Ukrainian

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Learning Ukrainian Language

II	This is a Category II Language.

[edit] Ukrainian language reference and parts of speech

Alphabet and pronunciation

[edit] Ukrainian language history and culture

Ukrainian is one of the Slavic languages. This means that it resembles in syntax and vocabulary Polish, Russian, Belorussian, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian. Together with these languages (and such languages as English, German, Greek, Hindi or Persian) it belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. There are a number of theories circulating around the origins of the Ukrainian language. Ukrainian linguists tend to agree that the Ukrainian language developed from a common proto-Slavic tongue (around 8th century) and not from common Eastern Slavic languages. The literary form of Ukrainian was developed in the 18 / 19th century in the writings of such famous Ukrainian poets as Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, Ivan Nechuy-Levytskyi, Panas Myrnyi, Lesya Ukrayinka, Yuriy Fedkovych, Panteleymon Kulish, Marko Vovchok, Olha Kobylanska etc. Monuments to 19 th century Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchnko decorate central squares of most Ukrainian cities. Taras Shevchenko´s poems are collected in famous Kobzar, read by every Ukrainian. Ukrainian school pupils have to know some of his poems by heart. Portraits of Taras Shevchenko can be found in thousands of Ukrainian homes, libraries, universities, schools, including the 100 hryvnya Ukrainian banknotes. His popularity in Ukraine can be compared to that of Shakespeare in England or Dante in Italy. The same can be said about the Ukrainian poet from western Ukraine (area known as Halychyna or Galicia / Galizien in English / German) Ivan Franko after whom universities, theaters, cities (Ivano-Frankivsk) thousands of streets and often villages (Frankove, Ivana Franka etc.) are named all over Ukraine. I. Franko is also depicted on Ukrainian money - banknote of 20 hryvnya.

Ukrainian pronunciation is clear and articulated. In terms of pronunciation clarity it resembles Russian. Typical for Ukrainian is frequency of vowels i (where in Russian stands o/e as for example Peter´s: Russian - PetrOV, Ukrainian PetrIV).

Ukrainian Last Names:

Most of ethnic Ukrainian last names end with -enko,-chko, -ko, -chuk, -skyi (skyj), -vych, -shchuk, -shyn, -iv or are formed after common nicknames (Perebyinis, Kuybida, Chornovil, Bayda; Duda etc.) names or nouns (Byk - bull, Zayets - hare, Kaban - wildbore, Dzhmil - hornet etc.). Formation of last names after nicknames and nouns is uncommon in Russian (-ov is the most typical ending for Russian last names and untypical for Ukrainian ones, though - iv occurs in Ukrainian). Ending -skyi (ski) might indicate Polish origins of many Ukrainians (as -ski endigs are most typcal in Polish) though not necessarily.

Ukrainian Personal Names:

