Free Ukrainian course. Lesson 1

Free Ukrainian course - Lesson 1

Free Ukrainian Course
Ukrainian lessons for beginners

Lesson 1: Привíт! Як спра́ви?
Hi! How are you?


In this lesson you will learn:

  • to say “hi” to your Ukrainian friends
  • to ask how they are doing
  • to say “yes” and “no” in Ukrainian

Welcome to your first lesson of Ukrainian! Learning Ukrainian is a fun adventure that will help you meet interesting people and embrace new cultures. Learn with us for free!

Useful phrase in Ukrainian

Useful phrase in Ukrainian

Listen and repeat the following sentence:

Привíт! Як спра́ви?

Hi! How are you?

Привíт! is an informal greeting equivalent of our “hi”. It is used when meeting friends.

Як спра́ви? is the short form of “як твої́ справи?” (literally “how (are) your things?”). It’s an informal question used with friends.

Ukrainian vocabulary

Ukrainian vocabulary

In this lesson, we will practice the following Ukrainian words. Listen to the audio and remember the vocabulary:

Привíт

Hi

Як спра́ви?

How are you?

украї́нець

Ukrainian (male)

украї́нка

Ukrainian (female)

америка́нець

American (male)

америка́нка

American (female)

так

yes

ні

no

я

I

ти

you

Ukrainian dialogues

Dialogues

Listen carefully to the following Ukrainian dialogues. They will help you understand this lesson’s vocabulary in the right context:

Ukrainian grammar

Ukrainian grammar

Let’s study the grammar used in this lesson:

The verb “to be” in present

The verb “to be” is expressed in Ukrainian by the verb “бу́ти” (pronunciation: bú-ty). In the dialogues above, you have seen that the verb “to be” only appears in the English translation (I am, you are, he is,…).:

That is because in modern Ukrainian, the verb “бу́ти” is not used in present tense (but it is used in the past and future). Look at the following examples:

  • Ivan is an actor. – Іва́н – акто́р.
  • You are Peter. – Ти Пíтер.
  • I am Helen. – Я Хе́лен.

Іn the first phrase (Іва́н – акто́р) you can see a hyphen (“-“) instead of the verb “to be”. It happens when the subject (Іва́н) and the predicate (акто́р) are both nouns. It’s not important to memorize this rule now but don’t be surprised if you see it.

Attention
Different ways to say “you” in Ukrainian.


In this lesson, we’ve learnt the word “ти” to say “you”. However, you should know that “ти” is an informal way to say “you” in Ukrainian. You can use it with friends and family. In our next lessons, you will see the formal “you” which is used while talking to people you don’t know.

The three genders

Ukrainian nouns, adjectives and pronouns have genders:

  • masculine
  • feminine
  • neuter

In English, nouns have no gender, so this can be a confusing concept. It is difficult to say why a table in Ukrainian (стіл) is masculine and a bed (лíжко) is neuter. There is no logic in the elections of genders and you simply must learn it.

The ending of a word can help us to identify its gender. Look for example at the endings we have seen in the dialogues:

  • украї́нець (masculine)
  • украї́нка (feminine)

The word “Ukrainian” has the ending “-ець” for masculine and “-ка” for feminine gender. Basicly, most nouns ending in a consonant (or consonant + soft sign) are masculine. And most nouns ending in “a” are feminine. The most typical neuter endings are “o” and “e“.

Ukrainian test

Test

Check if you know this lesson:

1. The word “украї́нець” is of … gender
neuter
feminine
masculine

2. The word “украї́нка” is of … gender.
feminine.
neuter.
masculine

3. How do you say “hi” in Ukrainian?
привíт.
до́бре
як спра́ви

4. How many genders are there in Ukrainian?
one
three
two

5. In Ukrainian the verb “бу́ти” is always omitted.
yes
no
yes, in spoken language in the present tense.



This Ukrainian course will always be free.
Please, share it!

When you share our website, you’re helping us continue with our project: developing free Ukrainian courses for everyone. Please, invest some seconds of your time in sharing us. Thank you.

Go to the next Ukrainian lesson
Go to the list of Ukrainian courses