The of form: z domu, do sviata, nemaie chasu
English shows this case with of — a cup of sugar, the twelfth of July; Ukrainian shows it with an ending. The only real difficulty lives in masculine nouns: two endings, -a and -u, and the choice is not random. For example: “До свята лишився тиждень” — A week is left before the holiday. A rule from the Ukrainian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
English shows this case with of — a cup of sugar, the twelfth of July; Ukrainian shows it with an ending. The only real difficulty lives in masculine nouns: two endings, -a and -u, and the choice is not random.
-a goes to living beings, concrete things, measures, cities and months: brata, kvytka, stola, metra, Kyieva, tyzhnia, ponedilka.
-u goes to ideas, substances, places and events: chasu, sportu, tsukru, sadu, lisu, yarmarku, zviazku, nastroiu. The border is not always obvious; even speakers check a dictionary for the stubborn ones.
Where you will meet it: after nemaie, after any negation, after numbers from five up. Also after do, z, vid, bez, pislia, dlia, and in dates. Think dvanadtsiatoho lypnia, ts'oho roku, mynuloho tyzhnia.
Table
| word | its of form | why |
|---|---|---|
| brat | brata | a living being |
| kvytok | kvytka | a concrete thing |
| chas | chasu | an idea, not a thing |
| lis | lisu | a place |
By example
- До свята лишився тижденьA week is left before the holiday
- Він приїхав з лісу без грибівHe came back from the forest without mushrooms
- Це подарунок для братаThis is a present for my brother
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
The genitive in Ukrainian: nemaie chasu?
English shows this case with of — a cup of sugar, the twelfth of July; Ukrainian shows it with an ending. The only real difficulty lives in masculine nouns: two endings, -a and -u, and the choice is not random.
What does it look like in an example sentence Ukrainian?
“До свята лишився тиждень” — A week is left before the holiday. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.