Participles

After this page you will be able to recognise the main Ukrainian participles when you read them: verb forms that work like adjectives, such as прочи́таний (read, as in a read book), and verb forms that work like adverbs, such as чита́ючи (while reading) and прочита́вши (having read). You will know which of them are common and which ones usage guides advise against.

Beginners mostly need to recognise these forms, not produce them. You will meet them in written texts, news, instructions and on signs. In everyday speech, Ukrainians often use a clause with яки́й (which, who) or коли́ (when) instead.

Two kinds of form

Ukrainian grammar distinguishes two families [src: pravopys-2026, §119, §120]:

• Participles (дієприкме́тники) work like adjectives. They describe a noun and change their endings to agree with it: прочи́тана кни́га (a book that has been read).
• Adverbial participles (дієприслі́вники) work like adverbs. They never change, and they describe a second action of the subject: Чита́ючи, він слу́хає му́зику (While reading, he listens to music).

Passive participles: -ний and -тий

These are the participles you will meet most often. They describe something that an action was done to, like English done, written, opened. Most end in -ний (-аний, -яний, -ений); a smaller group ends in -тий [src: pravopys-2026, §119].

All the forms are from the dictionary [src: goroh-dictionary]. Notice the consonants in зро́блений and ку́плений. Before -ений, the stem changes in the same way as in the I form of the verb: зроблю́, зро́блений [src: pravopys-2026, §15–18]. See Irregular verbs for these changes. The orthography also notes that participles are written with one н: зро́блений [src: pravopys-2026, §29].

They agree like adjectives

A passive participle takes the same endings as a hard adjective such as нови́й. It agrees with its noun in gender, number and case.

In the other cases, use the endings in Adjectives in all cases: у прочи́таній кни́зі (in the book that has been read), з відчи́неним вікно́м (with the window open).

The form in -но and -то

Change the ending of a passive participle to -о and you get the unchanging form used in sentences without a subject: зачи́нений → зачи́нено. This is the form on shop doors: Зачи́нено (Closed), Відчи́нено (Open). Impersonal sentences explains how it is used.

Active participles: -учий, -ючий, -ачий, -ячий

Active participles describe someone or something doing the action, like English -ing before a noun. In the present they end in -чий: -учий, -ючий, -ачий or -ячий. The orthography notes that they are used mainly as adjectives and nouns, and gives живу́чий (hardy, tenacious), квіту́чий (blooming), лежа́чий (lying) and стоя́чий (standing) [src: pravopys-2026, §119].

Usage guides advise against many active participles in -учий and -ючий, especially those copied from Russian, and suggest a noun, an adjective or a clause with яки́й [src: goroh-usage].

The guides quoted by the dictionary give examples such as На пля́жі бага́то відпочива́льників (There are many holidaymakers on the beach) and чи́нне законода́вство (current legislation) [src: goroh-usage]. Note that заві́дувач takes the genitive: заві́дувач ка́федри (head of the department).

Some active participles are fine and common, because they have become ordinary adjectives, like квіту́чий above.

There is also a small group of past active participles in -лий, made from verbs that describe a change of state: почорні́лий (blackened), осі́лий (settled) [src: pravopys-2026, §119; goroh-dictionary]. You will meet them mostly in literature.

Adverbial participles

An adverbial participle describes a second action done by the same person as the main verb. It never changes its ending.

While doing: -учи, -ючи, -ачи, -ячи

These are made from imperfective verbs. First-group verbs take -учи or -ючи, and second-group verbs take -ачи or -ячи [src: pravopys-2026, §120]. The easiest way to find the form is to start from the they form of the present tense.

The forms are from the orthography and the dictionary [src: pravopys-2026, §120; goroh-dictionary]. As the table shows, the stress does not always stay where it is in the they form, so check each new word.

Having done: -ши, -вши

These are made from perfective verbs. Take the masculine past tense and add -вши after a vowel, or -ши after a consonant [src: pravopys-2026, §120]: прочита́в → прочита́вши, зроби́в → зроби́вши, прині́с → прині́сши.

From verbs in -ся, the adverbial participle ends in -сь, less often -ся: сміючи́сь (laughing), узя́вшись (having taken up) [src: pravopys-2026, §120].

Two spelling rules apply. A phrase with an adverbial participle is usually set off by commas, as in the first four examples [src: pravopys-2026, §158]. And не is written separately: не поспіша́ючи [src: pravopys-2026, §44].

Where you will meet them

• Signs and notices: Зачи́нено, Відчи́нено, Вхід заборо́нено (No entry). These are the forms in -но.
• Descriptions: відчи́нене вікно́, ку́плений квито́к (a bought ticket), зро́блена робо́та (finished work).
• Written narrative and news: adverbial participles like прочита́вши and ка́жучи are much more common in writing than in conversation.

Common mistakes and limits