Home and things in Ukrainian

255 words on the topic

• дім

  house

  Said "deem", with a long i. Doma, "at home", becomes vdoma — one small word, and the preposition v grows onto the front of it.
• квартира

  apartment

  The same word as flat or apartment. A floor is poverkh and the floor you walk on is pidloha — one English word splits in two here.
• житло

  lodging

  The word of rental ads: zdaetsia zhytlo — "lodging for rent". In live conversation people just say kvartyra.
• кімната

  room

  Apartments are counted by rooms: dvokimnatna kvartyra — a two-room apartment, said in one breath.
• кухня

  kitchen

  The cook is a kukhar — same nest, one letter more. He will reappear in the lesson about jobs.
• ванна кімната

  bathroom

  The room, not the tub — though the same word does both jobs. The toilet lives separately and is called tualet: no surprises there.
• балкон

  balcony

  Rental ads write z balkonom — "with a balcony" — and that with-phrase adds to the price. A balcony counts here.
• поверх

  floor (storey)

  Floors count from one: pershyi poverkh. Nothing borrowed from any "floor" you know — just memorize its shape.
• ліфт

  elevator

  Said "lyft". When it fails — lift ne pratsiuie — you get the phrase from the next lesson for free.
• сходи

  stairs

  Always plural — many steps, one word. Skhody vverity lead up; the elevator being broken makes them personal.
• стіл

  table

  Half of the furniture trap: stil is a TABLE. The other half is stilets, a chair — one ending apart, worlds apart. Na stili: on the table.
• стілець

  chair

  The other half of the trap: stilets is a CHAIR, and a table is stil. One chair, many: stilt si — no, stilt si is wrong: many chairs are stiltysi.
• ліжко

  bed

  Kin to English "lair" and "lie" — the lying-down word. The borrowed krevat exists in books, but at home it is lizhko.
• шафа

  wardrobe

  A built-in one is vbudovana shafa — and every Ukrainian stairwell seems to have one. The word is its own; nothing borrowed.
• вікно

  window

  An i where you would guess an o — vikno. It bends with a vowel jump too: u vikni, "in the window".
• двері

  door

  Always plural, even for one door — like "the doors are closed" about a single door: dveri zakryti.
• ключ

  key

  A key to a door and a key to a riddle — the same word, the same trick as English. A spring of water is a different word entirely.
• лампа

  lamp

  The same lamp as everywhere in Europe. Light in general is svitlo — it waits for you in the lesson about the sky.
• гаряча вода

  hot water

  Hariacha is its own word for "hot to the touch". For hot weather the language switches to spekotno — two kinds of heat, two words.
• електрика

  electricity

  The bill writes it this way: rakhunok za elektryku, "the bill for electricity" — and it arrives every single month.
• сміття

  garbage

  The bin is smitnyk, and sorting is taken seriously here. The word is native and short; just plant it.
• прибирання

  cleaning

  From prybiraty, "to tidy" — the same verb tidies a room and sorts out affairs. Saturday is its day.
• прання

  laundry

  From praty, "to wash clothes" — a cousin of the English "press"? No: anchor it on pralna mashyna, the washing machine, its daily job.
• посуд

  dishes

  Almost the international word, just missing the final vowel. Pomyty posud — "to wash the dishes" — the standing evening chore.
• рушник

  towel

  Also the embroidered rushnyk on the wall — cloth for everything clean, ritual and kitchen alike. One word, one culture.
• мило

  soap

  Stress up front: MYlo. Do not confuse it with mylo said of a person — "nice, sweet" — same spelling, different word.
• сусід

  neighbor

  The letters shifted from anything guessable: susid. A female neighbor is susidka — one ending does the whole job.
• власник квартири

  landlord

  From vlasnyi, "own": the landlord is the own-er of the apartment. Speech often says hospodar, but in the contract you will read vlasnyk.
• оренда

  rent

  A Latin-born word, cousin of "rendition" ideas. Orenduvaty is "to rent" — rental ads are full of it.
• ремонт

  repairs

  Fixing a faucet and renovating a whole flat answer to the same word — context stretches it from a washer to a wrecking ball.
• гамірно

  noisy

  From hamir, a din and a hubbub. The noun is ordinary everyday vocabulary here, not a colorful slang word — the courtyard in the evening simply is hamirno.
• не працює

  it does not work

  Pratsiuvaty you know; ne goes in front and the machine is dead. About a device and about a person — one phrase, context decides.
• зламалося

  it broke down

  The reflexive tail is written solid onto the verb. Note the a in the stem: lamaty is the base verb, and the past form keeps that a — zlamalosia.
• тече

  it leaks

  From tekti, to flow. For a dripping tap or a leaky ceiling people just say it flows — no prefix, no special verb for plumbing troubles.
• викличте майстра

  call a repairman

  From vyklykaty, "to call out". A maister is any skilled pair of hands — plumber, electrician, handyman — one word covers the trade.
• коли ви прийдете?

  when will you come?

