- Official language in
- Ukraine
- Script
- Cyrillic
Where it's spoken
Ukrainian is the state language of Ukraine. The Ukrainian constitution also provides for the State to ensure the comprehensive development and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of social life throughout the entire territory of the country.
Sources
- Ukraine's Constitution of 1996 with Amendments through 2014 — Comparative Constitutions Project — Art. 10 (state language)
Script & pronunciation
Ukrainian belongs, along with Russian and Belarusian, to the East Slavic branch of the Slavic language family, and like those languages it is written in the Cyrillic script. The modern Ukrainian alphabet has 33 letters. Two of them are distinctly Ukrainian: г, pronounced like the English h in "house," and a separate letter ґ, pronounced like the English g in "get." This app's cards romanize г as h, as in Все гаразд ("It's OK / I'm fine"), romanized Vse ha-razd, and Кімната дуже гарна ("The room is very nice"), romanized Kim-na-ta du-zhe har-na. Ukrainian also has two vowel letters that English speakers tend to confuse: и, pronounced like the English i in "pin" and never used at the start of a word, and і, pronounced like the English ee in "meet," whose presence after a consonant also signals that the consonant is softened. This app's cards romanize и as y and і as i, as in the card Привіт ("Hello"), romanized Pry-vit. The alphabet's last letter, ь (the "soft sign"), represents neither a vowel nor a consonant; it only signals that the preceding consonant is softened. The card Будь ласка ("Please / You are welcome"), for example, is romanized Bud las-ka, with no separate letter standing in for the ь in Будь. This app's cards also spell the syllable ьо with the plain vowel o rather than yo, as in the card Потьомкінські сходи ("Potemkin Stairs"), romanized Potomkinski skhody.
Sources
- Pylypiuk, Natalia, and others (1992). "Ukrainian: Language Competencies for Peace Corps Volunteers in Ukraine." U.S. Peace Corps (ERIC Document ED353811) — Introduction, "The Ukrainian Sound System and its Alphabet"
Grammar essentials
Ukrainian nouns, pronouns and adjectives change their endings to show their grammatical role in a sentence, a system of six cases: the nominative, reserved for the subject of the sentence; the genitive, used for possession, for the object of a negated verb, for quantities, and after some prepositions; the accusative, used mainly for a verb's direct object; the dative; the locative, which always requires a preposition; and the instrumental. This app's card Я хочу орендувати автомобіль на X днів ("I'd like to rent a car for X days") notes that на X днів expresses duration with the genitive case; the card Я підвернув щиколотку, потрібна допомога ("I've injured my ankle — I need help") notes that щиколотку is the accusative, direct-object form; the card Яка різниця між закритим та відкритим басейном? ("What are the differences between the indoor and outdoor pools?") notes that між governs the instrumental case; and the card Які інгредієнти у цій страві? ("What ingredients are in this dish?") notes that у takes the locative страві to mean "in ~." Personal names and a few titles take a further, separate vocative form used only to directly address that person; it is not counted among the six cases. Basic Ukrainian word order is subject–verb–object, but because case endings rather than word order mark a word's role, the order can be rearranged, and because the verb itself shows who is acting, the subject pronoun can be left out altogether. Negation is formed with the particle не placed directly before the word it negates, as in this app's card Я не розмовляю українською ("I can't speak Ukrainian"). Ukrainian verbs also come in one of two aspects: imperfective verbs describe an ongoing or repeated action, as in the card Перемішуйте постійно, щоб не підгоріло ("Stir constantly so it doesn't burn"), which uses the imperfective imperative Перемішуйте; perfective verbs describe a completed action, as in the card Як приготувати борщ? ("How do you make borscht?"), which uses the perfective infinitive приготувати.
Sources
- Pylypiuk, Natalia, and others (1992). "Ukrainian: Language Competencies for Peace Corps Volunteers in Ukraine." U.S. Peace Corps (ERIC Document ED353811) — Introduction, "Nouns and Their Modifiers," "The Vocative Form," "Sentences"; Topic 3 grammar notes (negation); "The Imperfective and Perfective Aspect of Verbs"
Politeness & etiquette
Ukrainian distinguishes an informal and a formal way of saying "you." The singular ти signals familiarity and is used with children, close relatives, or people with whom a close friendship has been established; the plural ви is used in formal situations and in relationships still at an introductory stage, and it always takes a plural verb even when it refers to only one person. This app's card Ви розмовляєте англійською? ("Do you speak English?") notes that ви is the polite second person and that ти is kept for people you know well; the card Як вас звати? ("What's your name?") uses the formal accusative вас and notes that friends instead say Як тебе звати?