Verbs in Ukrainian
11 words Ukrainian words on the topic “verbs”: хочу — I want, пити — to drink, їсти — to eat, люблю — I love.
11 words on the topic
- хочуI wantFrom khotity. The thing wanted follows directly — no "to", no preposition: khochu kavyu, "I want coffee".
- питиto drinkThe present tense wears an apostrophe at every step: piyu, piyesh, piye. Vypity is "to drink up, finish" — the completed counterpart.
- їстиto eatThe letter yi is a two-sound "yee": "yees-ty". Present: yim, yisy, yist. And "there is" in the sense of existing is a different word entirely — ye.
- люблюI loveFrom lyubity. Works for food and for people equally: lyublyu kavu, lyublyu Kyiv — one verb, all kinds of love.
- ітиto go (on foot)One syllable, no vowel in front: ytu is wrong, yty is right. Present: ydu, ydesh, yde — the y leads every step.
- їхатиto go (by vehicle)For anything on wheels or rails. The present tense opens with the special ii-letter: iidu, iidesh, iide. Walking gets a different verb entirely.
- бутиto beIn the present it shrinks to one frozen word, ye — and even that gets dropped, so "I am a student" needs no "am". The future behaves: budu, budesh, bude.
- матиto haveWhere English says "I have", Ukrainian says "I have": ya maiu chas, maiu brata. In old texts maty also means "mother" — do not be startled in songs.
- житиto livePresent tense: zhyvu, zhyvesh, zhyve. "I live in Kyiv" works with or without a preposition — both ways of saying it are correct.
- працюватиto workPresent: pratsiuiu, pratsiuesh, pratsiuite. Do not reach for robyty — that one means "to do, to make", a different verb with a different job.
- вчитиto study, to teachOne verb for both studying a subject and teaching it: vchu ukrainsku — "I study Ukrainian". Context and endings tell who is doing it.
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.
What is worth knowing about these words
хочу — I want. From khotity. The thing wanted follows directly — no "to", no preposition: khochu kavyu, "I want coffee".
пити — to drink. The present tense wears an apostrophe at every step: piyu, piyesh, piye. Vypity is "to drink up, finish" — the completed counterpart.
їсти — to eat. The letter yi is a two-sound "yee": "yees-ty". Present: yim, yisy, yist. And "there is" in the sense of existing is a different word entirely — ye.
люблю — I love. From lyubity. Works for food and for people equally: lyublyu kavu, lyublyu Kyiv — one verb, all kinds of love.
Test yourself
Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “I want” in Ukrainian?
From khotity. The thing wanted follows directly — no "to", no preposition: khochu kavyu, "I want coffee".
- How do you say “to have” in Ukrainian?
Where English says "I have", Ukrainian says "I have": ya maiu chas, maiu brata. In old texts maty also means "mother" — do not be startled in songs.
- How do you say “I love” in Ukrainian?
From lyubity. Works for food and for people equally: lyublyu kavu, lyublyu Kyiv — one verb, all kinds of love.
- How do you say “to study, to teach” in Ukrainian?
One verb for both studying a subject and teaching it: vchu ukrainsku — "I study Ukrainian". Context and endings tell who is doing it.
- How do you say “to be” in Ukrainian?
In the present it shrinks to one frozen word, ye — and even that gets dropped, so "I am a student" needs no "am". The future behaves: budu, budesh, bude.
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
I want, I can, I am going, I know. Twenty verbs cover more everyday sentences than two hundred nouns.
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 timesAdesope, 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 timesMawson & 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.
Frequently asked
How do you say “I want” in Ukrainian?
«хочу». From khotity. The thing wanted follows directly — no "to", no preposition: khochu kavyu, "I want coffee". It is one of 11 words in the set “verbs” — the rest are in the table above.
How many verbs do you need to start?
A dozen is enough. The set of 11 words on this page covers nearly every everyday case on the topic — but it is best taken a few at a time, not all at once.