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Time
The days of the week, today, tomorrow and yesterday, how to ask and tell the time with Котра година?, how to say at what time something happens, and the parts of the day.
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On this page
After this page you will be able to name the days of the week, say today, tomorrow and yesterday, ask and tell the time, and say at what time something happens: о дру́гій (at two), о сьо́мій ве́чора (at seven in the evening).
Days of the week
The names of the days are written with a small letter. Most of them are feminine; понеді́лок, вівто́рок and четве́р are masculine.
To say on Monday, on Tuesday and so on, use у or в with the accusative [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9]. The feminine days change their ending from -а or -я to -у or -ю. The masculine ones don’t change. Notice that the stress of середа́ moves: у се́реду.
| English | Day | On that day |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | понеді́лок | у понеді́лок |
| Tuesday | вівто́рок | у вівто́рок |
| Wednesday | середа́ | у се́реду |
| Thursday | четве́р | у четве́р |
| Friday | п’я́тниця | у п’я́тницю |
| Saturday | субо́та | у субо́ту |
| Sunday | неді́ля | у неді́лю |
The table shows у because each phrase starts on its own, before a consonant. In a sentence, у often becomes в, for example after a vowel [src: pravopys-2026, §23]. Common prepositions gives the rules.
Days in sentences
Today, tomorrow, yesterday
| Ukrainian | English |
|---|---|
| сього́дні | today |
| за́втра | tomorrow |
| післяза́втра | the day after tomorrow |
| учо́ра, вчо́ра | yesterday |
Учо́ра and вчо́ра are the same word: its first letter alternates like the preposition у/в [src: pravopys-2026, §23]. At the start of a sentence, учо́ра is usual; after a vowel, вчо́ра.
The verb to be is left out in the present, but not in the past or the future. In the past it agrees with the noun in gender: була́ for a feminine day, був for a masculine one. Past tense and Future tense explain these forms.
Yesterday, today, tomorrow
What time is it?
Котра година?
To ask the time, say Котра́ годи́на? or Котра́ зара́з годи́на? (What time is it now?). Literally it means “Which hour is it?”, so the answer uses ordinal numbers: first, second, third and so on. They are feminine, to agree with годи́на (hour). In the answer, годи́на is usually left out [src: goroh-usage].
Asking and telling the time
The hour is an ordinal (the second), and the minutes are an ordinary number (twenty) [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9].
Common mistake
Answering with an ordinary number. The usage guides say Котра́ годи́на?, not Скі́льки зара́з годи́н?, and the answer во́сьма, not ві́сім [src: goroh-usage].
At what time?
О + the hour
To say at a time, use о with the locative of the ordinal: о дру́гій (at two). All the hours end in -ій. You can add годи́ні, but it is usually left out [src: ukma-ukrainian-foreign-language, Lesson 9]. Before a vowel, о becomes об: об одина́дцятій (at eleven) [src: goroh-usage]. The question is О котрі́й? (At what time?).
| Time | It is … | At … |
|---|---|---|
| 1:00 | пе́рша | о пе́ршій |
| 2:00 | дру́га | о дру́гій |
| 3:00 | тре́тя | о тре́тій |
| 4:00 | четве́рта | о четве́ртій |
| 5:00 | п’я́та | о п’я́тій |
| 6:00 | шо́ста | о шо́стій |
| 7:00 | сьо́ма | о сьо́мій |
| 8:00 | во́сьма | о во́сьмій |
| 9:00 | дев’я́та | о дев’я́тій |
| 10:00 | деся́та | о деся́тій |
| 11:00 | одина́дцята | об одина́дцятій |
| 12:00 | двана́дцята | о двана́дцятій |
Notice that third has a soft ending: тре́тя, о тре́тій.
At what time?
Common mistake
Using у or в with the hour. The usage guides give о тре́тій and О котрі́й годи́ні?, not в три or в скі́льки годи́н [src: goroh-usage].
Parts of the day
To make clear which seven o’clock you mean, add the part of the day in the genitive: о сьо́мій ра́нку (at seven in the morning), о сьо́мій ве́чора (at seven in the evening) [src: goroh-usage].
| Part of the day | After a time | When? (in the …) |
|---|---|---|
| ра́нок (morning) | ра́нку | вра́нці, ура́нці |
| день (day, afternoon) | дня | вдень, уде́нь |
| ве́чір (evening) | ве́чора | уве́чері |
| ніч (night) | но́чі | вночі́, уночі́ |
The words in the last column answer коли́? (when?). Their first letter alternates between у and в, like the preposition. Before another в, it is usually у: уве́чері [src: pravopys-2026, §23].
Morning, afternoon, evening, night
Dialogue: making plans
Two friends arrange to meet. They use ти, the informal you.
О котрі́й?
Common mistakes and limits
Common mistake
A capital letter for the day. Days of the week are written with a small letter: у понеді́лок, not у Понеді́лок.
Common mistake
Forgetting the accusative after у/в. On Friday is у п’я́тницю, not у п’я́тниця.
Remember
This page uses the simplest way to tell the time: the hour, then the minutes. Ukrainian also has phrases like half past and a quarter to, and dates (два́дцять четве́ртого се́рпня, on the 24th of August) need the genitive. Both come later. The ordinals here are feminine because they agree with годи́на.
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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