Texts in Ukrainian
Short texts in Ukrainian with a translation alongside and comprehension questions, levels A1–B1. The first ones need two or three hundred everyday words; the B1 texts need about three thousand. The translation stands next to it whole, not word by word: 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 · I live in Kyiv. Today I am at the market. There is bread, cheese, meat and fish here. I…
- 📖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…
- 📖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–B1. For the first texts the letters and two or three hundred everyday words are enough; the B1 texts need about three thousand. 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.