Are there any patterns in which syllable stress falls on?

Question

My books have said that Ukrainian stress is irregular. The same could be said of English, but there are still some patterns. For example: Stress always falls on the first syllable of words ending in "-tion". Are there any such patterns in Ukrainian?

Answer 1

Yes, there are several notable patterns. Caveat, quite often, they have their own exceptions, so one should not solely rely on these patterns, unless being certain about stressing a specific word.

Nouns

• Declined nouns often keep stress on stem (not on case endings):
  дру́гом, дру́гові, повідо́мленню

• Nouns created with the suffixes usually keep suffix unstressed:
  револю́ція (here is -tion), пози́ція, іннова́ція

• Plural nouns, ending with -и — stress falls on the last syllable (also declined):
  огірки́, огіркі́в, книжки́, книжо́к
  but: іме́нники, сму́жки

• Multi-stem nouns — stress falls on the second stem:
  довготрива́лий, просторі́чний

• Gerund-like nouns ending with -ання — stress falls on the suffix:
  коха́ння, єдна́ння, чита́ння
  but: бі́гання

• Nouns/Adjectives/Verbs with не- prefix do not get stress on this prefix:
  незнайо́мець, незда́тність, недоста́тній
  but: не́хтувати

Adjectives

• Two-syllable adjectives often get stress on last syllable:
  міцни́й, дурни́й
  but: жи́рний
• Diminutive suffix -еньк- often gets stressed:
  солоде́нький

Verbs

• Suffixes of Plural 1st and 2nd Person -емо, -имо, -ете, -ите get stress on the very last syllable:
  п'ємо́, кричите́
  but: бу́дете, хо́дите, зали́шимо
• Suffixes of imperative mood -імо gets stress:
  ході́мо, залиші́мо

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Reading

• Олександр Пономарів — Наголос