  Koly is "when". The politeness sits in vy and the ending -te — the same respectful plural English shows with "you".
• холодильник

  fridge

  Built from "kholod", cold — the cold-thing. The milk is in the fridge, and so is everything else.
• дах

  roof

  A short word that sounds like nothing you know — learn it as a fresh shape. In fast speech do not confuse it with dam, the past of daty, gave.
• стіна

  wall

  The same ancient wall-word family as English stone relatives, with an i where you expect another vowel. Pictures hang on it: na stini.
• спальня

  bedroom

  From spaty, to sleep: the sleeping room, with the same -nia place-ending you know. The living room is vitalnia — from vity tovy, to greet.
• двір

  yard

  Closed syllable with i: dvir, opening up in the of-form — dvoru, u dvori. One letter apart from dveri, the door, so mind the spelling.
• стеля

  ceiling

  From stelyty, to spread or lay — the ceiling as the thing spread above you. The pair to remember: vid pidlohy do steli, from floor to ceiling.
• ворота

  gate

  Always plural, exactly like the English word — no singular exists. The same vorota guards the football net, so the sports sense comes free.
• паркан

  fence

  A homegrown word — the everyday fence around a yard, usually wooden and repainted almost every year. A fresh shape; learn it whole.
• гараж

  garage

  The international word, stressed on the second syllable like English. An underground parking in an apartment building is also a harazh — same word on every rental listing.
• поштова скринька

  mailbox

  Literally a postal little-chest: skrynia is a chest, so the mailbox is a small chest for letters. Your email inbox is also a skrynka — same metaphor, newer mail.
• підвал

  basement

  Built as under-hollow: pid-, under, plus val. A wine cellar may also be called pidval, though the older word pohrib still lives for the cellar proper.
• мити посуд

  to wash the dishes

  Word for word like English, with myty, to wash, from your kitchen words. The dishwasher is a posudomyika — a dish-washer, built exactly the way you would build it.
• підмітати

  to sweep

  FromMitla, the broom — the sweeping verb grew its own root. The yard gets swept with it, and for the dvirnyk it is the main verb of the trade.
• прати

  to wash clothes

  Praty is the laundry verb — styraty would erase writing, not clean sweaters. From it come prannia, the washing, and pralnia, the laundromat.
• прасувати

  to iron (clothes)

  Clothes are prasuiut, but a person you hladiate — the petting verb never touches an iron. One verb for linen, another for strokes.
• готувати вечерю

  to cook dinner

  Vecheria is the evening meal, not the evening — the evening is vechir, the day's biggest false friend. Hotu vaty you already know; now the meal has its name.
• виносити сміття

  to take out the trash

  Smit tia is trash, from the same sweeping family. The bins are sorted, and sortu vaty, to sort, is the verb the whole system runs on.
• пилосос

  vacuum cleaner

  Built exactly like the old English word dust-sucker: pyl, dust, plus sosaty, to suck. The verb is simply pyloso syty — honest, see-through construction.
• щітка

  brush

  The everyday word for a brush, with the special letter shch at the start. A toothbrush is a zubna shchitka — pairs assemble just the way you would hope.
• відро

  bucket

  Same family as the English word for water-carrier, one letter off — and an eye-trap: vidro, bucket, is not vikno, window. One letter changes the whole room.
• праска

  iron (for clothes)

  The homegrown word for the appliance — a fresh shape. It anchors a whole family: prasuvaty, to iron, prasuvalna doshka, the ironing board.
• допомагати

  to help

  Do- plus pomahaty — helping goes with the toward-form of the person: dopoma haiu mami, I help mother. One helper, one little ending, done.
• зачини двері

  to close the door

  A door is zachyniaiut, not shut with the everyday verb — the same word behind zachyneno on shop signs. Dveri is always plural.
• відчини вікно

  to open the window

  The partner of zachyny dveri: windows and doors are vidchyniaiut, while a book you would open with vidkryty. Two opening verbs — flaps and covers.
• подай мені

  hand me

  A short command, and meni, to me, follows the verb right away — the same rhythm as hand-me. Polite version: poda ite meni, bud laska.
• тихіше, будь ласка

  quieter, please

  The comparative ends in -ishe: tyshe, povilnishe, teplishe — one recipe for every "a bit more" plea, from silence to warmth.
• винаймати квартиру

  to rent an apartment

  From naimaty, to hire: an apartment is hired, not "taken off" anyone. The person doing it is naimach — the lease word is built right in.
• здавати квартиру

  to let out an apartment

  One verb, two directions: people "zdayut" an exam and an apartment alike. The ad is short — "zdam kvartyru", I am letting one — the first line of every listing.
• договір оренди

  rental agreement

  "Orenda" and "dohovir" you know from the first wave — here they finally meet. The parties are "orendodavets" and "orendar": who lets and who rents.
• орендна плата

  rent (payment)

