in Ukrainian texts
Short in Ukrainian texts with a translation alongside and comprehension questions. Levels A1–A2: a stock of two or three hundred everyday words is already enough. The translation stands next to it whole, not word by word — a dictionary is still too early at this level: stopping at every other word tears the sentence apart.
All texts
- 📖An ordinary dayA1 · Good morning! My name is Olya and I live in Kyiv. In the morning I drink coffee and eat…
- 📖At the marketA2 · Today is Saturday and I am going to the market. It is the Bessarabsky Market in the…
- 📖Saturday at the marketA1 · Every Saturday I go to the market near my home. The seller already knows me and weighs…
- 📖An apartment for rentA2 · Last month I moved. The new apartment is on the fifth floor, the elevator works, but the…
- 📖A week with a coldA1 · On Monday a cough and a runny nose started. On Tuesday my throat hurt and I had a…
- 📖An autumn SundayA1 · On an autumn Sunday in Kyiv it is cool. In the morning the sky is cloudy, and at noon the…
- 📖My jobA2 · I work in a small office in the center. On Monday and Thursday I go to the office; the…
- 📖The road to LvivA2 · I bought the ticket in advance, round trip, a seat by the window. The train left at six…
- 📖A day by the seaA1 · In the morning the sea is calm, and we go to the beach. The sand is still cold, but the…
- 📖Shopping before winterA1 · Before winter I buy warm clothes. The old jacket has become too small, and the boots let…
- 📖Over a little thingA2 · Yesterday we quarreled over a trifle: I was late for our meeting and did not warn her.…
- 📖Dinner at homeA2 · On Friday we cook at home. I chop the onion and carrots, my sister fries fish in oil, and…
- 📖A day without a phoneA2 · In the morning the battery died, and I had left the charger at home. At first it was…
- 📖Saturday errands in the cityA2 · On Saturday I go around half the city. First the barbershop: a haircut takes twenty…
- 📖A match in the yardA1 · Every Saturday the guys play football at the school stadium. The teams put themselves…
- 📖Christmas in the villageA2 · For Christmas we go to Grandma in the village. In the evening there are twelve dishes on…
- 📖Our familyA1 · There are five of us: my parents, me, my brother and my sister. Grandma and Grandpa live…
- 📖The first year of universityA2 · I entered university last year. At first it was hard: the lectures are long, the…
- 📖The family budgetB1 · Once a month my wife and I sit down and count. Our income is steady, but expenses grow…
- 📖A week in the hospitalB1 · It all started with weakness and a high temperature. The doctor wrote a referral, and I…
- 📖The new positionB1 · I answered a vacancy in February, went through an interview and started work on the first…
- 📖Renovating with our own handsA2 · After moving we decided to renovate ourselves. First we took off the old wallpaper, then…
- 📖A week by carB1 · We rented a car for a week and drove along the sea. Insurance was included in the price…
- 📖How I read the newsB1 · I used to turn on the TV and watch whatever was on. Now I read three sources and compare…
- 📖The queue for documentsB1 · First I booked online, then came fifteen minutes before opening hours. It turned out I…
- 📖How we make decisionsB1 · In our family there is a rule: before deciding, we write the reasons down on a sheet of…
- 📖The schedule of my dayA2 · First I make coffee, then I read my mail. After that work begins, and until lunch I try…
- 📖My grandfatherA2 · Grandpa is gray-haired and short, with thick eyebrows. He is patient and generous: he…
- 📖We quarreled againB1 · It started with a trifle: I forgot to call. She was hurt, I began to make excuses, and…
- 📖Borscht on SundayA2 · On Sunday Mom makes borscht. First she peels the vegetables: potatoes, carrots, onion…
- 📖An unlucky purchaseB1 · I bought the jacket at the mall, did not try it on and rushed. At home it turned out the…
- 📖The phone in for repairB1 · The phone started heating up and freezing, and then it stopped charging. First I checked…
- 📖A summer thunderstormA2 · In the morning it was sunny and muggy, and after lunch the sky turned overcast. First…
- 📖The road to workB1 · I leave at half past seven and walk along the embankment to the bridge. At rush hour the…
- 📖How I learn the languageB1 · At first I learned words in lists and kept nothing in my head. Now I learn them in…
- 📖Ten years laterB1 · Ten years ago I finished school and left for a big city. The first job was hard and dull…
- 📖How not to hurt someoneB1 · Refusing is harder than agreeing. A bare “no” sounds harsh, so it is worth adding a…
- 📖A bakery of her ownB1 · Three years ago Marta left her office job and opened a bakery. At first she baked…
- 📖Read the contract carefullyB1 · I signed the contract without reading it — and then spent a month sorting it out. It…
- 📖The courtyard that changedB1 · There used to be nothing in our courtyard: a broken bench, a garbage bin and weeds. Then…
- 📖The book I will not forgetB1 · This book was given to me in childhood. The cover wore out long ago, and I know the first…
- 📖The first marathonB1 · I trained for half a year: at first I ran three kilometers at a time, then ten. The…
- 📖How I came to love scienceB1 · At school chemistry seemed boring: formulas, numbers, no meaning at all. Then the teacher…
- 📖A year without bad habitsB1 · A year ago I quit smoking. The first two weeks were the hardest: everything irritated me…
