Sentence structure

After this page you will be able to read and build simple Ukrainian sentences. You will know the usual word order and why it can change. You will also know three things English has that Ukrainian usually does without: words for a and the, the verb to be in the present tense, and subject pronouns. Questions and negation are covered briefly at the end.

The usual order: subject, verb, object

In a neutral sentence, Ukrainian often uses the same order as English: the subject, then the verb, then the object.

The difference is that Ukrainian does not rely on the order to show who does what. The endings do that. Ма́ма is in the dictionary form, the case of the subject. Кни́гу has the ending of the direct object; the dictionary form is кни́га. The subject of a sentence is usually in the dictionary form (the nominative case).

Word order is flexible

Because the endings carry the grammar, you can move words around and the basic meaning stays the same. What changes is the emphasis. As a rule of thumb, the start of the sentence is what is already known, and the end is the new or important information. In speech, the last element usually carries the logical emphasis.

In the second sentence кни́гу comes first, but its ending still marks it as the object. A learner who reads only the word order would get the sentence backwards. So check the ending of the first noun before deciding it is the subject.

Some small words stay in front of the word they belong to and move with it. These include prepositions, conjunctions and the negative word не.

There are no articles

Ukrainian has no words for a, an or the. Кни́га can mean “a book” or “the book”, and the context decides. Word order does part of the job that articles do in English. In the examples above, the book at the end of the first sentence is new, so English says a book. At the start of the second sentence it is already known, so English says the book.

No “to be” in the present tense

In the present tense, Ukrainian usually leaves out am, is and are. The two parts of the sentence simply stand side by side.

When both parts are nouns in the dictionary form, the written language usually puts a dash between them. The dash marks the place where English has is or are. After це, as in Це кни́га, no dash is used.

The verb to be is бу́ти. Its present-tense form є exists, but in sentences like these it is normally left out. In the past tense the verb is used, and it agrees with the subject:

Leaving out the subject pronoun

Ukrainian verbs have a different ending for each person in the present tense. The ending already shows who is doing the action, so the subject pronoun (I, you, we and so on) is often left out when the context makes it clear.

The pronoun is kept when you need it for clarity or contrast. It also matters in the past tense. Past-tense forms change for gender and number, not for person: чита́в (masculine), чита́ла (feminine), чита́ли (plural). So чита́в on its own could mean “I read”, “you read” or “he read”, and the pronoun or the context tells you which.

Questions, briefly

A yes/no question can have exactly the same words and order as a statement. Only the intonation changes: you say it as a question, stressing the word you are asking about. In writing, the question mark shows it.

A question with a question word puts that word at the front, and the question word carries the emphasis.

Negation, briefly

To make a sentence negative, put не directly in front of the word you are negating. In a sentence without a verb, it goes in front of the noun.

Ukrainian has no helper verb like English do in I don’t know. Не goes straight before зна́ю.

Summary

Common mistakes and limits