Pronouns in Ukrainian
27 words Ukrainian words on the topic “pronouns”: я — I, ти — you (informal), ви — you (formal), мій — my.
27 words on the topic
- яIOften dropped: the verb ending already names the doer — rozumiyu alone means "I understand". Keep ia only for emphasis, like Spanish yo.
- тиyou (informal)The letter y here is a tight "ih" sound, closer to "ti". Like French tu or Spanish tu — one friend, never a stranger.
- виyou (formal)One word for polite "you" and for "you all" — the same double duty as in French vous. Written with a capital V in formal letters.
- мійmyChanges with gender: mii droug "my friend", moya kava "my coffee", moye more "my sea". Like Spanish mi/mi/mi — but Ukrainian has three shapes.
- вінheSaid "vin". The ending letter i takes the softness that other languages write as a separate sign.
- вонаsheThe plural is vony, "they" — one word for any group, no matter the gender. English "they" works the same way.
- миweSaid "mih" — the letter y inside is that tight vowel again. Two look-alikes to keep apart: my "we" and ty "you".
- вониtheySaid "voneh". The plural covers everyone at once — men, women, things — exactly like English "they".
- твійyour (informal)Declines like an adjective through the genders: tvii, tvoia, tvoie — the same row as mii, "my". The long i in the closed syllable is the spelling to watch.
- нашourThe gender shows at the end: nash "our", nasha, nashe. Same shape you would guess from a hundred European cousins.
- вашyour (formal)Written exactly as expected. Use it with the polite vy, never with ty — swapping them by accident changes the whole tone.
- його, її, їхнійhis, her, theirThe first two never bend at all: yoho knyzhka, yiyi knyzhka keep one shape everywhere. Yikhnii is the odd one out and declines like an adjective: yikhnia, yikhnie, yikhni.
- свійone's ownCompulsory for things belonging to the subject: vzyav svii klyuch — he took his OWN key; yoho klyuch would mean someone else's. Declines like mii.
- самmyselfRuns through the genders: sam, sama, same, sami. The set phrase sam na sam, "one on one", means face to face with nobody else around.
- весьthe wholeGenders: ves, vsia, vse, vsi — note the i in the plural. Vse there is the neuter singular, not a plural: vse misto, the whole town.
- кожен зeach ofKozhen is the everyday short form of kozhnyi, "each". After it the of-form follows: kozhen z nas — literally "each of us".
- будь-якийanyWritten with a hyphen, from bud, "may it be", plus yakyi, "which". Say plain yakyi here and you will not be understood — the hyphenated shape is the word.
- цейthisBends through the genders: tsei, tsia, tse, tsi. The little word tse you have been saying all along is just the neuter member of this family.
- тойthatBuilt on o: toi, ta, te, ti. It pairs with tsei the way near pairs with far — tsei is the one within reach, toi is the one across the street.
- такийsuchSame shape as the question word yakyi with a t in front: takyi, taka, take, taki. Takyi samyi — "the very same" — is the everyday way to match two things.
- іншийanother (different)Starts with an i where English has a different vowel entirely: inshyi. The everyday job is "a different one" — pokazhte inshyi kolir, show me another color.
- котрий зwhich ofKotryi asks you to pick one out of a set, while yakyi asks about qualities. The of-form follows: kotryi z nykh — which of them.
- ніякийno (of any kind)Yakyi with a negative ni- welded on, and it demands a second negative at the verb: niiakyi ne pidkhodyt — none of them fits. Two negatives, one sentence, as standard.
- хтосьsomeoneKhto plus -s, the same "some" ending as in shchos. On the ear khtos and shchos are a breath apart — the first consonant decides.
- дещоsomething (a certain thing)The prefix de- does the work that the little tail does in des: a certain something, something you have in mind. Vaguer shchos stays noncommittal; deshcho leans definite.
- ніхто зnone of (nobody)Takes the of-form after it: nikhto z nas — none of us. And the verb must carry its own negative too: the sentence wears two negatives like a uniform.
- ніщоnothingIts of-form, nichoho, is the shape you actually hear most: nichoho ne stalosia — nothing happened. The bare form mostly stands at the head of dramatic sentences.
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
я — I. Often dropped: the verb ending already names the doer — rozumiyu alone means "I understand". Keep ia only for emphasis, like Spanish yo.
ти — you (informal). The letter y here is a tight "ih" sound, closer to "ti". Like French tu or Spanish tu — one friend, never a stranger.
ви — you (formal). One word for polite "you" and for "you all" — the same double duty as in French vous. Written with a capital V in formal letters.
мій — my. Changes with gender: mii droug "my friend", moya kava "my coffee", moye more "my sea". Like Spanish mi/mi/mi — but Ukrainian has three shapes.
Test yourself
Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “I” in Ukrainian?
Often dropped: the verb ending already names the doer — rozumiyu alone means "I understand". Keep ia only for emphasis, like Spanish yo.
- How do you say “they” in Ukrainian?
Said "voneh". The plural covers everyone at once — men, women, things — exactly like English "they".
- How do you say “the whole” in Ukrainian?
Genders: ves, vsia, vse, vsi — note the i in the plural. Vse there is the neuter singular, not a plural: vse misto, the whole town.
- How do you say “which of” in Ukrainian?
Kotryi asks you to pick one out of a set, while yakyi asks about qualities. The of-form follows: kotryi z nykh — which of them.
- How do you say “you (informal)” in Ukrainian?
The letter y here is a tight "ih" sound, closer to "ti". Like French tu or Spanish tu — one friend, never a stranger.
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
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” in Ukrainian?
«я». Often dropped: the verb ending already names the doer — rozumiyu alone means "I understand". Keep ia only for emphasis, like Spanish yo. It is one of 27 words in the set “pronouns” — the rest are in the table above.
How many pronouns do you need to start?
A dozen is enough. The set of 27 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.