Verbs in -sia: boiusia, smiiusia, khvyliuiusia
The little tail -sia stays glued to the verb and changes with the person: ia smiiusia, ty smiieshsia, vin smiietsia. Think of English verbs with -self — I enjoy myself — Ukrainian just makes the tail permanent. For example: “Я боюся висоти, а він ні” — I am afraid of heights, he is not. A rule from the Ukrainian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
The little tail -sia stays glued to the verb and changes with the person: ia smiiusia, ty smiieshsia, vin smiietsia. Think of English verbs with -self — I enjoy myself — Ukrainian just makes the tail permanent.
Feelings almost all wear it: boiatysia be afraid, divuvatysia be surprised, khvyliuvatysia worry, svarytysia quarrel, spodivatysia hope, zaspokoitysia calm down. Learn them as pairs with a noun: strakh → boiatysia, khvylia → khvyliuvatysia, spokii → zaspokoitysia.
Two verbs here trip everyone: divytysia means to watch, divuvatysia means to be surprised — same root, one suffix apart: divuvatysia tsinam.
And what follows the verb is its own business. Boiatysia temriavy takes the of form, spodivatysia na dyvo takes na, sumuvaty za domom takes za.
Table
| verb | what follows | example |
|---|---|---|
| boiatysia | the of form | boiatysia sobak |
| spodivatysia | na + object | spodivatysia na dyvo |
| sumuvaty | za + the -om form | sumuvaty za domom |
| divuvatysia | the to form | divuvatysia tsinam |
By example
- Я боюся висоти, а він ніI am afraid of heights, he is not
- Не дивуйся, тут завжди такDo not be surprised, it is always like this here
- Вони сваряться і миряться щотижняThey quarrel and make up every week
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
Why Ukrainian feeling verbs end in -sia: boiusia?
The little tail -sia stays glued to the verb and changes with the person: ia smiiusia, ty smiieshsia, vin smiietsia. Think of English verbs with -self — I enjoy myself — Ukrainian just makes the tail permanent.
What does it look like in an example sentence Ukrainian?
“Я боюся висоти, а він ні” — I am afraid of heights, he is not. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.