  Paid by the fifth of the month, separate from the utilities — the "komunalnyi rakhunok" you already paid. People just ask: "skilky orenda?"
• термін оренди

  lease term

  Termin again means a stretch of time. To extend is prodovzhyty, from dovghyi, long — renewing a lease is, literally, making it longer.
• рієлтор

  realtor

  The ie pair reads "ye": riieltor. The fee is komisiia riieltora — the whole transaction vocabulary arrives with the same borrowed spelling.
• огляд квартири

  apartment viewing

  From "hliadity", to look — a "perehliad" is a viewing of a flat and of a film with the same word. In Kyiv a dozen people show up for one viewing.
• квартира з меблями

  furnished apartment

  "Mebli" is always plural — that is the headline news. Ads say "z mebliamy", furnished, "chastkovo z mebliamy", partly, and "bez mebliv", empty.
• вʼїхати

  to move in

  The apostrophe is not optional: v plus the yi letter needs a divider between them. The driveway sense lives in viizd, the entrance.
• зʼїхати

  to move out

  The same apostrophe rule as its cousins: ziikhaty, ziizd, ziisty. One prefix, one divider — once you hear the pattern, moving vans make sense.
• переїзд

  moving (to a new home)

  The same "izd" as in "poizd", a train — the letter with two dots stretches out as its own syllable. A railway crossing is also "pereizd".
• переїжджати

  to relocate

  On paper it is long; in the mouth the zhd fuses into one doubled dzh sound. The move itself, pereizd, is the short word everyone uses.
• вантажник

  mover (laborer)

  "Vantazh" is cargo, and "vantazhivka", the truck, shares the root. There is no separate word for the person — an ad simply asks for "vantazhnyky".
• запакувати

  to pack up

  The prefix "za-" closes things: to pack is to close the box. "Paket" you already carried from the shop — same root doing the packing.
• розпакувати

  to unpack

  "Roz-" takes apart what "za-" put together — the prefixes work as a pair throughout the language. After a move, boxes wait unpacked for weeks.
• нова адреса

  new address

  The gender trap: "adresa" is feminine, so it takes "nova", not "novyi". You already wrote an address on an envelope — now you can say it too.
• перевезення речей

  moving of belongings

  "Rechi" are the things you already packed for a trip. "Perevezennia" comes from "perevesty", to carry across, and covers passenger transport too.
• облаштуватися

  to settle in

  Inside is "lashtuvaty", to arrange — a living root that also gives "oblashtuvannia", the settling-in itself. You do it in a flat and at a new job with the same word.
• звикнути до нового місця

  to get used to a new place

  The prefix is z-, and the preposition is do: zvyknuty do chohos. The habit itself is zvychka — know the family and the phrase assembles itself.
• меблі

  furniture

  Always plural — "novi mebli", "kupyty mebli" — the word has no singular form at all. Learn it as a plural-only noun, like "scissors".
• диван

  couch

  A fold-out couch is "rozkladnyi dyvan", and sleeping on it is "spaty na dyvani" — the everyday guest bed of every home.
• крісло

  armchair

  One i in the root is the whole difference. But a seat in a cinema or on a plane is "mistse", not "krislo" — you know that word from tickets.
• полиця

  shelf

  A bookshelf is "knyzhkova polytsia", and the whole tall unit is a "stelazh" — the next word you meet at the furniture store.
• килим

  carpet

  A little one by the door is a "kylymok", the affectionate form — and you will hear it in every home: "wipe your feet on the kylymok".
• дзеркало

  mirror

  Starts with a "dz" — a buzzing d-plus-z sound that rarely opens a word in the languages you know; it marks borrowings. The rear-view mirror is "dzerkalo zadannoho vydu".
• штора

  drapes

  A light curtain is a "zaviska", a heavy one a "shtora" — the curtain rod is "karniz", and it holds curtains and pictures alike.
• подушка

  pillow

  An airbag in a car is "podushka bezpeky", a safety pillow, with the same word. The pillowcase keeps its own familiar name.
• ковдра

  blanket (duvet)

  The duvet cover is "pidkovdra" — literally "under-the-kovdra" — so the pair memorizes itself in one second.
• люстра

  ceiling lamp

  In speech people just say "svitlo": "uvimkny svitlo", switch on the light. A desk lamp is a "nastilna lampa".
• фарба

  paint

  To paint is "farbuvaty" — the same root carries both. Paint comes in "banky", cans, and a room needs two of them.
• фарбувати стіни

  to paint the walls

  The same verb dyes hair — the language does not split those two "paintings". The brush is a "penzel", the roller a "valyk".
• шпалери

  wallpaper

  Always plural, like the furniture word. You "kleite shpalery", glue them on — and in Ukraine people paint more often than they paper.
• плитка

  tile

  You lay it — "klasty plytku". No bathroom or kitchen escapes it, and the word travels everywhere hand in hand with "farba".
• викрутка

  screwdriver

  From "vykruchuvaty", to twist out — the tool named by its action. A screw is a "shurup", but a nail is a "tsviah", a word all its own.
• дриль

  drill

  Feminine: "drill", "drilliuiu" — with the drill. Drilling on Sunday is not done — neighbors will mention the "tykhi hodyny", the quiet hours you already know.
• труба

  pipe

  One word for the water pipe and the brass horn alike. A burst is announced as "the truba burst" — plumbing and music share the noun, context decides.
• перегоріла лампочка

