Ukrainian grammar is complex and characterised by a high degree of inflection; moreover, it has a relatively free word order, although the dominant arrangement is subject–verb–object (SVO). Ukrainian grammar describes its phonological, morphological, and syntactic rules. Ukrainian has seven grammatical cases and two numbers for its nominal declension and two aspects, three tenses, three moods, and two voices for its verbal conjugation. Adjectives agree in number, gender, and case with their nouns.
To understand Ukrainian grammar, it is necessary to understand the various phonological rules that occur due to sequences of two or more sounds. This markedly decreases the number of exceptions and makes understanding the rules simpler. The origin of some of these phonological rules can be traced all the way back to Indo-European gradation (ablaut). This is especially common in explaining the differences between the infinitive and present stems of many verbs.
This article presents the grammar of standard Ukrainian, which is followed by most dialects. The main differences in the dialects are vocabulary with occasional differences in phonology and morphology. Further information can be found in the article Ukrainian dialects.
Grammatical terminology The following is a list of Ukrainian terms for properties and morphological categories, with their English translations or equivalents: CategoryLanguageUkrainianEnglishParts of speech (части́на мо́ви)іме́нникnounприкме́тникadjectiveдієсло́воverbчислі́вникnumeralзайме́нникpronounприслі́вникadverbча́сткаparticleприйме́нникprepositionсполу́чникconjunctionви́гукinterjectionMain cases (відмі́нок)називни́йnominativeродови́йgenitiveдава́льнийdativeзнахі́днийaccusativeору́днийinstrumentalмісце́вийlocativeкли́чнийvocativeNumber (число́)однина́singularмножина́pluralDegrees of comparison (ступенюва́ння)звича́йнийpositiveви́щийcomparativeнайви́щийsuperlativeGenders (рід)чолові́чийmasculineжіно́чийfeminineсере́днійneuterTenses (час)давномину́лийpluperfectмину́лийpastтепе́рішнійpresentмайбу́тнійfutureMoods (спо́сіб)ді́йснийindicativeумо́внийconditionalнаказо́вийimperative
Phonology The following points of Ukrainian phonology need to be considered to understand the grammar of the Ukrainian language.
Classification of vowels Two different classifications of vowels can be made: a historical perspective and a modern perspective. From a historical perspective, the Ukrainian vowels can be divided into two categories: Hard vowels (in Cyrillic: а, и (from Common Slavic *ы), о, and у or transliterated as a, y (from Common Slavic *y), o, and u) Soft vowels (in Cyrillic: е, і and и (from Common Slavic *и) or transliterated as e, i and y (from Common Slavic *i)). The iotated vowels are considered to be soft vowels From a modern perspective, the Ukrainian vowels can be divided into two categories: Hard vowels (in Cyrillic: а, е, и, і, о, and у or transliterated as a, e, y, i, o, and u). This category as can be seen from the table is different from the historical hard category Iotated vowels (in Cyrillic: я, є, ї, and ю or transliterated as ya, ye, yi, and yu). To this category can also be added the combination of letters йо/ьо (transliterated as yo)
Classification of consonants In Ukrainian, consonants can be categorized as follows: Labials (in Cyrillic: б, в, м, п, and ф or transliterated as b, v, m, p, and f) are almost always hard in Ukrainian (there are orthographic exceptions), can never be doubled or in general be followed by an iotated vowel (exception: in combinations CL where C is a dental and L is a labial, a soft vowel can follow, e.g., свято). Post-alveolar sibilants (in Cyrillic: ж, ч, and ш or transliterated as zh, ch, and sh. The digraph щ (shch) should also be included) were in Common Slavic all palatal (soft). They hardened in Ukrainian, leading to the creation of the mixed declension of nouns. They can't be followed by a soft sign (in Cyrillic: ь; transliterated as apostrophe (’)) or any iotated vowel. All but the digraph щ can be doubled, in which case they can be followed by a soft vowel, e.g., збі́жжя. Dentals (in Cyrillic: д, з, л, н, с, т, and ц or transliterated as d, z, l, n, s, t, and ts) can be both hard and soft in Ukrainian, as in Common Slavic. These letters can never (unless they are the last letter in a prefix) be followed by an apostrophe. Furthermore, these letters can be doubled. Alveolar (in Cyrillic: р or transliterated as r) can be either hard or soft but is always hard at the end of a syllable. Therefore, r is always hard at the end of a word and is never followed by a soft sign. r can never be doubled, except in foreign words (such as сюрреалізм). Velars (in Cyrillic: г, ґ, к, and х or transliterated as h, g, k, and kh) are always hard in both Ukrainian and Common Slavic. If an iotated or soft vowel are to follow them, they undergo the first and second palatalizations. Hence, these letters can never be doubled or followed by an apostrophe.
