Ukrainian (украї́нська мо́ва), is an East Slavic language. It is the native language of about 42 million people and the official state language of Ukraine.
Differences of the Ukrainian language from English
English and Ukrainian are very different in a lot of important language aspects. For language learners Ukrainian is not quite as easy for English speakers to learn as Spanish or French, but nowhere near as challenging as Chinese or Arabic. Here we have found the main differences of the Ukrainian and Russian languages from English:
♦ Cyrillic writing.
♦ Pronunciation generally follows clear rules.
♦ Absence of articles.
| English | Ukrainian |
| A man is watching a movie. | Людина дивиться фільм. |
♦ Three genders of nouns: masculine, feminine, and neuter (neutral).
| English | Ukrainian |
| chair armchair book | стілець – masculine крісло – neuter книга – feminine |
♦ Very flexible words order.
| English | Ukrainian |
| Anna is reading a book. | Анна читає книгу. Книгу читає Анна. Читає Анна книгу. Читає книгу Анна. |
♦ Two forms of “you” address: formal and informal.
| English | Ukrainian |
| Will you have tea? | Ти будеш чай? (informal) Ви будете чай? (formal) |
♦ Conjugation of verbs.
| English | Ukrainian |
| I know You know He knows We know You know They know | Я знаю Ти знаєш Він знає Ми знаємо Ви знаєте Вони знають |
♦ 7 cases. Therefore, nouns, pronouns, adjectives and numbers change their endings depending on cases (their functions in the sentence).
♦ Adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number and case.
| English | Ukrainian |
| I have a red book. I do not have a red book. | У мене є червона книга. (femenine, singilar, Nom. case) У мене немає червоної книги (femenine, singilar, Gen. case). |
♦ Three grammatical tenses (present, past, future).
♦ Forms of verbs express the idea of completed or progressive action.
| English | Ukrainian |
| I read. I will read. I will read. I read. I read. | Я читаю. Я прочитаю. Я буду читати. Я читав. Я прочитав. |
This course course will help you to start learning Ukrainian in easy and convenient way. You will learn how to read in Ukrainian and understand spoken language, learn basic grammar, vocabulary and useful phrases.
All materials (vocabulary lists, grammar explanation, texts, dialogues, audios, tests and practice exercises with answers) are on our website, so you can access them whenever you want.