  a light bulb burned out

  The prefix "pere-" carries the burning-through, and "lampochka" is the affectionate little lamp. Replacing it is "zaminity lampochku".
• опалення

  heating

  From "palyty", to burn or stoke — heating is literally the stoking. The radiator is "radiator", and underfloor heating is "tepla pidloha" — winter words worth having.
• зробити ремонт

  to do renovations

  "Remont" you already called a repairman for — same word, bigger scale. "Zrobyty" is to do or make: renovations, an order, anything.
• лічильник

  utility meter

  From "lichyty", to count — the thing that counts. The water meter is "lichylnyk vody", the electric one "elektrolichylnyk", and you report it monthly.
• показники лічильника

  meter readings

  "Pokaznyky" are the readings, sent once a month through a site or an app. The second word is just the meter bent into the "of" form.
• рахунок за воду

  water bill

  The same rakhunok as the cafe check and the bank account — one word for everything anyone bills you for. Za simply names what the money buys.
• рахунок за електрику

  electricity bill

  Elektryka is shorter than the English noun and a she-word at that. The bill arrives separately, and the phrase for it stays two words long.
• вимкнули воду

  the water was cut off

  The same vymknuty that switches off the television — light, water, sound, one verb switches them all. Utility notices read like remote-control buttons.
• сміттєвий бак

  garbage bin

  From smittia, garbage, with the -ievyi adjective ending. The chute is smittieprovid and the bin-room is smitnyk — the waste family in three words.
• підʼїзд

  building entrance

  The apostrophe in the middle is required — it separates the two vowels like a tiny gate. In an address you say "pidizd dva", entrance two.
• домофон

  intercom

  The buzzer on it is the same "dzvinok" you know from school. "Poddzvonyty v domofon" — to ring the intercom — takes the same preposition as expected.
• шум від сусідів

  noise from the neighbors

  "Susid" you know from the first wave — a neighbor is a neighbor. Quiet hours run from ten at night to six in the morning, and the complaint phrase is "meni zavazhaie shum".
• правила будинку

  building rules

  Budynok is the apartment block; dim is home as family and hearth. The rules hang in the budynok, so the phrase picks the building word.
• духовка

  oven

  Preheat the oven is rozihrity dukhovka — the phrase every recipe starts with. A folksier spelling dukhivka exists, but the manual on your appliance says dukhovka.
• мікрохвильовка

  microwave

  The physics is in the word: khvylia is "a wave", so this is literally a micro-wave oven. The full name, mikrokhvylova pich, is for manuals.
• тертка

  grater

  Built on terty, "to grate": the tool is named straight from the action. The phrase for grating cheese reuses the same root: naterty.
• ополоник

  ladle

  The deep spoon of the kitchen, named honestly. A long word, but it stands at every soup pot in the country, so it earns its syllables.
• кришка

  lid

  From kryty, "to cover": a lid is "the covering". Cover the pot with the lid — nakryi kastryliu kryshkoiu — the instrumental case does exactly what "with" does.
• дошка для нарізання

  cutting board

  A plank and its job: doshka is any board, and dlia narizannia says "for slicing". A purpose phrase instead of a fancy adjective.
• фартух

  apron

  An old borrowed word, ending in a firm kh. Masculine: nadity fartukh — put on the apron — the first commandment of any flour-based cooking.
• скатертина

  tablecloth

  The thing you spread on the table, from "to spread or lay". The diminutive skatertynka lives in stories about grandmothers' kitchens — and on real ones too.
• блендер

  blender

  International, stress on the last syllable: blendEr. An immersion blender is a zanuriiuvalnyi blender — "diving blender" — a description longer than the appliance.
• контейнер для їжі

  food container

  Izha is "food", born fromisty, "to eat" — and the two-dotted i reads as "yi". Same recipe as the board next door: container for food.
• гребінець

  comb

  A comb as a little raker: the root hreb- means "to rake, to row", and -ets is the same small-agent ending you see in job titles.
• бритва

  razor

  From bryty, "to shave" — the tool named by its verb. A disposable razor is a odnorazova brytva, an honest disposable description.
• шампунь

  shampoo

  Ends in a soft sign, masculine gender. Hair conditioner is a balzam dlia volOssia — "balm for hair" — built like your "balm".
• ножиці

  scissors

  From nizh, "knife": nozhytsi are "little knives", plural only — the same always-pair grammar as English scissors. Pass me the scissors: podai nozhytsi.
• голка

  sewing needle

  The eye of the needle is the ushko holky — the "little ear", the same tender metaphor as English. Thread is a nytka, its inseparable partner.
• нитка

  thread

  Stress on the first syllable: nYtka. A spelling variant nItka lives in dictionaries, but speech prefers the front-stressed one. I need a white thread and a needle.
• викинути

  to throw out

  From kynuty, "to throw": vykynuty is to throw out or away. Taking out the trash is the same verb — vykynuty smittia — one word for the whole chore.
• зберігати

  to store

  Born from berehty, "to keep safe" — the verb you use for keeping a receipt. Its noun zberihannia is "storage", as on left-luggage signs.
• пральна машина

  washing machine

  From praty, "to launder": pralna mashyna is literally "the laundering machine". The machine has been washing for two hours — it praie — its own verb at work.
• посудомийна машина

  dishwasher

  Posudomyina — "dish-washing" — from posud, dishes, and myty, to wash. At home people shorten it to posudomyika, because nobody has breath for the full name.
• морозильник

  freezer (compartment)

