Grammar Reference
Pronouns
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 |
ТИ vs. ВИ
| ти | The 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. |
| ви | The 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.”
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:
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
2. To express needs
3. To express emotions and feelings
4. To express tastes and food preferences
[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.”
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.
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 Pronouns | Singular | Personal Pronouns | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| я | мною | ним нею ним | на нас |
| ти | тобою | ви | на вас |
| він вона воно | на ньому на нiй на ньому | вони | на 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
| Nominative | я | ти | він, воно | вона | ми | ви | вони |
| Genitive | мене | тебе | його*, (у) нього | її*, (у) неї | нас | вас | їх*, (у) них |
| Dative | мені | тобі | йому | їй** | нам | вам | їм |
| Accusative | мене | тебе | його, (про) нього* | її, (про) неї* | нас | вас | їх, (про) них* |
| Locative | мені | тобі | (на) ньому | (на) ній | нас | вас | (на) них |
| Instrumental | мною | тобою | ним | нею | нами | вами | ними |
* 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.”
Це твоя картина. “This is my picture.”
Ось наші друзі. “Here are our friends.”
Це моя сім’я. “This is my family.”
| Person | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases | masculine, neuter | feminine | hard / mixed stem | soft / mixed stem | ||
| hard / mixed stem | soft / mixed stem | hard / mixed stem | soft / mixed stem | |||
| Nominative | наш, ваш | мій, твій, їхній | наша, ваша | моя, твоя, їхня | наші, ваші | мої, твої, їхні |
| Genitive | нашого, вашого | мого, твого, їхнього | нашої, вашої | моєї, твоєї, їхньої | наших, ваших | моїх, твоїх, їхніх |
| Dative | нашому, вашому | моєму, твоєму, їхньому | нашій, вашій | моїй, твоїй, їхній | нашим, вашим | моїм, твоїм, їхнім |
| Accusative | =N/G* | =N/G* | нашу, вашу | мою, твою, їхню | =N/G* | =N/G* |
| Locative | =Dative | =Dative | =Dative | =Dative | =Genitive | =Genitive |
| Instrumental | нашим, вашим | моїм, твоїм, їхнім | нашою, вашою | моєю, твоєю, їхньою | нашими, вашими | моїми, твоїми, їхніми |
* Same as N [nominative] for inanimates, same as G [genitive] for animates.