Practice

Reading (A2): My first pysanka

A short A2 Ukrainian reading text about pysanky: why a pysanka is “written”, the tool, the wax and the dyes, and how the colours appear. 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 making a pysanka, answer questions about it, and practise the instrumental for tools, в + accusative for direction, and adjective agreement taken from the text.

Beginner (A2) · 9 questions · multiple choice, fill in the blank, matching and word order

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.

Моя перша писанка

Пи́санка — це яйце́, яке́ прикраша́ють во́ском і фа́рбами. В Украї́ні бага́то сіме́й ро́блять пи́санки пе́ред Вели́коднем, а по́тім дару́ють їх.

Ка́жуть, що пи́санку не малю́ють, а пи́шуть. Сло́во «пи́санка» похо́дить від дієсло́ва «писа́ти».

Цього́ ро́ку я впе́рше пишу́ пи́санку ра́зом із сестро́ю. Нам потрі́бні си́ре яйце́, віск, фа́рби і спеціа́льний інструме́нт: мале́нька метале́ва тру́бочка на дерев’я́ній ру́чці. У тру́бочці гаря́чий віск, і не́ю пи́шуть, як ру́чкою.

Споча́тку ми пи́шемо во́ском на бі́лому яйці́. По́тім кладемо́ яйце́ в жо́вту фа́рбу. Да́лі зно́ву пи́шемо во́ском і кладемо́ яйце́ в черво́ну фа́рбу, а в кінці́ — у чо́рну. Тепе́р ми зніма́ємо віск, і ті́льки тоді́ з’явля́ються всі кольори́.

Рані́ше фа́рби роби́ли з росли́н, напри́клад з цибули́ння. Пи́санки з рі́зних регіо́нів Украї́ни рі́зні, а зна́чення візеру́нків змі́нюється на́віть від села́ до села́. А кра́шанку ва́рять і фарбу́ють в оди́н ко́лір. У 2024 ро́ці пи́санку вне́сли до спи́ску нематеріа́льної культу́рної спа́дщини лю́дства.

Words to know
прикраша́ють
(they) decorate
віск (во́ском)
wax (with wax)
фа́рба
dye, paint
Вели́кдень (пе́ред Вели́коднем)
Easter (before Easter)
дару́ють
(they) give as a present
дієсло́во
verb
си́ре яйце́
a raw egg
тру́бочка
a small tube
ру́чка
handle; also pen
зніма́ємо
(we) take off
з’явля́ються
appear
цибули́ння
onion skins
візеру́нок (візеру́нків)
pattern (of patterns)
кра́шанка
krashanka: an egg boiled and dyed one colour
спа́дщина
heritage
Grammar in this text

Writing with wax: the instrumental

What you do something with, a tool or a material, is in the instrumental with no preposition: во́ском (with wax), фа́рбами (with dyes), ру́чкою (with a pen). Не́ю is the instrumental of вона́, here the tube.

  • Пи́санка — це яйце́, яке́ прикраша́ють во́ском і фа́рбами. A pysanka is an egg that is decorated with wax and dyes.
  • Споча́тку ми пи́шемо во́ском на бі́лому яйці́. First we write with wax on the white egg.
  • У тру́бочці гаря́чий віск, і не́ю пи́шуть, як ру́чкою. There is hot wax in the tube, and you write with it like a pen.

Read more: The instrumental case

Into the dye, on the egg: accusative or locative

В with the accusative says where something goes: в жо́вту фа́рбу (into the yellow dye). В or на with the locative says where something is: на бі́лому яйці́ (on the white egg), у тру́бочці (in the tube).

  • По́тім кладемо́ яйце́ в жо́вту фа́рбу. Then we put the egg into yellow dye.
  • Споча́тку ми пи́шемо во́ском на бі́лому яйці́. First we write with wax on the white egg.
  • У тру́бочці гаря́чий віск… There is hot wax in the tube…

Read more: The accusative case

Colour words agree

An adjective takes the gender and case of its noun: фа́рба is feminine, so в жо́вту фа́рбу, в черво́ну фа́рбу (accusative -у); яйце́ is neuter, so си́ре яйце́, and на бі́лому яйці́ (locative -ому). In у чо́рну the noun фа́рбу is left out.

  • Нам потрі́бні си́ре яйце́, віск, фа́рби… We need a raw egg, wax, dyes…
  • Да́лі зно́ву пи́шемо во́ском і кладемо́ яйце́ в черво́ну фа́рбу, а в кінці́ — у чо́рну. Next we write with wax again and put the egg into red dye, and at the end into black.