  From moroz, "frost": the freezer is the frost-box. Do not confuse it with the kholodylnyk, the fridge — two appliances, two temperatures, two words.
• вентилятор

  fan (electric)

  International, stressed on the end: ventylatOr. An air conditioner is a kondytsioner — longer, calmer, and more expensive.
• обігрівач

  heater

  The -ach ending is a machine-maker: the switch and the heater share it. Built on hrity, "to warm", with ob- saying "around".
• фен

  hair dryer

  One syllable, borrowed from a brand name long ago. In a shop ask for a fen dlia volOssia — "a fen for hair" — and the shelf finds itself.
• подовжувач

  extension cord

  From dovhYi, "long": an extension cord is a "lengthener". The socket is a rozetka — a word as round and friendly as the hole it names.
• вимикач

  light switch

  From vymknuty, "to switch off": the switch is named for its job, not its shape. The light switch by the door: vymykach svitla v dvEri.
• шуруп

  screw

  A German borrowing, like so much of the toolbox. A nail is a tsviakh, a screwdriver is a vykrutka — each tool its own name, none shared.
• гайковий ключ

  wrench

  From haika, "nut": the wrench is "the nut key". Kliuch alone is a door key — in a toolbox you must say the whole phrase or get the wrong tool.
• плоскогубці

  pliers

  Flat plus pinch, plural only — jaws that pinch flat. The workshop also knows them under a second, borrowed name.
• ізолента

  insulating tape

  From izoliatsiia, "insulation": izolenta is insulating tape, the electrician's duct tape. Strichka is tape in general; izolenta is the black sticky specific.
• клей

  glue

  From kleity, "to glue" — noun and verb, same three letters. Superglue is superklei, borrowed and bolted on, exactly as you would predict.
• скотч

  sticky tape

  The borrowed word, said exactly as the brand. The native name is kliika strichka, "gluey ribbon" — the same strichka that runs a news feed.
• мотузка

  rope

  From motatyy, "to wind": a rope is "the windable thing" — the laundry line is a motuzka dlia bilizni. The verb and the noun share one winding motion.
• приклеїти

  to stick on

  Klei, "glue", sits inside with yi packed in front of the ending. Turn the prefix around and the handle comes unglued all by itself.
• закрутити

  to screw in tight

  From krutity, "to turn": zakrutytyy is to twist shut, done. To unscrew is vykrutity — out. The prefixes do all the directions.
• виміряти

  to measure

  From mira, "measure": vy-miriatiy is to measure out. A tape measure is a ruletka — borrowed, round, and indispensable. Measure the width of the door first.
• лагодити своїми руками

  to fix things with your own hands

  Lahodyty is the repair word, and there is no shortcut for it — it has to be learned as itself. The tools are your own two hands, in the with-form.
• душ

  shower

  International. To go to the shower: pi ti v dush — the first word said after leaving the gym.
• будильник

  alarm clock

  Built on budy ty, "to wake" — transparent. Postav yty budyln yk, "set the alarm"; pros paty budyln yk, "sleep through it" — with pros paty, the oversleep verb.
• термометр

  thermometer

  International — outdoor and medical alike; at the pharmacy they say hradusn yk, the everyday thermometer word. Air temperature you know from the weather unit.
• тостер

  toaster

  Borrowed as is. The toasted slice is a pidsmazh enyi khlib, "toasted bread" — the drink toast is another word, said at the table, not the kitchen.
• швейна машина

  sewing machine

  Shyty, "to sew", hands the adjective its root: a machine for sewing, nothing more. Thread and needle are the plain everyday words.
• фундамент

  foundation

  The same word, usually plural here: fundamenty domu. Figuratively a basis: fundamenty demokratii. The verb phrase is poklasty fundament, to lay a foundation.
• оздоблення

  finishing work

  From ozdobyty, "to adorn": all the finishing — plaster, tile, paint. There is no separate everyday word; even a facade gets ozdoblennia fasadu.
• опускати

  to lower

  The same verb lowers your eyes and the blinds. Zhaluzi is the blinds word, as in English from French.
• рухати

  to move (something)

  Rukh is "movement". Ne rukhai! is both "do not move it!" and "do not touch!" — one command for both warnings.
• упускати

  to let fall

  The image is a thing slipping out of the hands — upustyty z ruk, to let it slip from the hands. Glasses, keys, coins.
• піднімати з підлоги

  to pick up (from the floor)

