LingoflyVebkamera, akaunt, zastosunok: words of the web
Ukrainian borrows tech words freely, but makes them sit still and spell its way. For example: “Вебкамера вимкнена (Vebkamera vymknena), увімкни (Uvimkny) мікрофон” (mikrofon) — The webcam is off, switch on the microphone. A rule from the Ukrainian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Ukrainian borrows tech words freely, but makes them sit still and spell its way.
No doubled consonants survive: akaunt, masazh, grupa, atraktsion, hryp. The same single-letter rule as in klas and kasa. The i of Latin roots becomes i: mikrofon, monitor, manikiur, chempion, komiks, internet. At the start of a word it is always i, never y.
Compounds fuse without a hyphen: vebkamera, onlain, pleilist, videodzvinok. The apostrophe after lip consonants and r is required: komp'iuter, kur'ier, interv'iu — without it the consonant would soften.
And where the language has coined its own word, the native one wins ground. Zastosunok for an app, svitlyna beside photo, letovyshche beside airport, vpodobaika as the joking like button.
Table
| in English | in Ukrainian | the rule |
|---|---|---|
| account | akaunt | a single k |
| monitor | monitor | the i of Latin roots |
| webcam | vebkamera | fused, no hyphen |
| computer | komp'iuter | an apostrophe |
By example
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Akaunt with one k, komp'iuter with an apostrophe?
Compounds fuse without a hyphen: vebkamera, onlain, pleilist, videodzvinok. The apostrophe after lip consonants and r is required: komp'iuter, kur'ier, interv'iu — without it the consonant would soften.
What does it look like in a Ukrainian example sentence?
“Вебкамера вимкнена (Vebkamera vymknena), увімкни (Uvimkny) мікрофон” (mikrofon) (Vebkamera vymknena, uvimkny mikrofon) — The webcam is off, switch on the microphone. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.