Most common Ukrainian first name are normally Christian (Roman or Greek), such as masculine: Petro (Peter), Pavlo (Paul), Andriy (Andrew), Yuriy (George), Stepan (Steven), Ivan / Ivas / Ivasyk / Yoan (all John), Serhiy (Sergius), Mykola (Nicholas), Semen / Symon (both Simon), Mykhaylo (Michael), Pylyp (Philip), Vasyl (Basil), Roman (Romanus), Taras (Tarasus), Volodymyr / Volodya (Waldemar), Yosyp (Joseph), Yakiv (Jacob), Dmytro / Dmytryk (Demetrius), Maxym (Maximilia), Omelyan / Milko (Emil), Oleksandr / Sashko/ Oleksa / Oleksiy / Oles (all Alexandre), Marko (Mark), Homa / Toma (both Thomas), Hryhoriy / Hryts (Gregory), Yevhen / Genko / Genyk (all Eugene), Opanas / Panas (Panasus), Vitaliy / Vitalik (Vitalius), Victor, Leonid (Leonidus), Panteleymon etc or feminine: Olena (Helen), Mariya / Maryna / Mariyka / Marichka (all Mary), Marta (Martha), Victoria, Iryna / Ira (Irene), Valentyna / Valia (Valentina), Oksana, Tetyana, Natalia / Natalka (Nataly), Hanna /Anna / Hanusia (all Ann), Oleksandra / Lesia (Alexandra), Anastasiya / Nastya (Anastasia). Some first names are of local Slavic root (many of these normally end with - slav, as Ukrainain slava stands for glory): Yaroslav, Svyatoslav, Vyacheslav, Myroslav, Lyubomyr (Ukrainian for peace lover), or Bohdan (Ukrainian for God-given) . Very wide-spread popular feminine first names are Vira (Faith), Nadiya / Nadia (Hope), Lyubov / Lyuba (Love), Svitlana (Light giving / Shining), Halyna / Halia (Galene), Bohdanna / Danna / Danya (God-given), Kateryna / Katia (Catherine) or rare Biblical name Priska (Prisca) (grandmother to Timothy, St. Paul`s fellower). A few Ukrainian names are of Scandinavian Germanic origin and they are the most popular: Ihor / Ihorko (Ingvar), Oleh / Olko (Helgi), Olha / Olia (Helga), more rare is Askold.

Ukrainian vocabulary:

Though Ukrainian shares much of its vocabulary with Polish or Russian (all differing in their pronunciation though), there are also many original Ukrainian words that are not to be found in neither Russian nor Polish, as for example Ukrainian koly - when, inkoly, dekoly - sometimes, istota - being, bahato - many / much, lyudyna - man, zirka - star, vin' - he, rik - year or Traven - May. Ukrainian names for months are Slavic, all connected with natural as phenomenons as blossoming, grass, snow storm, frost, lime, harvesting, leaves-falling (just as in Czech or Slovak): Sichen (January); Lutyi (February); Berezen (March); Kviten (April); Traven (May); Cherven (June); Lypen (July); 8. Serpen (August); Veresen (Septembr); Zhovten (October); Lystopad (November) and Hruden (December). At the same time neighbouring Russian language uses Latin names for months. Ukrainian koly - when (not found in Russian or Polish) is to be found also in Serbo-Croatian. On other hand such nouns as kavun (melon), leleka (stork), maydan (square), kolyba (hut), chaban (sheperd) etc. are of Turkic origin.

Religion:

In terms of religious affiliation ethnic Ukrainians are exclusively Christian, professing an ancient and traditional form of Christianity - Eastern Greek (Byzantine) rite: Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Ukrainian Greek-Catholic (Uniate) church in western Ukraine. Ukraininas were baptised en-masse ar. 980 by grand duke of Kyiv Volodymyr adopting Greek-Christianity from Byzantium. First metropolitans and bishops (seated in Kyiv and Halych) in Ukraine were Greeks, later natives. Prior to 1700 Ukrainian Orthodox Church was subject to the Greek Patriarch in Constantinople (Istanbul). 300 years ago it was sold to Moscow patriarch. With independence, in 1991 Ukrainian Orthodxo Church separated from Moscow Patriarch and is elected Filaret (Denysenko, who had been metroppolitan of Kyiv for 40 years) to be independent Ukrainian Patriarch.

Most of Ukrainians confess belonging to Ukrainian Orthodox Church headed by patriarch Filaret (born Denysenko). Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (numbers over 5 millions believers) is headed by Lyubomyr Huzar and is subordinated to the Pope in Vatican. Evangelical protestantism is booming in Ukraine, many Ukrainian recently became either Pentecostals or Baptists. Islam is foreign to Ukraine, some moslems can be found among non-Ukrainian groups such as Crimean Tatars on the Crimean peninsula and Asian immigrants.

