Ukrainian has two voices: active and passive. The separate group includes reflexive verbs with the postfix “-ся” (e.g. вмиватися – to wash oneself, одягається – to dress oneself). The passive voice can also be formed by the passive participle and non-personal form of participle ending in “-но, -то” (e.g. маши́ну поми́то – the car is washed, місто побудовано).
- Active voice means that a sentence has a subject that acts upon its verb.
- Passive voice means that a subject is a recipient of a verb’s action.
- Reflexive verbs are used to indicate the concept of ‘self’. The subject and the object are the same person. These verbs end with the suffix –ся (–сь).
| active | passive | reflexive |
|---|---|---|
| Він ми́є автомобі́ль. | Автомобі́ль ми́ється ним. | Він ми́ється. |
| He is washing the car. | The car is being washed by him. | He washes himself. |
| “The car” is the direct object. | “The car” is the subject. | The subject and the object are the same person. |
To conjugate reflexive verbs (зворо́тні дієслова́) you just need to put “ся” at the end of the word. “Ся” comes from себе (-self). The subject and the object refer to the same thing.
ми́ти – ми́тися (to wash – to wash oneself),
Я мию себе. (active) = Я миюся. (reflexive) – I wash myself.
Вони миють себе. (active) = Вони миються. (reflexive)- They wash themselves.
Він миє себе. (active) = Він миється (reflexive) – He washes himself. (“ть” is added before “ся” in third person singular in reflexive form)
Some verbs change their meaning when are used in the reflexive form:
вчи́ти – to teach to learn
вчи́тися – to study
залиша́ти – to leave
залиша́тися – to stay
займа́ти – to occupy
займа́тися – to be busy with something
става́ти – to stand, to become
става́тися – to happen
пи́ти – to drink
напи́тися – to get drunk
