The genitive case

After this page you will be able to form the genitive of nouns in the singular and the plural. You will know how masculine nouns choose between -а and -у, and how to handle the genitive plural, the hardest form in this group. You will also use the genitive in its main jobs: of, quantities, numbers, absence, and after a set of very common prepositions.

The genitive is one of the most used cases in Ukrainian. You have already met it after нема́є on the Negation page and after без, до and з on the prepositions page.

What the genitive does

The main jobs of the genitive are:

• Of, and belonging: кни́га сестри́ (my sister’s book), ча́шка ка́ви (a cup of coffee).
• Quantity: after бага́то (a lot, many), ма́ло (little, few), скі́льки (how much, how many), and after numbers from five upwards.
• Absence: after нема́є (there is no).
• After a negative verb, often (see below).
• After many prepositions, such as без (without), для (for) and до (to).

Dates use the genitive as well [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language]. They will be covered on a later page.

Singular endings

These endings come from the official orthography [src: pravopys-2026, §69, §82, §95]. Some notes:

• Masculine nouns in -а follow the feminine pattern: Мико́ла → Мико́ли.
• Masculine nouns in -о take -а: ба́тько → ба́тька [src: pravopys-2026, §82].
• Neuter nouns always take -а or -я, never -у [src: pravopys-2026, §82].
• The stem can change, as in the plural: і becomes о or е (ніч → но́чі, стіл → стола́), and a vowel can drop out (день → дня, цу́кор → цу́кру) [src: pravopys-2026, §9].
• Stress can tell forms apart. The genitive singular сестри́ and the nominative plural се́стри are spelled the same.
• Nouns like ім’я́ and кошеня́ add -ен- or -ят-: і́мені (the dictionary also gives ім’я́), кошеня́ти [src: pravopys-2026, §98; goroh-dictionary].

Masculine nouns: -а or -у?

This is the one real puzzle of the genitive singular. Masculine nouns that end in a consonant take either -а (-я after a soft consonant) or -у (-ю). The orthography says the choice depends on the meaning of the noun, and gives long lists of groups [src: pravopys-2026, §82]. The groups below are tendencies, not rules you can apply without checking. Each noun has to be learned with its own genitive.

The groups have exceptions, and the same noun can take both endings with different meanings [src: pravopys-2026, §82]:

• Хліб takes -а (хлі́ба), although many other foods take -у.
• День takes -а (дня), but рік (year) takes -у (ро́ку).
• Лист means both letter and leaf. A letter, or a single leaf, is листа́. Leaves as a mass are ли́сту.
• Some towns have both endings: Ло́ндона and Ло́ндону.

The genitive plural

The genitive plural has three possible endings: no ending at all, -ів and -ей [src: pravopys-2026, §76, §89, §96, §100]. Very roughly:

• Feminine nouns in -а, -я and most neuter nouns lose their ending and keep the bare stem.
• Masculine nouns take -ів (-їв after a vowel).
• Feminine nouns ending in a consonant, and a few others, take -ей.

No ending

When the ending goes, the last syllable of the stem often changes. Two changes are common.

A vowel appears between two final consonants. If the stem ends in two consonants, о or е usually appears between them [src: pravopys-2026, §76, note 1; §89, note]:

The genitive plural of сестра́ has two accepted stresses, so it is shown without a stress mark.

о or е becomes і. In the now closed last syllable, о and е often change to і [src: pravopys-2026, §9]: шко́ла → шкіл, робо́та → робі́т, доро́га → дорі́г, сло́во → слів, село́ → сіл.

-ів

Most masculine nouns take -ів [src: pravopys-2026, §89]. Мо́ре and по́ле are among the few neuter nouns that take it too. The plural-only nouns окуля́ри and штани́ also take it: окуля́рів, штані́в [src: pravopys-2026, §100; goroh-dictionary].

-ей

All feminine nouns ending in a consonant, like ніч, take -ей [src: pravopys-2026, §96]. For the others it is a feature of the individual word.

Nouns like кошеня́ and ім’я́ have no ending: кошеня́т, іме́н [src: pravopys-2026, §99].

Uses of the genitive

Of, and belonging

The genitive does the work of English of and ’s. The noun in the genitive comes after the noun it describes.

Quantity: багато, мало, скільки

After words of quantity, a noun you can count goes into the genitive plural. A noun for a substance or an idea, which you can’t count, goes into the genitive singular.

After numbers

Numbers affect the case of the noun after them [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language]:

• After 1, the noun stays in the nominative singular: оди́н до́лар, одна́ гри́вня.
• After 2, 3 and 4, the noun is in the nominative plural: два до́лари, дві гри́вні.
• After 5 and above, the noun is in the genitive plural: п’ять до́ларів, п’ять гри́вень.

With a longer number, the last word decides: со́рок три гри́вні (43 hryvnias), but п’ятна́дцять гри́вень (15 hryvnias).

Absence: немає

To say that something or someone is not there, use нема́є with the genitive. Negation introduced this pattern.

After a negative verb

After a negative verb, the object is often in the genitive instead of the accusative [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language]. Both cases are used, so you will hear both. Treat this as a tendency.

Prepositions with the genitive

Many common prepositions take the genitive [src: goroh-dictionary]. Common prepositions introduced most of them.

The examples mean: coffee without sugar; a present for Mum; to the doctor, until the evening; from Kyiv, from school; a letter from my brother; near the station; after the lesson; at my brother’s.

У + genitive: at someone’s, and “have”

With a person in the genitive, у (в) means at someone’s place or with someone [src: goroh-dictionary]. The same pattern gives the usual way to say have, which you know from у ме́не є (I have).

The forms у ме́не, у нас and у вас use pronouns. Pronoun cases shows the genitive of every pronoun.

Common mistakes and limits