In this section: Beginner sentences
Shopping
How to ask what something costs, say what you would like, understand prices in hryvnias, pay by card or in cash, and answer when you are offered a bag.
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On this page
After this page you will be able to ask what something costs, understand a simple price in hryvnias, ask for what you want, and pay by card or in cash. You will also know why Ukrainian says дві гри́вні but п’ять гри́вень.
Asking the price
Скільки коштує …?
Скі́льки means how much. The thing you ask about is the subject, in its dictionary form, and the verb agrees with it: коштує for one thing, коштують for several. The usage guides give Скі́льки коштує …? as the standard question [src: goroh-usage].
Скі́льки коштує + subject
The verb коштувати (to cost) has no stress mark on this site, because the dictionary accepts two stresses for it: ко́штує and кошту́є are both correct [src: goroh-dictionary].
The answer: a price
A price is a number and the word гри́вня (hryvnia), the Ukrainian currency. On price tags and receipts it is shortened to грн.
Prices
In everyday speech the word for hryvnias is often left out, especially when the price also has kopiykas (hundredths of a hryvnia) [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 8].
Numbers and гривня
The form of гри́вня depends on the number in front of it. Гри́вня is feminine, so one and two take their feminine forms: одна́ and дві.
| Number | Ukrainian | Form of гри́вня |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | одна́ гри́вня | nominative singular |
| 2 | дві гри́вні | nominative plural |
| 3 | три гри́вні | nominative plural |
| 4 | чоти́ри гри́вні | nominative plural |
| 5 | п’ять гри́вень | genitive plural |
| 10 | де́сять гри́вень | genitive plural |
| 11 | одина́дцять гри́вень | genitive plural |
| 20 | два́дцять гри́вень | genitive plural |
| 40 | со́рок гри́вень | genitive plural |
| 50 | п’ятдеся́т гри́вень | genitive plural |
| 100 | сто гри́вень | genitive plural |
The rule:
- After 1: гри́вня.
- After 2, 3, 4: гри́вні.
- After every other number: 5 to 20 (including 11 to 14), and round numbers such as 40, 50 and 100: гри́вень.
In a longer number, only the last word counts: два́дцять одна́ гри́вня (21), два́дцять дві гри́вні (22), два́дцять п’ять гри́вень (25). The forms and the rule follow the NaUKMA course [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 8] and the paradigm of гри́вня in the Горох dictionary [src: goroh-dictionary].
After the verb коштує, one form changes: одна́ гри́вня becomes одну́ гри́вню (the accusative). The other forms in the table stay the same [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 8].
Masculine nouns work the same way, with the masculine оди́н and два: оди́н кілогра́м, два кілогра́ми, п’ять кілогра́мів.
Saying what you want
Дайте, будь ласка, …
Да́йте means “give (me)”. With будь ла́ска it is a normal, polite way to ask for something in a shop or at a market. The thing you want is the direct object, so it is usually in the accusative. When you ask for some of a food or drink, the genitive is common instead: Да́йте, будь ла́ска, хлі́ба. (Some bread, please.) Feminine nouns in -а change to -у; masculine nouns for things don’t change. Cases, an overview introduces the accusative.
Да́йте + accusative
Я візьму …
Я візьму́ means “I’ll take …”. It also takes the accusative. Words for this agree with the noun: цей (masculine), цю (feminine, accusative), ці (plural). Adjectives and agreement explains this kind of matching.
Я візьму́ + accusative
Я хотів би … / Я хотіла б …
I would like is я хоті́в би for a man and я хоті́ла б for a woman, because the verb is in the past tense, which shows gender. The small word би becomes б after a vowel. Past tense explains the gender endings.
I would like
Paying
To say by card or in cash, Ukrainian uses the instrumental case, the case for the means of doing something: ка́ртка (card) becomes ка́рткою, and готі́вка (cash) becomes готі́вкою.
Card or cash
For the payment card, usage guides recommend ка́ртка rather than ка́рта [src: goroh-usage].
A bag
At the till you may be asked whether you need a bag. Потрі́бний (needed) agrees with паке́т (plastic bag), which is masculine. It is the long form of потрі́бен, which you met in Everyday needs; both are correct.
Do you need a bag?
Dialogue: at the market
A customer buys apples at a market stall. They don’t know each other, so they use ви.
Скі́льки коштують я́блука?
Common mistakes and limits
Common mistake
The wrong form after a number. After 5 and above, use гри́вень: п’ять гри́вень, not п’ять гри́вні. After 2, 3 and 4, use гри́вні: дві гри́вні, not два гри́вні (гри́вня is feminine, so two is дві).
Common mistake
Forgetting the accusative. The thing you ask for is the object: Да́йте, будь ла́ска, ка́ву, not ка́ва.
Remember
This page uses only a few numbers. Numbers have case forms of their own, and other nouns follow the same 1 / 2–4 / 5+ pattern as гри́вня, but with their own endings. Kopiykas, large sums and bargaining come later.
Practice
Related topics
Audio
The example sentences on this page are read by a computer-generated voice (OpenAI text-to-speech). The recordings are not individually checked by a listener, and a computer voice can occasionally stress or pronounce a word wrongly: the written sentence, with its stress marks, is the reference. It is not a recording of a native speaker. Nothing is downloaded until you press a listen button.
Sources
- Горох — онлайн-бібліотека словників української мови: Словозміна, Тлумачення (goroh.pp.ua)
- Горох: Слововживання (типові помилки, суржик і кальки) (goroh.pp.ua)
- Ukrainian As a Foreign Language: an online course for beginners (National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA))
- Стандарт державної мови «Український правопис». Офіційне видання (Національна комісія зі стандартів державної мови)
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