icon-books

Grammar Reference

In Ukrainian, pronouns belong to several categories. In this textbook, we are learning:

  • interrogative pronouns: хто? “who?” що” “what?”
  • personal pronouns:  я “I,” ти “you singular,” він “he,” вона “she,” воно “it,” ми “we,” ви “you plural/respectful,” вони “they”
  • possessive pronouns: мій “my/masculine,” твоя “your/feminine,” його “his/all genders and numbers,” її “her/all genders and numbers,” наш “our/masculine,” ваша “your/feminine,” їхні “their/plural.”

Interrogative pronouns ХТО and ЩО

The interrogative pronouns хто “who” and що “what” are used in question: Хто? “Who?” and Що? “What?”

Хто?Indicates an animate being,
e.g. Хто це? — Це студент.
Що?Indicates an inanimate being,
e.g. Що це? — Це банк.

Personal Pronouns and Cases

Personal Pronouns in the Nominative Case

Person Singular Plural
First “I” я “we” ми
Second “you” ти “you” ви
Third “he”
“she”
“it”
він
вона
воно
“they” вони
Personal pronouns in the nominative case are used when the pronoun functions as the subject of a sentence.
Ex: Я люблю каву. “I love coffee.”
Here, the personal pronoun я “I” is used in the nominative case because “I” is the subject in this sentence.
Привіт! Я Оксана. “Hello! I am Oksana.” Хто він? Він Сергій. “Who is he? He is Sergiy.”

ТИ vs. ВИ

тиThe singular form of “you” – ти – signals familiarity. It is used when addressing friends, relatives, children and other students.
Ex: a student to a student will use the ти form.
виThe plural form of “you” – ви – is also used as a respectful address form. Ви is required for formal situations, as well as those in which relationships are considered at an introductory stage.
Ex: a professor to a student or a student to a professor will use the ви form.

Personal Pronouns in the Genitive Case

Singular
Nominative ⟶ Genitive
Plural
Nominative ⟶ Genitive
я ⟶ мене, (у) мене ми ⟶ нас, (у) нас
ти ⟶ тебе, (у) тебе ви ⟶ вас, (у) вас
він ⟶ його, (у) нього*
вона ⟶ її, (у) неї*
воно ⟶ його, (у) нього*
вони ⟶ їх, (у) них*
* Note that in the third person, the genitive case forms are different when used with and without prepositions. In Ukrainian, personal pronouns, similarly to nouns and adjectives, can be used in the genitive case to express a number of functions: 1. To express possession, following the prepositions в/у “at.”
Ex: У мене є мобілка “I have a cellphone.” У неї є брат “She has a brother.” У нього є журнали і книги. “He has magazines and books.” У нас є планшет і ноутбук. “We have a tablet and a laptop.”
2. When discussing health issues, when something hurts, such as:
Ex: У мене болить голова. “I have a headache.” У неї гарячка. “She has a fever.” У нього болить зуб. “He has a toothache.” У неї висока температура. “She has high temperature.”
Note: The genitive case can also be used without any prepositions, similarly to nouns, for instance to denote the absence of someone. In the sentence, Її сьогодні немає. “She is absent today,” її “she” is the genitive case of вона “she.” In the sentence, Він не знає її. “He does not know her,” the pronoun “she” is the direct object following the negated verb and will use the genitive case ending. [See more under the genitive case of nouns and adjectives.]

Personal Pronouns in the Dative Case

Singular
Nominative ⟶ Dative
Plural
Nominative ⟶ Dative
я ⟶ мені ми ⟶ нам
ти ⟶ тобі ви ⟶ вам
він ⟶ йому
вона ⟶ їй
воно ⟶ йому
вони ⟶ їм

In Ukrainian, personal pronouns, similarly to nouns and adjectives, can be used in the dative case to express a number of functions:

1. To express age

Ex: Мені двадцять років. “I am twenty years old.”

2. To express needs

Ex: Тобі потрібний светр. “You need a sweater.”

3. To express emotions and feelings

Ex: Нам нудно. “We feel bored.” That is to denote a person who is feeling a certain way.

4. To express tastes and food preferences

Ex: Їй смакує чорна кава. “She likes black coffee.”

[See more under the dative case of nouns and adjectives]

Dative case is never used after prepositions. [See these functions of the dative case under nouns] 

Personal Pronouns in the Accusative Case

Singular
Nominative ⟶ Nominative
Plural
Nominative ⟶ Nominative
я ⟶ мене ми ⟶ нас
ти ⟶ тебе ви ⟶ вас
він ⟶ його, про нього*
вона ⟶ її, про неї*
воно ⟶ його, про нього*
вони ⟶ їх, про них*

* Note that in the third person, the genitive case forms are different when used with and without prepositions.

In Ukrainian, personal pronouns, similarly to nouns and adjectives, can be used in the accusative case to express a number of functions. In this textbook, the main function is to introduce oneself or others. In the sentence: Мене звати Тамара “My name is Tamara,” Мене “I” is the accusative case of я “I.”

Ex: Його звати Петро. “His name is Petro.”
Їх звати Олена і Тарас. “Their names are Olena and Taras.”
ЇЇ звати Меланія. “Her name is Melania.”
А як тебе звати? “And what is your name?”
А як вас звати? “And what is your name?”