  Pidloha is the floor of a room; povierkh is the storey of a building. The floor word cannot stand in for the level word.
• вішати

  to hang

  Vishalka is the hanger — same root, same job. A chandelier hangs with the same verb: povisyty liustru.
• знімати

  to take down

  A verb of many jobs, like English "take off": a picture from a wall, a film, an apartment — all znymaiut, all one verb.
• складати

  to fold

  One verb folds laundry, packs a suitcase and adds numbers in a column — exactly the range of "fold" in arithmetic.
• розкладати

  to lay out

  The roz- prefix unfolds what skladaty folded. Rozklad, from the same root, is a schedule — the day laid out.
• загортати

  to wrap

  From obhortka, "a wrapper". In a shop they ask exactly this: zahornuty? — "shall I wrap it?"
• розгортати

  to unwrap

  The partner that opens what the other wrapped. Rozhornuta knyzhka — an opened book; parcels are only the beginning.
• відчиняти

  to open (doors and windows)

  Doors and windows take this verb; books and eyes take vidkryvaty. The object you act on picks the verb, not you.
• зачиняти

  to close (doors and windows)

  The partner of vidchyniaty and, like it, tied to doors and windows. A book gets shut with a different verb, zakryvaty.
• замикати

  to lock

  From the same root as the lock you know. ZAMOK with stress at the front is a castle; zamok with stress at the end is the lock on your door.
• відмикати

  to unlock

  The opening partner of zamykaty. On a phone the same verb unlocks the screen: vidimkny ekran.
• вмикати світло

  to turn on the light

  Shares its mik root with zamykaty, to latch, but the prefix flips the current on. The wall switch is vmykach — a word worth keeping.
• вимикати світло

  to turn off the light

  Its on-partner differs by one little i in the prefix — an easy slip for the ear. The noun vymkach, the switch, belongs to this side of the pair.
• натискати

  to press

  Pressing a button and pressing on a pain — one verb for both. The knopka you know now gets pressed.
• повертати ручку

  to turn the handle

  Ruchka is both a door handle and a pen — one word, two pockets. The verb is the returning one, minus its -sia.
• стукати

  to knock

  One knock is stuknuty — a single hit. And knocking at the door takes u, not v: u dveri, the same u as everywhere.
• дзвонити у двері

  to ring at the door

  The doorbell you know now becomes a verb. Dzvinytsia, a bell tower, grows from the same root — the ringing family.
• різати ножицями

  to cut (with scissors)

  Nozhytsi, the scissors, is always plural, and the with-form is nozhytsiamy. The verb keeps its i through every form.
• клеїти

  to glue

  The yi in the middle packs two sounds into one breath: kle-yi-ty. The noun for glue is plain klei, so the family sticks together.
• шити

  to sew

  An ear trap: shyty is "to sew", sytyi is "full (of food)". Shvets is a tailor — kin to the seam word.
• вʼязати

  to tie, to knit

  The apostrophe matters: v-iazaty, two sounds. The same root lives in zv-iazok, "a connection" — to tie is to join.
• лагодити

  to repair

  From lad, order and accord: fixing a thing means bringing it back into working order. The cousin nalahodyty, to set up, shares the root.
• розбивати

  to shatter

  The roz- prefix sets it apart from lamaty: lamaty snaps a whole thing in two, this one smashes it into pieces. Same scene, different wreckage.
• дряпати

  to scratch

  A word that sounds like its own sound effect. Podriapyna is the scratch itself; on a phone, a podriapanyi ekran.
• бруднити

  to make dirty

  From brud, "dirt", and brudnyi, "dirty" — the nest you already own. To get something dirty: zabrudnyty.
• чистити

  to clean

  Watch the family: the adjective chystyi can also mean blank or empty — chystyi arkush, a blank sheet. Cleaning and blankness share one word.
• витирати пил

  to dust

  Pyl is the dust, vytyraty is "to wipe". The same verb wipes a table and dries tears — one verb, both sorrows.
• прати білизну

  to wash laundry

  Two laundry verbs with one job each: praty washes clothes, while stryraty erases writing off a page. Pick the wrong one and your homework gets scrubbed.
• сушити

  to dry

  From sukhyy, "dry", the adjective you know. A drying rack is a susharka; to dry something thoroughly: vysushyty.
• випрасувати

  to iron

  The iron itself is praska, and pressing clothes is prasuvaty — iron and action from one root. The vy- prefix adds until-done: a shirt pressed through.
• мити підлогу

  to mop the floor

  Pidloha, the floor, already came up when things fell on it; now it gets washed. One verb, myty, serves washing by hand or with a mop.
• провітрювати

  to air out

  From viter, "wind": to air a room is to let the wind in. The word wears its meaning on its sleeve.
• поливати квіти

  to water the flowers

  Kvitka is a bloom, kviti the plural — and the month kviten, April, is named for when they open. Watering is literally pouring over.
• садити

  to plant

  One letter from sydity, "to sit" — plant versus sit, decided by a single vowel. The sad, "garden", anchors the family.
• копати

  to dig

  A kopach is a digger. The prefix vy- works like English "out": vykopaty — to dig out.
• переписувати

