Ukrainian cases. Lesson 12

Free Ukrainian course. Ukrainian cases - Lesson 12

Ukrainian cases
Ukrainian lessons for beginners

Lesson 12: Кличний відмінок – Vocative case


The Vocative case of nouns.

!!!This course requires basic knowledge of Ukrainian. If this is not your case, we recommend our Basic Ukrainian Course!!!

In this lesson we will meet and will try to get more familiar with Vocative case through the dialogues, examples and grammar rules.

Introduction to Ukrainian cases

Introduction to the vocative case

When is the vocative case used?

Generally, we use the vocative case for appealing, to attract someone’s attention ONLY with

  • male nouns singular

  • female nouns singular
Миколо, як твої справи? Mikolo, how are you?
Долю моя, чому ти така сувора зі мною? My destiny, why are you so strict with me?

What will we learn in this lesson?

We are going to learn the vocative case of different nouns.

Tip


Luckily, neuter nouns and plural nouns of all genders don’t have a vocative form.

Ukrainian vocabulary

Ukrainian vocabulary

Read, listen and repeat the basic vocabulary of this lesson.

If you still don’t know how to read the Cyrillic alphabet, visit our course on how to read Ukrainian.

щонайменше

at least

розділитися

to divide

показувати

to show

вгадувати

to guess

виграти

to win

напружений

stressed

завдання

assignment

недотримання

non-compliance

домовленість

agreement

ввічливо / ввічливий

politely / polite

шановний

dear / respected

вельмишановний

highly esteemed

пан

Mister

злодій

thief

негідник

scoundrel

печерні / цивілізовані люди

cave / civilized people

кепські (synonym of “погано”)

bad

здоровенькі були!

a way to say “Hi / Hello” (informal)

привертати увагу

to attract someone’s attention

настрій

mood

фантазія

fantasy

загубитися

to get lost

криза

crisis

самооцінка

self-esteem

шизофренія

schizophrenia

занадто

too much

Ukrainian dialogues

Dialogues

Read, listen and pay attention to the cases used

Extra help: highlighted cases + tables

We have highlighted the words in vocative. You can also look up these grammar tables while you read the dialogues:

Nouns in vocative

This table will open in a new window

Ukrainian grammar

Ukrainian grammar

Read the following grammar summary. We will learn the cases from this lesson.

The vocative Case

In our conversations we often have to address someone and attract their attention. In Ukrainian, for these situations we have a special case: Vocative. According to the grammar rules, when you attract someone’s attention by calling them, you have to use the vocative case. In practice, the vocative case is mostly used in business language (as in Dialogue 2), and not always used in daily life (spoken language).

As mentioned above, we only use the vocative case with male and female nouns, not with neuter nouns nor any plural nouns.

In the dialogues we have seen examples of the vocative case. Below we will learn more about it.

Vocative case for names
We have highlighted the endings in the tables.

All names ending in -а ⇒ -о

  • Микола ⇒ Миколо
  • Микита ⇒ Микито
  • Юра ⇒ Юрко
  • Світлана ⇒ Світлано
  • Наталка ⇒ Наталко
  • Тетяна ⇒ Тетяно

Masculine names ending in -ь, -й, -я ⇒ -ю

  • Василь ⇒ Василю
  • Андрій ⇒ Андрію
  • Костя ⇒ Костю

Feminine names which end in consonant letter with -я ⇒ -ю

  • Юля ⇒ Юлю
  • Оля ⇒ Олю
  • Надя ⇒ Надю

Masculine names with ends: no ends or -o ⇒ -e

  • Артем ⇒ Артеме
  • Віктор ⇒ Вікторе
  • Дмитро ⇒ Дмитре

Feminine names which end in vocal letter with -я ⇒ -є

  • Марія ⇒ Маріє
  • Вікторія ⇒ Вікторіє
  • Софія ⇒ Софіє

Masculine names with end -х, -г ⇒ + -у

  • Генріх ⇒ Генріху
  • Олег ⇒ Олегу
  • Фрідріх ⇒ Фрідріху

More about names:
Vocative for the fathers name


As you probably know and have seen in the Dialogue 3, in Ukrainian all people have a “second” name, from their fathers. This name always figures in official documentation (identity card, birth certificate), so when we write an official letter and address someone, we have to put the father’s nam into vocative, too.

Important: The father’s name has the same declination as all nouns that are not names (see rules below). So, the first name we change according to the rule for names, the father’s name we change according to the rule for all nouns except names.

For example:

  • Софія Сергіївна – Софіє Сергіївно
  • Іван Петрович – Іване Петровичу
  • Ольга Миколаївна – Ольго Миколаївно
Vocative case for the masculine and feminine nouns (except names)
We have highlighted the endings in the tables.

All nouns ending in -ша, -ча, -ща ⇒ -е

  • миша ⇒ мише (mouse)
  • туча ⇒ туче (cloud)
  • теща ⇒ теще (mother-in-law)

All nouns ending in a consonant or consonant + я ⇒ -е

  • донор ⇒ доноре (donor)
  • герб ⇒ гербе (emblem)
  • пісня ⇒ пісне (song)

All nouns ending in -a ⇒ -o

  • річка ⇒ річко (river)
  • дитина ⇒ дитино (child)
  • стіна ⇒ стіно (wall)

All nouns with ends -ик, -ок, -ач, -ич ⇒ + -у

  • майданчик ⇒ майданчику (ground)
  • поцілунок ⇒ поцілунку (kiss)
  • циркач ⇒ циркачу(circus performer)

All nouns with ends -ець, -ень, -й ⇒ -ю

  • горобець ⇒ горобцю (sparrow)
  • січеень ⇒ січню (January)
  • край ⇒ краю (land)

Masculine nouns with ends -ань, -аль, – ель ⇒ + -ю

  • здоровань ⇒ здорованю (cheers)
  • госпіталь ⇒ госпіталю (hospital)
  • житель ⇒ жителю (resident, inhabitant)

Feminine nouns with ends -ань ⇒ -е

  • відстань ⇒ відстане (distance)
  • мораль ⇒ морале (morality)
  • модель ⇒ моделе (model)

Attention
Only one Ukrainian word in plural has the vocative case


The word “пани” (Sirs /gentlemen) has the vocative case in plural. We say “панове”

For example:

  • Вітаю, панове! – Hello, Gentlemen
  • Шановні панове, звертаюсь до Вас… – Dear Sirs, I appeal to you…
Ukrainian test

Test

Check if you know this lesson:

1. When do we use the vocative case mostly?
in business language
in spoken language
in day-to-day life

2. Which option is correct? Шановний …
слухач
слухаче
слухачу

3. We do not use the vocative for neuter gender.
true
false

4. Which options is correct?
шановний учень
шановний учню
шановне учню

5. Finish the following sentence: Дозвольте Вам нагадати, …
Олексію Васильовичу
Олексіє Васильовичу
Олексію Васильвич



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