Note: In this resource, the personal pronouns in the accusative case were introduced without any prepositions. Similarly to nouns, personal pronouns can also follow certain prepositions that require the accusative case, such as after the preposition про “about” in the sentence: Ми часто говоримо про них. “We often talk about them,” них “them” is the accusative form of вони “they,” following the preposition про “about.”

[See more under the accusative case of nouns and adjectives] 

Personal Pronouns in the Locative Case

Singular
Nominative ⟶ Locative
Plural
Nominative ⟶ Locative
я ⟶ на мені ми ⟶ на нас
ти ⟶ на тобі ви ⟶ на вас
він ⟶ на ньому
вона ⟶ на нiй
воно ⟶ на ньому
вони ⟶ на них

In Ukrainian, personal pronouns, similarly to nouns and adjectives, can be used in the locative case to express a number of functions. The main function is to describe locations. In this textbook, personal pronouns are used in the locative case to describe clothes someone is wearing. For instance, in the sentence: Сьогодні на мені чорні джинси і синя блузка. “Today I am wearing (=on me) black jeans and a blue blouse,” на мені “on me” is the Locative case of я “I” because this is the location of the clothes being worn. 

Ex: Що на тобі? “What are you wearing?”
На мені червоний светр. “I am wearing a red sweater.”
Що на них? “What are they wearing?”
На них сині пальта і білі туфлі. “They are wearing blue coats and white shoes.”

[See more under the locative case of nouns and adjectives]

Personal Pronouns in the Instrumental Case

Personal PronounsSingularPersonal PronounsPlural
ямноюним
нею
ним
на нас
титобоювина вас
він
вона
воно
на ньому
на нiй
на ньому
вонина них

In Ukrainian, personal pronouns, similarly to nouns and adjectives, can be used in the instrumental case to express a number of functions. In this textbook, personal pronouns are used in the instrumental case following the preposition з “with.” In the sentence: Я була в кіно з ним. “I was at the movies with him,” ним “he/him” is the instrumental case of він “he” because it follows the preposition з “with” that requires the instrumental case.

[See more under the instrumental case of nouns and adjectives]

Personal Pronouns: Case Endings Summary

Nominativeятивін, воновонамививони
Genitiveменетебейого*,
(у) нього
її*,
(у) неї
насвасїх*,
(у) них
Dativeменітобійомуїй**намвамїм
Accusativeменетебейого,
(про) нього*
її,
(про) неї*
насвасїх,
(про) них*
Locativeменітобі(на) ньому(на) нійнасвас(на) них
Instrumentalмноютобоюнимнеюнамиваминими

* Note that in the third person, the genitive and accusative case forms are different when used with and without prepositions.

** Attention: In pronunciation, this form sounds very much like the genitive or accusative її. Do not confuse this case with others and remember the spelling їй.

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are parts of speech that describe nouns similarly to adjectives:
моя сім’я “my family,” твій брат “your brother,” наші друзі “our friends.”

Ex: Це моє ліжко. “This is my bed.”
Це твоя картина. “This is my picture.”
Ось наші друзі. “Here are our friends.”
Це моя сім’я. “This is my family.”
PersonSingularPlural
First
masculine
feminine
neuter
plural
my
мій
моя
моє
мої
our
наш
наша
наше
наші
Second
masculine
feminine
neuter
plural
your
твій
твоя
твоє
твої
your
ваш
ваша
ваше
ваші
Third
masculine
feminine
neuter
plural 
his/its
його
його
його
його
her
її
її
її
її
their
їхній
їхня
їхнє
їхні

Possessive pronouns:

  • have grammatical gender – feminine (моя мобілка “my cellphone”), masculine (твій комп’ютер “your computer”), neuter (наше кошеня “our kitten”)
  • are declined for number – singular (наш ресторан “our restaurant”), plural (наші ресторани “our restaurants”)
    Attention: for the forms “his” and “her” the possessive pronoun forms do not change based on the number of the noun they describe. Ex: його ресторан (“his restaurant”), його ресторани (“his restaurants”), її книга (“her book”), її книги (“her books”)
  • are declined for case [see the general table below].

Possessive Pronouns: Case Endings Summary

(endings are similar to those of adjectives)
SingularPlural
Casesmasculine, neuterfemininehard / mixed stemsoft / mixed stem
 hard / mixed stemsoft / mixed stemhard / mixed stemsoft / mixed stem
Nominativeнаш,
ваш
мій,
твій,
їхній
наша, вашамоя,
твоя,
їхня
наші,
ваші
мої,
твої,
їхні
Genitiveнашого, вашогомого,
твого,
їхнього
нашої, вашоїмоєї,
твоєї,
їхньої
наших, вашихмоїх,
твоїх,
їхніх
Dativeнашому, вашомумоєму, твоєму, їхньомунашій, вашіймоїй,
твоїй,
їхній
нашим, вашиммоїм,
твоїм,
їхнім
Accusative=N/G*=N/G*нашу, вашумою,
твою,
їхню
=N/G*=N/G*
Locative=Dative=Dative=Dative=Dative=Genitive=Genitive
Instrumentalнашим, вашиммоїм,
твоїм,
їхнім
нашою, вашоюмоєю, твоєю, їхньоюнашими, вашимимоїми, твоїми, їхніми

* Same as N [nominative] for inanimates, same as G [genitive] for animates.