  to copy out

  Both honest rewriting of a draft and copying homework — the verb does not judge, exactly as in English. Nabelo: in clean copy.
• друкувати

  to print

  From druk, print — borrowed from German Druck, the pressure of the press. A printing house is drukarnia; the machine itself stays printer.
• вітальня

  living room

  From vitaty, "to greet": the room where guests are greeted. English "living room" builds the idea on dwelling instead.
• передпокій

  entryway

  Literally "the room before the room" — the first space past the door, where shoes come off. Vzuttia waits exactly there.
• коридор

  hallway

  The corridor of schools and hospitals is the same word. Long is dovhyi, narrow is vuzkyi — both already yours.
• комора

  storeroom

  The pantry-store room, from an old word for a supply place. On the ear it brushes against kimnata — a room — do not let them blur.
• поріг

  threshold

  The o runs away when the word bends: porih, poroha. And in one case the h turns into a z: na porozi — "on the threshold".
• дверна ручка

  door handle

  Ruchka also means a pen — one word, two hands of work. The door one just takes the adjective of the door you know.
• дверний замок

  door lock

  Stress splits two words: zaMOK is the lock, ZAMOK is a castle. Same letters, different buildings.
• дверний дзвінок

  doorbell

  Dzvinok alone is the bell you know from phones; the door one simply takes the door adjective. Ring it with the verb from two lessons ago.
• підвіконня

  windowsill

  Literally "under-the-window", a neuter noun in -nia. Flowers stand on it: na pidvikonni, with a soft double n.
• фіранка

  curtain

  Came from German by way of Polish, like many household words. A heavy drape is shtora, and delicate tulle keeps its international name.
• лампочка

  light bulb

  The lamp you know plus the cozy -ochka ending. When it dies it perehorila — burned out — never "broke".
• ліхтарик

  flashlight

  A little likhtar — from an old word for lantern or tower with a light. The street lamp of the next lesson is its big brother.
• нічник

  night light

  From nich, "night": the small lamp that stays on. The child sleeps z nichnykom — "with a night light", like with a friend.
• кран

  faucet

  The tap and the towering construction crane share one name. When it kapaie — drips — you know the rest of the sentence.
• раковина

  sink

  Really from "shell" — the basin curves like a shell, the same picture English drew. The faucet stands over it.
• ванна

  bathtub

  Double n in the middle. One word covers the tub and the bathroom, vanna kimnata — the room is literally the tub's room.
• унітаз

  toilet bowl

  Stress on the last syllable: unitaZ. When it clogs it zasmityvsia — from the smittia, the garbage word you own.
• шланг

  hose

  From German Schlange, a snake — picture the coiled shape. For the garden kind add dlia polyvu, for watering: shlanh dlia polyvu.
• сірники

  matches

  From sirka, "sulphur" — the striking head. One match is a sirnyk, but the word lives in the plural, like the matches in the box.
• запальничка

  lighter

  From zapalyty, "to light": the little ending turned the act of lighting into a pocket object. Rival of the matches next to it.
• швабра

  mop

  The same word as everywhere for the floor-washer. The floor is pidloha — new here, and it returns two lines later.
• ганчірка

  rag

  Its own word; wiping is vyterty, and dust is nearby — the rag exists for the dust. A kitchen cloth is the same word.
• віник

  broom

  The indoor sweeper with the small head. Its bigger outdoor cousin is mitla — same job, different scale, different word.
• совок

  dustpan

  Dust is swept onto it — zmetaiut. The partner of the broom: one sweeps, the other receives.
• пил

  dust

  Shorter than its relatives by a letter. But pylyty means "to saw" — the sawdust verb, not the dust one. Context, always context.
• бруд

  dirt

  Its own shape: brud, and brudnyi — dirty. Street mud after rain is the classic sighting.
• мийний засіб

  detergent

  Zasib means a means or an agent; in the of-form it is zasobu. Do not cross it with zasidka — that is an ambush, a very different household item.
• пилососити

  to vacuum

  Built exactly like the machine itself: pyl plus sosaty — dust plus suck. The vacuum cleaner is a pylosos; the verb needs no machine to be understood.
• підмести підлогу

  to sweep the floor

  Pidloha is the floor — what lies pid, "under", your feet. In the command form the vowel shortens: pidmety pidlohu.
• навести лад

  to tidy up

  Lad is "order" — an old word for harmony. The phrase pours order into the room; the borrowed "order word" exists but never steps in here.
• настінний годинник

  wall clock

  Built from stina, wall, with a doubled n in the middle. Hodynnyk is the timepiece word — here the kind that hangs and watches the room.
• килимок

  mat

  The little one of kylym, a carpet: the same word with a diminutive tail. The small square that greets every doorway.
• плед

  throw blanket

  Borrowed from Scottish plaid — Highland draped wool that ended up on sofas. A proper duvet is kovdra, a different bedmate.
• наволочка

  pillowcase

  The root means to pull over: you drag this case onto the pillow. The flat sheet goes by its own word, prostyradlo.
• покривало

  bedspread

  From pokryty, to cover — the topmost layer thrown over the made bed. The name tells you its single job.
• гачок

