourselves! (to several people, or to one person formally)
- Смачно́го!
- Enjoy your meal!
Grammar in this text
With and without: з and без
З (with) takes the instrumental: -ом for most masculine and neuter nouns (часнико́м, м’я́сом; яйце́ takes -ем: яйце́м), -ою for feminine nouns in -а (ри́бою, смета́ною). Без (without) takes the genitive: без м’я́са.
- Борщ мо́жна вари́ти з м’я́сом, з ри́бою а́бо зо́всім без м’я́са. You can cook borshch with meat, with fish, or with no meat at all.
- А в неді́лю вона́ ще пече́ пампу́шки з часнико́м. And on Sundays she also bakes pampushky with garlic.
- Його́ подаю́ть з яйце́м і смета́ною. It is served with egg and sour cream.
People cook: the they-form with no subject
A verb in the they-form with no subject often means people in general: ва́рять, people cook, borshch is cooked. English often uses people, you or the passive here.
- Навесні́ ва́рять зеле́ний борщ, у ньо́му є щаве́ль. Його́ подаю́ть з яйце́м і смета́ною. In spring people cook green borshch, which has sorrel in it. It is served with egg and sour cream.
- Улі́тку їдя́ть холо́дний борщ, холо́дник. In summer people eat cold borshch, kholodnyk.
In the kitchen, in our family: the locative
Where something happens is said with у/в or на and the locative. Feminine nouns in -а and -я take -і: ку́хня → на ку́хні, сім’я́ → у сім’ї́; the adjective takes -ій: у на́шій сім’ї́.
- У на́шій сім’ї́ борщ ва́рить бабу́ся. In our family, Grandma cooks the borshch.
- Коли́ я була́ мале́нька, я допомага́ла бабу́сі на ку́хні. When I was little, I helped Grandma in the kitchen.
I was, I helped: the feminine past
The narrator is a woman, so her past-tense verbs end in -ла, and the adjective about her is feminine too: я була́ мале́нька. A man would say я був мале́нький.
- Коли́ я була́ мале́нька, я допомага́ла бабу́сі на ку́хні. When I was little, I helped Grandma in the kitchen.
- Я ми́ла буря́к і капу́сту… I washed the beetroot and the cabbage…
English translation
Borshch is a Ukrainian soup. Most often it is red, because there is beetroot in it. The main vegetables in borshch are beetroot and cabbage. You can cook borshch with meat, with fish, or with no meat at all.
In our family, Grandma cooks the borshch. With the borshch she puts sour cream and rye bread on the table. And on Sundays she also bakes pampushky with garlic.
When I was little, I helped Grandma in the kitchen. I washed the beetroot and the cabbage, and Grandma told me how to cook borshch. Now I know her recipe. Every family cooks borshch in its own way, and every family has its own recipe.
There are different kinds of borshch. In spring people cook green borshch, which has sorrel in it. It is served with egg and sour cream. In summer people eat cold borshch, kholodnyk. And on Christmas Eve many families make borshch without meat.
When the borshch is ready, Grandma says, “Help yourselves!” We all sit down at one table and say, “Enjoy your meal!”
Question 1 of 9
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About the topic
Related lessons
Sources
The Ukrainian in this set was checked against these references and the site's lessons. It has not been reviewed by a native speaker or teacher.
- Traditional foods (S. Stechishin, Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies))
- Borsch: a Ukrainian staple (Mia Billetdeaux, The Kyiv Independent)
- Culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking (element page, file No. 01852) (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage)
- Culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding (UNESCO)
- Горох — онлайн-бібліотека словників української мови: Словозміна, Тлумачення (goroh.pp.ua)