There are 7 grammatical cases in Ukrainian. We need them to show the relationship between words in a sentence. Grammatical cases apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives and numerals.
Ukrainian, unlike English, doesn't have a fixed order of words in a sentence. You can move the words around without changing the meaning of a sentence. It doesn't work that well with long, more complicated sentences.
Ex: "Хло́пець чита́є кни́гу", "Кни́гу чита́є хло́пець" and "Чита́є хло́пець кни́гу" mean the same thing - "A boy reads a book". But the first sentence (Хлопець читає книгу) with "subject - verb - object (SVO)" order sounds more natural. A different order is used when you want to emphasize some part of the sentence. If you try to do the same thing with English the sentence changes it's meaning - "A book reads a boy". The closest English examples are with English pronouns: "He sees her", "Her sees he", "Sees her he".
By changing the ending of the word "книга" to "книгу" you know that "книгу" is the object of the sentence (accusative case). The endings can vary depending on the declension type the noun belongs to. There are 4 declension types. All nouns from the same group will have the same endings when declined. Almost all nouns ending on "а" in nominal case belong to the first declension type. And all of them will follow the same pattern.
This is a general overview of Ukrainian grammatical cases. In another lessons you will learn what case and what ending to use.
| Case (відмі́нок) | Function (фу́нкція) | Question (запита́ння) | Запита́ння (question) | Еxample (при́клад) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative (називни́й) | a subject of a verb | who? what? | хто? що? | ді́вчина чита́є (a girl reads) |
| Genitive (родови́й) | a relationship or possession | whose? from what? what of? | кого́? чого́? | кни́га ді́вчини (a girl's book) |
| Dative (дава́льний) | an indirect object of a verb | whom? what? | ко́му? чо́му? | подару́нок ді́вчині (a gift to a girl) |
| Accusative (знахі́дний) | a direct object | whom? what? | кого́? чого́? | він ба́чить ді́вчину́ (he sees a girl) |
| Instrumental (ору́дний) | a means or tool used or companion present in/while performing an action | with who? with what? | ким? чим? | ро́змова з ді́вчиною (conversation with a girl) |
| Locative (місце́вий) | a location (physical or temporal) | on / in whom? on / in what? | на ко́му? на чо́му? | капелю́х на ді́вчині (a hat on a girl) |
| Vocative (кли́чний) | a direct address | -* | -* | ді́вчино, де ти? Girl, where are you? |
Some examples:
Продаве́ць продає́ футбо́лку ді́вчині. - The seller sells a T-shirt to a girl.
Продаве́ць (nominative)
Футбо́лку (accusative) ← футбо́лка (nominative)
Ді́вчині (dative) ← ді́вчина (nominative)
Це футбо́лка продавця́. - This is the seller's T-shirt.
Футбо́лка (nominative)
Продавця́ (genitive) ← продаве́ць (nominative)
Я пишу́ ру́чкою. - I write with a pen.
Я (nominative)
Ру́чкою (instrumental) ← ру́чка (nominative)
Су́мка в маши́ні. - The bag is in the car.
Су́мка (nominative)
В маши́ні (locative) ← маши́на (nominative)
Note: Some words of foreign origin never change their endings:
Вона́ чита́є меню́ в кафе́. - She reads the menu at the cafe.
Вона́ (nominative)
Меню́ (accusative) = Меню́ (nominative)
Кафе́ (locative) = Кафе́ (nominative)