[edit] Glossary

Some examples of most common words in English transliteration:

Так – Tak - yes Ні – Ni - no

Personal pronouns:

Я – Ya - I
Ти - Ty - You (sing.)
Він - Vin - He
Вона - Vona - She
Воно Vono - It

Ми - My - we
Ви - Vy - you (pl.)
Вони - Vony - they

і - i - and; або - abo - or; але - ale - but; чи - chy - whether; щоби / аби - shchoby / aby - in order to.

Nouns:

Тато - Tato - dad
Мама - Mama - mom
Батько - Batko - father
Матір - Matir - mother
Дід, дідо - Did, dido - grandfather
Баба, бабця, бабуся - Baba, babtsya, babusya - grandmother
Син - Syn - son
Діти, дитина - Dity / dytyna - children / child;
Дочка, донька - Dochka, don'ka - daughter
Рік, день, тиждень - Rik / den' / tyzhden - year / day / week
Небо - Nebo - sky
Ліс - Lis - forest
Сонце - Sontse - sun
Місяць - Misiats - moon, month
Річка - Richka - river
Міст - Mist - bridge
Місто - Misto - city
Вулиця - Vulytsya - street

Frazes

Дякую - Diakuyu - thanks
Будь ласка - Bud laska - please
Ласкаво просимо - Laskavo prosymo - welcome
Добрий день - Dobryj den - Good day
Добрий ранок - Dobryj ranok - Good morning
Добрий вечір - Dobryj vechir - Good evening
Привіт - Pryvit - Hi, hello
До побачення - Do pobachennya - Goodbye

Days

Понеділок - Ponedilok - Monday
Вівторок - Vivtorok - Tuesday
Середа - Sereda - Wednesday
Четвер - Chetver - Thursday
П'ятниця - P'yatnytsya - Friday
Субота - Subota - Saturday
Неділя - Nedilya - Sunday
Вчора - Vchora - Yesterday
Сьогодні - Syogodni - Today
Завтра - Zavtra - Tomorrow

Numbers

Один - odyn - 1
Два - dva - 2
Три - try - 3
Чотири - chotyry - 4
П'ять - p'yat - 5
Шість - shist - 6
Сім - sim - 7
Вісім - eight - 8
Дев'ять - dev'yat - 9
Десять - desyat - 10
Одинадцять - odynadtsyat - 11
Дванадцять - dvanadtsyat - 12
Двадцять - dvadtsyat - 20

Verbs:

Кохати, я кохаю - Kokhaty / Ya kokhayu - to love / I love
Сподіватися, я сподіваюся - Spodivatysya / Ya spodivayus' - to hope / I hope
Чекати, я чекаю - Chekaty / Ya chekayu - to wait / I wait
Йти, я йду - Yty (ity) / Ya ydu - to go / I go
Давати, я даю - Davaty / Ya dayu - to give / I give
Їсти, я їм - Yisty / Ya yim - to eat / I eat
Сидіти, я сиджу - Sydity / Ya sydzhu - to seat / I seat
Червоніти, я червонію - Chervonity / Ya chervoniyu - to get red, to blush / I get red, to blush

Colors:

Білий, біла - Bilyj (masc.) / Bila (fem.) - white
Зелений, зелена - Zelenyj / zelena- green
Чорний, чорна - Chornyj / chorna - black
Жовтий, жовта - Zhovtyj / zhovta - yellow
Коричневий, коричнева - Korychnevyj / korychneva - brown
Синій, Синя - Synij / synia - dark blue
Блакитний, блакитна - Blakytnyj / blakytna - light blue
Червоний, червона- chervonyj/ chervona- red
Світлий, світла- svitlyj/ svitla- light
Темний, темна- temnyj/ temna- dark
Сірий, сіра- siryj/ sira- grey

[edit] Places to study Ukrainian

Many metro areas in the USA have sizable Ukrainian populations with organizations that offer classes in Ukrainian language on Saturdays. The Educational Council of The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America has a web site listing Ukrainian Saturday schools