Who does it: -ets, -nyk, -ach, -ar
Ukrainian builds names of people — and of devices — with four suffixes, the same job English gives to -er and -or. Learn the suffixes and half of an unknown word reads itself. For example: “Продавчиня порадила іншу модель” — The saleswoman suggested another model. A rule from the Ukrainian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Ukrainian builds names of people — and of devices — with four suffixes, the same job English gives to -er and -or. Learn the suffixes and half of an unknown word reads itself.
-ets is the doer: prodavets seller, pokupets buyer, gravets player, zlochynets criminal, inozemets foreigner, vegetarianets. In other forms the e drops out: prodavets → prodavtsia. -nyk goes by trade or by thing: robitnyk worker, vantazhnyk loader, prykordonnyk border guard, lichylnyk meter.
-ach is mostly devices, sometimes people: vymykach switch, obigrivach heater, podovzhuvach extender, hliadach viewer, slukhach listener. -ar/-iar is a craft: likar doctor, kukhar cook, perukar hairdresser, shkoliar schoolkid, pekar baker.
The female forms with -ka or -ynia are standard, not optional: prodavchynia, likarka, zhurnalistka, vykladachka, avtorka. Where English retired waitress, Ukrainian went the other way: the masculine about a woman now reads as sloppy.
Table
| suffix | it names | example |
|---|---|---|
| -ets | a doer | prodavets |
| -nyk | a trade or a thing | vantazhnyk |
| -ach | often a device | vymykach |
| -ar | a craft | perukar |
| -ka | her, about a woman | likarka |
| -ynia | her, about a woman | prodavchynia |
By example
- Продавчиня порадила іншу модельThe saleswoman suggested another model
- Вимикач поруч із дверимаThe light switch is next to the door
- Перукарка працює до восьмоїThe hairdresser works until eight
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
Prodavets, likar, vymykach: who-did-it suffixes?
Ukrainian builds names of people — and of devices — with four suffixes, the same job English gives to -er and -or. Learn the suffixes and half of an unknown word reads itself.
What does it look like in an example sentence Ukrainian?
“Продавчиня порадила іншу модель” — The saleswoman suggested another model. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.