Historical changes In Ukrainian, the following sound changes have occurred between the Common Slavic period and current Ukrainian:
In a newly closed syllable, that is, a syllable that ends in a consonant, Common Slavic o and e mutate into i if the next vowel in Common Slavic was one of the yers (ь/ĭ and ъ/ŭ). Pleophony: The Common Slavic combinations, ToRT and TeRT, where T is any consonant and R is either r or l become in Ukrainian. TorT gives ToroT (Common Slavic *borda gives Ukrainian borodá) TolT gives ToloT (Common Slavic *bolto gives Ukrainian bolóto) TerT gives TereT (Common Slavic *berza gives Ukrainian beréza) TelT gives ToloT (Common Slavic *melko gives Ukrainian molokó) The Common Slavic nasal vowel ę, derived from an Indo-European *-en, *-em, or one of the sonorants n and m, is reflected as я except after a single labial where it is reflected as 'я, or after a post-alveolar sibilant where it is reflected as a. For example, Common Slavic *pętь gives in Ukrainian п'ять; Common Slavic *telę gives in Ukrainian теля́; Common Slavic kurčę gives in Ukrainian курча́. The Common Slavic letter, ě (ѣ), is reflected in Ukrainian generally as i except: word-initially, where it is reflected as yi: Common Slavic *ěsti gives the Ukrainian ї́сти after the post-alveolar sibilants where it is reflected as a: Common Slavic *ležěti gives the Ukrainian лежа́ти Common Slavic i and y are both reflected in Ukrainian as y The Common Slavic combination -CьjV, where C is any consonant and V is any vowel, becomes in Ukrainian the following combination -CCjV, except if C is labial or 'r' where it becomes -C"jV if V is the Common Slavic e, then the vowel in Ukrainian mutates to a, e.g., Common Slavic *žitьje gives the Ukrainian життя́ if V is the Common Slavic ь, then the combination becomes ei, e.g., genitive plural in Common Slavic *myšьjь gives the Ukrainian мише́й if one or more consonants precede the C then there is no doubling of the consonants in Ukrainian Common Slavic combinations dl and tl are simplified to l, for example, Common Slavic *mydlo gives Ukrainian ми́ло Common Slavic ъl and ьl became ov, while word final lъ became v. For example, Common Slavic *vьlkъ becomes вовк in Ukrainian
Current changes The first palatalization concerns the velars and the following vowels: e, y from Common Slavic i, a/i from Common Slavic ě, derived from the Indo-European ē. Before these vowels, г/ґ mutates into ж. к mutates into ч. х mutates into ш. The second palatalization concerns the velars and the following vowels: y from Common Slavic i that is derived from an Indo-European diphthong and a/i from Common Slavic ě, derived from an Indo-European diphthong. Before these vowels, г/ґ mutates into з. к mutates into ц. х mutates into с. The iotation concerns all consonants and the semi-vowel й. The following changes occur: The labials insert an l between the labial and the semivowel: Common Slavic *zemja gives Ukrainian земля́. The velars followed by a semivowel mutate as in the first palatalization. The semivowel is dropped. This change can be traced back to Common Slavic. кть, ть becomes ч дь becomes ж, except in verbs where it becomes дж шь becomes ш шть, шкь become щ ждь, жь become ждж жкь becomes жч л, н, р becomes ль, нь, рь In Ukrainian, when two or more consonants occur word-finally, then a float vowel is inserted under the following conditions. Given a consonantal grouping C1(ь)C2(ь), where C is any Ukrainian consonant. The fill vowel is inserted between the two consonants and after the ь. A fill vowel is only inserted if C2 is one of the following consonants: к, в, л, м, р, н and ц. In this case: If C1 is one of the following г, к, х, then the fill vowel is always o If C2 is к or в, then the fill vowel is o. No fill vowel is inserted if the v is derived from a voiced l, for example, вовк If C2 is л, м, р or ц, then the fill vowel is e The only known exception is відьом, which should take e as the fill vowel, but instead adds an o The combinations, -ств and -ськ are not broken up If the C1 is й, then the above rules can apply. However, both forms (with and without the fill vowel) often exist
Assimilation The following assimilations occur: Before the с of a suffix (-ський or -ство) If the root ends in г (ґ), ж, or з, then it mutates to з and the с of the suffix is lost. If the root ends in к, ч, or ц, then it mutates to ц and the с of the suffix is lost. If the root ends in х, с, or ш, then it mutates to с and the с of the suffix is lost (or the last letter of the root drops out). The following combinations of letters change: {ж, з} + дн is contracted to {ж, з} + н. ст + {л, н} is contracted to с + {л, н}. {п, р} + тн is contracted to {п, р} + н. {с, к} + кн is contracted to {с, к} + н.
Dissimilation The most common dissimilation (dating back to Proto-Slavic) is encountered in the infinitive of verbs, where {д, т} + т dissimilates to ст, for example, крад + ти gives красти and плет + ти gives плести.
Morphology
Nominal
Nouns The nominal declension has seven cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, and vocative), in two numbers (singular and plural), and absolutely obeying grammatical gender (masculine, feminine and neuter). Adjectives, pronouns, and the first two cardinal numbers have gender specific forms.
Number In Ukrainian, all the words in a specific context must agree in number (just like case and gender), i.e. when the noun is written in the plural number, the adjective must also be written in the plural number. Examples: Grammatical numberSingularEnglish translation PluralEnglish translationMasculineГарний (adj.) пагорб (noun)A beautiful hillГарні (adj.) пагорби (noun)Beautiful hillsFeminineБіла (adj.) тварина (noun)A white animalБілі (adj.) тварини (noun)White animalsNeuter Великe (adj.) дерево (noun) A big tree Великі (adj.) дерева (noun) Big trees A third number, the dual, also existed in Old East Slavic, but except for its use in the nominative and accusative cases with the numbers two, three and four, e.g. дві гривні vs. двоє гривень (recategorized today as a nominative plural), it has been lost. Other traces of the dual can be found when referring to objects of which are commonly in pairs: eyes, shoulders, ears, e.g. плечима (from плечі). Occasionally, dual forms can distinguish between meanings.
Cases The Ukrainian language has seven different grammatical cases, of which every case has its own function. CaseExample Approximate translation (function) Nominative мова the language (subject) Genitive мови of the language Dative мові to the language Accusativeмовуthe language (object)Instrumentalмовоюwith (through) the languageLocativeмовіon the language (location)Vocativeмовоlanguage (addressing someone)
Genders