- 📖A family celebrationA2 · Twice a year the whole family gathers at Grandma's. The table is set together, and the…
- 📖How we did not quarrelB1 · The argument started over a trifle and grew into hurt feelings. Then a colleague proposed…
- 📖The decision I fearedB1 · If I had decided earlier, it would have been easier. But I kept putting it off: I thought…
- 📖The old chestB1 · In the attic stood a chest. Its surface is rough, its corners worn, its wood heavy.…
- 📖The shortcutB1 · The road around the pond is long, so I always took the shortcut. The path led across a…
- 📖Counting everythingB1 · Father taught me to count. Not money — everything: how many steps to the store, how many…
- 📖From zeroB1 · The first attempt failed. We took on the business together, without money and without…
- 📖Check the sourceB1 · A neighbor said the water would be cut off for a month. Talk spread, and people began…
- 📖The city that is no moreB1 · My grandpa remembered a different city. In those years a market stood on the square, and…
- 📖The river behind the factoryB1 · People once swam in this river. Then the factory began discharging wastewater, and the…
- 📖The first day in the shopB1 · The safety briefing lasted two hours. I was given work clothes, shown the machine and…
- 📖The night trainB1 · Once I rode a night train and nearly slept through my station. Suddenly the attendant…
- 📖The neighbor from the third floorB1 · At first he seemed withdrawn: he would say hello and walk on. The neighbor women gossiped…
- 📖The Sunday marketA2 · On Sunday we go to the market. It is two steps from home, right around the corner. Mom…
- 📖My streetA2 · Our apartment building stands on the main street. On the left there is a small park with…
- 📖My morningA2 · I wake up at six, though getting up early is hard. I wash, shave, get dressed and have…
- 📖The twelve monthsA2 · The months of the year here tell about nature. In March the birch sap flows, in April the…
- 📖The two of us and moneyA2 · My husband works at a car wash, and I work at a travel agency. We count our money…
- 📖Saturday at homeA2 · Every Saturday we clean. I vacuum the rug in the living room, dust and mop the floor. My…
- 📖What lay in the chestA2 · At Grandma's in the storeroom stood a wooden chest. Inside lay a bedspread, pillowcases…
- 📖A week with the faucetA2 · At first the faucet only dripped. I thought it would be enough to tighten it harder, but…
- 📖No one knew anythingA2 · In the morning there was no light anywhere in the stairwell. None of the neighbors knew…
- 📖Dad's toolboxA2 · In the shed stands my father's toolbox. There are an axe, a saw, a brush, a can of…
- 📖A week at homeA2 · On Monday I started coughing. I took my temperature — thirty-seven point five. I had to…
- 📖A week of weatherA2 · The start of the week was hot: twenty-nine degrees and not a cloud. On Wednesday a cloud…
- 📖The letter that came backA2 · I sent a registered letter with documents. The sender is me; the recipient is an office…
- 📖The intern's first dayA2 · The workday starts at nine and ends at six. On the first day I was given a simple task…
- 📖My first gradeA2 · The school year began in September. The school uniform was a bit too big, and the satchel…
- 📖The road to the seaA2 · In summer we go south. First by night train: a sleeper car, a seat by the aisle, an…
- 📖The yard in the villageA2 · At Granny Anna's in the yard live a duck, a goose and a rooster. The rooster sings at…
- 📖What I wearA2 · In my closet there are few things: jeans, two shirts — one plain, the other checked — a…
- 📖The people aroundA2 · My neighbor is quiet and a little lonely, but very responsible: if he promised, he will…
- 📖Dinner for threeA2 · I fry potatoes in vegetable oil, my wife cooks lentils, and my son puts on the kettle. We…
- 📖A week without a phoneA2 · The smartphone broke on Tuesday: first the microphone stopped working, then the phone's…
- 📖A night at the hotelA2 · We asked for a quiet room and got one by the elevator. The mattress turned out to be…
- 📖Saturday in the parkA2 · On Saturday we had free time and went to the park. The children rode bicycles, the adults…
- 📖The big familyA2 · In our family everyone knows who is who to whom. My mother-in-law lives nearby, my wife's…
- 📖While the nanny is lateA2 · The nanny was late, and I stayed with the newborn alone. The stroller would not fit in…
How to read a text in a language you barely know
First pass — all the way through, without peeking at the translation. The goal is not to understand but to catch familiar words: there will be more of them than you expect, and that feeling matters more than any rule.
Second pass — with the translation beside you. Now it becomes clear what exactly was in the way: an unknown word, a construction you did not get, or just reading speed.
Third pass — all the way through again. The second pass brings noticeably more, and this step is what makes reading useful: it turns analysis into recognition.
Frequently asked
What level do you need to read texts in Ukrainian?
A1–A2: you know the letters and have a stock of everyday words — about two or three hundred. The translation sits next to it, so an unknown word does not stop the reading.
How many times should you reread the text?
Three times: without the translation, with it, and without it again. The third pass is what all of this is for — the second time you recognize noticeably more.