28
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What is the meaning of "бавовна" (cotton) referring to explosions?
Бавовна /bavóvna/ is a recently-introduced meme about the current russo-Ukrainian war (2014-current). It is, indeed, a linguistic phenomenon.
There are three factors at play here:
Throughout recent ...
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22
votes
Is there a significant sound difference between Й and Ь?
This one is a tough question.
Phonetic Difference
Is there something I'm missing?
Й is a full-featured consonant, while Ь is a phonological aspect that affects the preceding consonant.
...
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15
votes
Accepted
Can "з" be used without a word following it?
That with and the like at the end of the sentence is very typical of English (and some other Germanic languages), but it is absolutely un-Slavic in general and un-Ukrainian in particular. That is ...
- 5,652
14
votes
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Conventions for the omission of verb `Є`
TL/DR Maybe the most important rule to know: em-dash is used if Predicate is a Noun/Nominative. The rest of cases are really rare.
The verb "to be" has several essentially different meanings:
be in ...
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13
votes
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How to figure out how many syllables Голубамголовивідкушувальне has
What's this
It seems that this is a closed compound word, which appears to be a neologism with which hosts of this show came up on the fly.
This kind of words (Ukr. — голофрастичне утворення/...
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12
votes
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Is "vehicle" really "транспортний засіб"? Do people say that?
Is vehicle really транспортний засіб?
Yes, but itʼs канцеляризм which means bureaucratic jargon, officialese. Also itʼs maybe calque from Russian officialese during USSR. You may find it, as you told,...
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11
votes
Accepted
Is it a strong requirement to use vocative in Ukrainian language?
To cut a long story short: yes, it is obligatory when you address someone.
It is hard to prove that some case is as normal as any other, but in "Правопис" you'll find no notes about vocative case ...
- 4,038
11
votes
When I come to Kyiv, is it possible to learn Ukrainian on the streets or should I visit some special places for this purpose?
It is very important to distinguish between the concepts of "native language" and "language, one prefers to speak in everyday life". The other answer to the stated question, used native language ...
- 1,137
11
votes
The proper way to express a great gratitude in Ukrainian
Addressing a cashier in a shop seems to be somewhere between the official communication and the friends' talk.
So your goal is somewhere between the "formal" addressing (long but most ...
- 15.5k
11
votes
Accepted
Is it correct (or obligatory) to put a comma before the word "що" in Ukrainian?
No, not always.
Що may have several functions:
A demonstrating pronoun (cf. English what)
Що ти читав учора? — "What did you read yesterday?"
Since we have free word order, the ...
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11
votes
Accepted
Якраз meaning "actually"
Dictionaries, indeed, translate якраз as actually. The problem is that both якраз and actually have several different meanings that do not perfectly match:
Actually (1) = really; in fact;
I will ...
- 15.5k
10
votes
Is there a significant sound difference between Й and Ь?
Letter Я can actually represent one or two sounds depending on its position in word and the letter it follows.
Я should be pronounced as /йа/ in the following cases:
Я is the first letter: яблуко — /...
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10
votes
Casual response to "What time is it?"
Yes, there is a casual way to tell time in Ukrainian.
General pattern
Native speakers simply omit words "година" and "хвилина". In most cases you'll be fine, if you stick to this pattern.
Based on ...
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10
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of Shcho na khuy... something
The answer is, we don't know, we can only try guessing.
In every language, colloquial communication, especially the one that uses obscene lexic and swear words, undergo a blooming word formation. ...
- 15.5k
9
votes
Accepted
Comprehensive rules for noun case endings
Your question is in the list of candidates for closing with reason "primarily opinion-based". I agree that it really is a such; please try rephrasing it. Still, I'll try to answer this question as is, ...
- 25.9k
9
votes
Accepted
When I come to Kyiv, is it possible to learn Ukrainian on the streets or should I visit some special places for this purpose?
According to the last census (2001, data for the Kyiv city (in Ukrainian only), data for the Kyiv region (in English)) you have roughly 70% chance to be answered in Ukrainian, which is 2 out every 3 ...
- 4,288
9
votes
Accepted
Ukrainian formal/professional direct address
As @Sasha mentioned in their comment, there's no word that is used only when addressing. Likewise in English, historically, "sir" used to mean, "owner, master, landlord". However, ...
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9
votes
Accepted
Я бачив дім means I saw a house or I saw the house or both?
It depends on the context. If you want to stress it that you saw this specific house, you might use demonstrative pronouns like "цей" ("this") or "той" ("that")....
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9
votes
Does the letter "т" in Russian tend to be "ч" in its Ukrainian parallel?
First off, a small correction: it has nothing to do with the orthography (I have retagged the question); the sounds alternate, and the written letters only follow the pronunciation.
The Consonant ...
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9
votes
Accepted
What are the major pronunciation mistakes of Italians speaking Ukrainian?
Good job! Your pronunciation is far, far better than anyone else's known to me.
A few words have unusual stress, but keep in mind that every live language has dialects, and stress patterns and prosody ...
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8
votes
What could "kn." abbreviation stand for?
is there an online list of Ukrainian abbreviations where I could have found this?
For example: http://abbrs.info/
Chuzhynoiu: kn. VII describes an edition of a book by Oleksandr Oles'.
What does kn. ...
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7
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between допомагати and допомогти?
Допомагати is an imperfective verb (aspect), and допомогти is a perfective verb (aspect). These are typical variations of verbs in Slavic languages, more in English here.
Imperfective verbs convey:
...
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7
votes
Accepted
"Alex": Олександр чи Олексій для міжнародного спілкування та аліасів в онлайн сервісах
Затверджені правила скорочень українських імен мені невідомі. Особливо щодо скорочень латиницею, адже це досить нова тенденція.
Спроби згадати варіації імен на Полтавщині наштовхнули на думку, що ...
- 8,998
7
votes
Accepted
Is "Я ходив у банк вчора" a sensible sentence, or should it use пішов?
Both verbs have numerous meanings. I'm afraid you would need to memorize their usage instead of trying to dig for some solid rule or logic.
One more note. As an avid user of DuoLingo myself, let me ...
- 15.5k
7
votes
Accepted
when do plurals end in -і vs -и?
Or is the explanation on that page just wrong?
Maybe more correctly: very simplified, therefore wrong.
Actually, thereʼre exceptions and Ukrainian has three groups:
Hard where any word ends with any ...
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6
votes
Accepted
What kind of grammatical errors would I use to make a joke about how I can't speak Ukrainian?
An equivalent for
I no speak the English very good.
could be
Моя не говорити український дуже добре.
Compare it with a correct version:
Я не дуже добре говорю українською [по-українськи].
...
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6
votes
The proper way to express a great gratitude in Ukrainian
All options are good and are used.
I prefer to say Щиро дякую because it is short and sounds very natural in Ukrainian.
I personally dislike спасибі because it's very close to Russian спасибо so it ...
- 7,246
6
votes
Is there a significant sound difference between Й and Ь?
Well, first thing that I want to say:
Ь does not have a sound (but instead "softens" the previous consonant)
is simply wrong from international point of view. It looks like true from point of view ...
- 25.9k
6
votes
How do you say "gaming series" in Ukrainian?
The edited question seems to be more clear, so let me suggest another translation:
серія ігор
The literal one-to-one translation does not work every time, especially if it is about a pair of distant ...
- 15.5k
6
votes
Is it correct (or obligatory) to put a comma before the word "що" in Ukrainian?
There's another case when the comma before "що" is not needed: when you're using conjunction "так що". It means "so".
Compare theese two examples:
Пішов дощ, так що ми не могли залишатись на вулиці.
...
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