  hook

  From hak, the crooked metal fastener, plus the small-ending. Wall pegs and fishing tackle both bend through this word.
• рамка для фото

  photo frame

  Foto never bends, whatever case slides around it. A picture itself can also be svitlina — the native alternative worth knowing.
• ваза

  vase

  Came from French, like the English word — an easy cognate. Do not tangle it with vazon, the flower pot; different objects.
• вазон

  flower pot

  Locals call the plant pot vazon, while horschyk is a kitchen pot for cooking. The distinction matters at the garden shop.
• скриня

  storage chest

  The big lidded box for keepsakes and linens. Add the small-ending and you get skrynka — a little drawer, or a mailbox.
• витирати

  to wipe

  Its companion noun is rushnyk, the towel, rooted in ruka, the hand. The vy- prefix says the wiping goes away and off.
• свердлити

  to drill

  The handheld tool is dril, and a borehole is sverdlovyna — one root serves the workshop and the wellsite.
• забивати цвях

  to hammer in a nail

  Tsviakh is the native nail — no borrowing will fit in its place. The hammer stays molotok and the twisting fastener stays shurup: the toolbox splits by origin.
• прикрутити

  to screw on

  From krutyty, to twist — the root that also named vykrutka, the twisting tool. The reverse move flips the prefix: vidkrutyty backs it out.
• зібрати меблі

  to assemble furniture

  Mebli is always plural, a loan from French meubles — there is no singular for one piece. Assembling is literally gathering it together.
• розібрати

  to take apart

  The roz- prefix undoes the assembly, and a fleeting i appears in the infinitive only: rozi-braty, but the present drops it — rozberu.
• наповнити

  to fill

  Built on povnyi, full — a distant cousin of the English word full. Halfway is napolovynu; all the way is povnistiu.
• заклеїти

  to tape over

  From kleity, to glue: glue a thing shut and the gap is gone. The sticky tape itself is skotch, borrowed intact from English.
• полоскати

  to rinse

  In the present the sk softens to shch — poloshchu, I rinse. A small sound-shift worth expecting rather than fearing.
• застелити ліжко

  to make the bed

  The bed is lizhko; the bedding linen is postil, a separate word. The action itself is literally spreading the linen over.
• світло згасло

  the light went out

  From hasnuty, to die out the way a flame does — the z- prefix closes the story. The word for light, svitlo, you already own.
• кран тече

  the tap is leaking

  From tekti, to flow: teche, plain and ending in e. A leak as a noun is techiia or protikannia — the flowing made into a thing.
• батарея не гріє

  the radiator is not heating

  Hriie comes from hriity, to warm. Central heating is opalennia, from the verb to burn — the household heater warms by fiery ancestry.
• розетка не працює

  the socket is not working

  Pratsiuie, works, is the verb you already own. Mind the table setting: vylka is the electric plug here, while the eating fork is vydylka.
• двері не зачиняються

  the door does not close

  Dveri is grammatically plural even for one door, so the verb must match it: zachyniaiutsia. Expect that plural ending whenever a door acts.
• змастити завіси

  to oil the hinges

  Door hinges are zavisy, from visyty, to hang. A petlia is a loop of rope — the hanging hardware picked a different word.
• поміняти замок

  to change the lock

  From miniaty, to exchange, with an i inside. Say ZA-mok for the lock — stress it on the first syllable or you have built a castle instead.
• вкрутити лампочку

  to screw in a lightbulb

  From krutyty, to twist: twist it in until it sits snug. The reverse move, vykrutyty, backs it out — that verb also named the twisting tool.
• полагодити стілець

  to mend the chair

  Stilets keeps an i in the closed syllable and gives it back in the of-form: stiltsia. Its ancestor is stil, the table — furniture of one family.
• капати

  to drip

  The drop is kraplia, with an r slipped into the middle. The verb behaves as English expects; the noun adds a letter.

How it sounds in a sentence

A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.

• Мій дім — мій замок

  My house is my castle
• Моя квартира в центрі

  My apartment is in the center
• Шукаю житло на місяць

  This is my lodging
• У квартирі дві кімнати

  My room is here
• Кухня маленька, але світла

  The kitchen is here, and the bathroom is there
• Ванна кімната в кінці коридору

  The bathroom and the kitchen are here

What is worth knowing about these words

дім — house. Said "deem", with a long i. Doma, "at home", becomes vdoma — one small word, and the preposition v grows onto the front of it.

квартира — apartment. The same word as flat or apartment. A floor is poverkh and the floor you walk on is pidloha — one English word splits in two here.

житло — lodging. The word of rental ads: zdaetsia zhytlo — "lodging for rent". In live conversation people just say kvartyra.

кімната — room. Apartments are counted by rooms: dvokimnatna kvartyra — a two-room apartment, said in one breath.

Test yourself

Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.

How to learn the set instead of just reading it

Room, key, water, electricity. You will need them on your first day in a rented flat.

A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.

• Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many times
  Adesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
• This holds not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many times
  Mawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.

Next

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