Read more: Adjectives and agreement

Writing: с becomes ш

In the present tense, писа́ти changes с to ш in every form: я пишу́, ми пи́шемо, вони́ пи́шуть.

  • Цього́ ро́ку я впе́рше пишу́ пи́санку ра́зом із сестро́ю. This year I am writing a pysanka for the first time, together with my sister.
  • Споча́тку ми пи́шемо во́ском на бі́лому яйці́. First we write with wax on the white egg.
  • Ка́жуть, що пи́санку не малю́ють, а пи́шуть. People say that you don't paint a pysanka, you write it.

Read more: Present tense

English translation

A pysanka is an egg that is decorated with wax and dyes. In Ukraine many families make pysanky before Easter, and then give them as presents.

People say that you don't paint a pysanka, you write it. The word писанка comes from the verb писати, “to write”.

This year I am writing a pysanka for the first time, together with my sister. We need a raw egg, wax, dyes and a special tool: a small metal tube on a wooden handle. There is hot wax in the tube, and you write with it like a pen.

First we write with wax on the white egg. Then we put the egg into yellow dye. Next we write with wax again and put the egg into red dye, and at the end into black. Now we take the wax off, and only then do all the colours appear.

In the past, dyes were made from plants, for example from onion skins. Pysanky from different regions of Ukraine are different, and the meaning of the patterns changes even from village to village. A krashanka, on the other hand, is boiled and dyed one colour. In 2024 the pysanka was added to the list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Question 1 of 9

When do many families in Ukraine make pysanky?

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About the topic

Culture

Pysanky

How a pysanka, a Ukrainian egg “written” with wax and dyes, is made, what people do with pysanky, how the styles differ from region to region, and why there is no fixed key to what the patterns mean.

Grammar

Present tense

How Ukrainian verbs change in the present tense, the two groups of endings, three common verbs in full, and where the stress moves.

Grammar

Adjectives and agreement

The hard and soft adjective endings in the dictionary case, how adjectives agree with the gender and number of a noun, and where they go in the sentence.

Grammar

The instrumental case

Instrumental endings in the singular and plural, including ніччю and сіллю, and its uses for tools and transport, with з, after бути, стати and працювати, for time and the way you go, and after під, над, за, перед and між.

Grammar

The accusative case

The accusative singular and plural endings, the rule for people and animals, verbs that take a direct object, the prepositions в/у, на, за, про and через, and days of the week.

Grammar

The locative case

Locative endings in the singular and plural, when masculine nouns take -і, -у or -ові, the consonant changes in на нозі and у руці, and the prepositions в/у, на, по, при and о.

Grammar

Impersonal sentences

Ukrainian sentences without a subject, such as мені холодно, треба and можна, нема with the genitive, світає, говорять українською, and the forms in -но and -то such as зачинено.

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.

  • Easter egg (Volodymyr Hodys, Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies))

    In English. Used for: the reading text “My first pysanka”: the tool (a small metal conic tube on a wooden handle), the dye order yellow, red, then dark, the wax removed at the end, plant dyes, the krashanka (one solid colour), pysanky decorated just before Easter.. Accessed 7 November 2026.

  • Decision 19.COM 7.B.14 (Pysanka, Ukrainian tradition and art of decorating eggs) (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage)

    In English. Used for: the reading text “My first pysanka”: patterns applied with wax and the egg dipped in dye, repeated; pysanky given as gifts and made in families; inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2024.. Accessed 7 November 2026.

  • Pysanky (University of Kansas, Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies)

    In English. Used for: the reading text “My first pysanka”: pysanky made on raw eggs with wax and dyes; plant dyes such as onion skins.. Accessed 7 November 2026.

  • Pysanka symbols (Luba Petrusha, pysanky.info)

    In English. Used for: the reading text “My first pysanka”: the meanings of motifs vary from region to region and even from village to village.. Accessed 7 November 2026.

  • Горох — онлайн-бібліотека словників української мови: Словозміна, Тлумачення (goroh.pp.ua)

    In Ukrainian. Used for: stress, gender, plurals, aspect and full word forms for the examples, tables and vocabulary lists on every page; the dictionary definitions (СУМ) used for the meanings of ти and ви, the case each preposition takes, and words such as чи, ні and нема́є.. Accessed 29 October 2026.