The instrumental case

After this page you will be able to form the instrumental of most nouns in the singular and plural. You will be able to say what you do something with (пишу́ ру́чкою, I write with a pen), how you travel, who you are with, and what job someone does. You will also know how the instrumental is used for some expressions of time and place.

This page follows on from The dative case, which explains how the endings are grouped by kind of noun.

What the instrumental does

The instrumental answers the questions ким? (by whom? with whom?) and чим? (with what?). Its basic job is the tool or means: the thing you do something with. English needs a preposition for that. Ukrainian uses the ending alone.

Singular endings

The forms below come from the paradigms in the Горох dictionary [src: goroh-dictionary], and the endings follow the official orthography [src: pravopys-2026, §72, §85, §95].

Feminine nouns in -а and -я

These take -ою after a hard consonant and -ею after a soft consonant or after ж, ч, ш, щ. After a vowel or an apostrophe, the ending is -єю [src: pravopys-2026, §72].

Unlike the dative, there is no consonant change here: кни́га → кни́гою, рука́ → руко́ю.

Masculine and neuter nouns

These take -ом after a hard consonant and -ем after a soft consonant or after ж, ч, ш, щ. After a vowel the ending is -єм. Neuter nouns in -я take -ям [src: pravopys-2026, §85].

Town names in -ів follow the pattern: Ки́їв → Ки́євом, Ха́рків → Ха́рковом [src: pravopys-2026, §85]. Many surnames in -ов, -ев, -ин or -ін are different again: they take -им, like an adjective [src: pravopys-2026, §85].

Feminine nouns ending in a consonant: ніччю, сіллю

Feminine nouns like ніч take -ю. The rule for the consonant before it is the part to learn [src: pravopys-2026, §95]:

• One consonant at the end, after a vowel: it doubles. ніч → ні́ччю, сіль → сі́ллю, тінь → ті́нню. The soft sign drops out.
• Two consonants at the end: no doubling. ра́дість → ра́дістю.
• A final б, п, в, м, ф or р: no doubling, and an apostrophe comes before -ю. любо́в → любо́в’ю, ма́ти → ма́тір’ю (mother, which is irregular).

Notice that the vowel of the dictionary form stays in the instrumental: ніч, ні́ччю, but но́чі in the dative.

Plural endings

In the plural, nouns take -ами, or -ями after a soft consonant or a vowel [src: pravopys-2026, §79, §92, §96].

A few common nouns end in -ми instead. Learn these two: ді́ти → ді́тьми (with children) and лю́ди → людьми́ (with people) [src: goroh-dictionary].

Pronouns in the instrumental

These forms come from the orthography’s table [src: pravopys-2026, §108]. The forms of він, вона́ and вони́ begin with н- in the instrumental even without a preposition.

Uses of the instrumental

Tools and transport

Use the instrumental alone for the tool you use, and for the transport you travel by. Compare by bus, by train in English.

The NaUKMA course gives Я ї́ду по́їздом as its example of the instrumental for means [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 5].

З: together with

With the preposition з (also із, зі), the instrumental means with in the sense of together with or having [src: goroh-dictionary]. The choice between з, із and зі depends on the sounds around it, as explained in Common prepositions.

Being, becoming and working as

After працюва́ти (to work), the job is in the instrumental. The dictionary’s own example is the informal question Ким працю́єш? (What do you do for a living?) [src: goroh-dictionary]. After ста́ти (to become), the new role is in the instrumental too.

With бу́ти (to be), the instrumental is common in the past and the future, as in the last example. The dictionary gives examples like ота́маном бу́деш (you will be a leader) [src: goroh-dictionary]. In the present tense Ukrainian usually leaves out is, and the noun stays in the nominative: Він лі́кар. (He’s a doctor.)

Time

Some time expressions have the form of the instrumental: ра́нком (in the morning), весно́ю (in spring). The dictionary also lists these as adverbs [src: goroh-dictionary]. A usage guide recommends instrumental phrases such as оста́ннім ча́сом (lately) [src: goroh-usage].

Other common time words look similar but are simply adverbs, not forms of a noun: взи́мку (in winter), влі́тку (in summer), восени́ (in autumn), навесні́ (in spring), вночі́ (at night) [src: goroh-dictionary]. Learn them as words, not as case forms.

The way you go

The instrumental can name the route along which someone moves. The dictionary quotes Shevchenko’s line Доли́ною коза́к іде́ (A Cossack walks along the valley) under іти́ [src: goroh-dictionary].

Prepositions of place: під, над, за, перед, між

Five common prepositions take the instrumental when they describe where something is [src: goroh-dictionary].

Пе́ред is also used for time: пе́ред обі́дом (before lunch). Між takes the instrumental in most uses; the dictionary notes that it takes the genitive less often [src: goroh-dictionary].

Під and за take the accusative when they describe a direction: Кіт під столо́м (the cat is under the table), but Кіт пішо́в під стіл (the cat went under the table). Common prepositions has more examples.

Common mistakes and limits