Time, days and hours in Ukrainian

129 words on the topic

• хвилина

  minute

  A word all its own — no "minute" inside. After five it shortens: pyat khvylyn, the counting form every number demands.
• година

  hour

  The great false friend of the course: hodyna is an HOUR, not a year. A year is rik. Skilky hodyn? — "how many hours?" Keep them apart at all costs.
• сьогодні

  today

  Said "siohodni", stress in the middle. A word that appears in every second sentence of daily speech — worth over-learning.
• завтра

  tomorrow

  Zavtra bude doshch — "tomorrow there will be rain". The little helper bude, "will be", is the future of buty, which you just met.
• день

  day

  The vowels jump around as the word bends: den, dnia, dniu. It covers both a day of the month and the daylight part of the day.
• ранок

  morning (time of day)

  A word you just have to own. Z ranku means "in the morning", shchoranku "every morning" — the same root ran- inside all of them.
• вечір

  evening

  Said "vechyr". Keep it apart from vecherya, "supper": one ending separates the time of day from the meal you eat in it.
• ніч

  night

  Said "nich", with the ch of "church". Vnochi means "at night" — the form looks nothing like the base word, but you will hear it every day.
• вчора

  yesterday

  Starts with a v — do not drop it. The day before yesterday doubles the prefix: pozavchora, exactly like "the day before yesterday".
• рік

  year

  Watch the cousin word: richka is "river", one letter apart. The year itself wobbles as it bends: rik, rokiv — the vowel runs.
• о котрій годині?

  at what time?

  Literally "at which hour". The answer keeps the o: o piatii, "at five" — the little word travels with you.
• вже пізно

  it is late already

  Vzhe, "already", always stands right before the word it serves. A late night is piznia nich — same root again.
• спочатку

  at first

  From "pochatok", the beginning: at-first. It opens the chain "spochatku — potim — nareshti". Not to be confused with "upershe", for the first time — one is about order, the other about a first ever.
• потім

  then

  First word of the second half, often with "i": "potim i poikhaly". Add "yak" and it becomes "after that". A different "potim" means "in that case" — same word, neighboring sense.
• після цього

  after this

  Spelled with an i in the first syllable. Pislia governs the of-form: pislia tsioho, pislia yizhi, pislia roboty — after food, after work, after this.
• нарешті

  finally

  Carries relief after a long wait and often stands alone as a cry: "Nareshti!" In a sentence it goes first.
• у той час як

  while (at the moment when)

  Chas here means time, not the hour on the clock — the old trap reaches into connector phrases too. The frame reads literally as "in that time as".
• одночасно

  at the same time

  Literally "in one hour": both at the same moment and right after something. The phrase "odnochasno z" takes the instrumental: "odnochasno z nym". The conversational substitute is "zarazom".
• до того як

  before (by the time that)

  The do is the same deadline-word as in "by Friday": up to a moment, and then it happens. Its mirror phrase for "after" swaps the little word, keeps the frame.
• після того як

  after (doing something)

  Two commas: one before "pislia", one before "yak" inside the phrase. Note the difference — "pislia toho, yak" opens a whole clause, while a lone "pislia tsogo" is just a phrase in a sentence.
• щойно

  as soon as

  One word where two would do — and it also means "just now": vin shchoino pishov. The tense of your verb decides which reading fits.
• відтоді

  since then

  One word: "from that time". It stands at the front: "Vidtodi my bilshe ne bachylysia." To get the conjunction "ever since", add "yak" — "vidtodi, yak" — and there the comma and the "yak" are both obligatory.
• завжди

  always

  One word for "always" and "forever" — context decides. Its usual place is before the verb: "zavzhdy spizniiuiusia". A handy softener: "maizhe zavzhdy", almost always.
• часто

  often

  The adjective is "chastyi": "chasta pomylka", a common mistake, and "chasti zapytannia" is the FAQ section on websites. The adverb sits before the verb or at the front.
• рідко

  rarely

  One vowel carries the family tie: "ridko" with an i, from "ridkyi" — both rare and liquid: "ridka yushka", a thin soup. Stands before the verb; for emphasis add "duzhe".
• інколи

  sometimes

  One compact word, and people also say "chasom" — by times. No ambiguity with "earlier" here: that is "ranishe", its own separate word, nothing to trip over.
• ніколи

  never

  Double negation is required: "nikoly ne khodzhu" — never not-go. Without the "ne" the sentence is simply wrong. For emphasis: "nikoly bilshe", never again.
• зазвичай

  usually

  Literally "from custom", from "zvychai", a habit or custom. First word of the sentence or before the verb. Careful with "zvychaino": it means both usually and of course — intonation sorts it.
• довго

  for a long time

  No extra consonant inside, and the adjective "dovhyi", long, shares the root. Phrases: "yak dovho?", how long; "vzhe davno", for a while now; "nedavno", recently. Not the debt word — that one you paid back in an earlier wave.
• щоразу

  every time

  The shcho- prefix welds two words together: shchorazu, shchodia, shchoroku — written solid, spoken fast, one shape per frequency.
• час від часу

  from time to time

  Literally "hour from time" — both nouns stand in the "of" form, as the preposition demands. It sits at the front or the end and takes no comma. The short version is "inodi".
• досі

  so far

  One word, "up to this". With a past tense it means there had been no problems yet; with a present tense it means "still": "dosi chekaiu", I am still waiting. One English phrase, two tenses — the verb carries the sense.
• раптом

  suddenly

  From "raptovyi", sudden. It stands at the front: "Raptom vin zupy nuvsia posered dorohy." Conversational substitutes: "nespodivano", and the idiom "yak hrim z iasnoho neba" — like thunder from a clear sky.
• заздалегідь

  in advance

  A long, very native word — built on "dalekyi", far: to do something "far ahead of time". It follows the verb: "bronuuvaty zazdalehid". A daily phrase: "diakuiu zazdalehid", thanks in advance, closing letters.
• вчасно

  on time

  Built on "chas", time — arrived at the time. Usually after the verb: "pryikhal vchasno". Do not confuse with "tochno", sharp on the hour — "on time" just means not late. Being late you already know: "spiznytysia".
• терміново

  urgently

  From "termin", a term or deadline: urgent is what the deadline cannot wait for. Both sides live in one word: "terminovo" — urgently, "ne terminovo" — no rush. The mandatory word "oboviazkovo" is about obligation instead.
• одразу

  right away

  Literally "in one go": immediately, this minute. Do not confuse with "nezabarom", soon — "odrazu" is in a minute, "nezabarom" is sometime soon. With "yak" it turns into the as-soon-as conjunction.
• поступово

  gradually

  From "stupin", a step: literally step by step, the same staircase image as in English. Before the verb or at the end: "tsiny postupovo rosly". In speech "povilno", slowly, often does this job too.
• в останній момент

  at the last moment

  The noun bends into the "where" form after "v": "v ostatnyi moment". "Ostannyi" is both last and remaining: "ostanniy avtobus", the last bus. More alive in speech: "v ostatniu khvylynu", at the last minute.
• рано чи пізно

  sooner or later

  The little word "chy" — the same or of questions — stands in the middle. The order of the two halves is fixed, not swappable. It opens a sentence and launches a prediction: sooner or later they will find out.
• одного разу

  once (one time)

  Literally "of one time" — the story-opening phrase odnoho razu ya zustriv yoho, "once I met him". A perfect way to start a tale.
• у дитинстві

  in childhood

  The little preposition changes costume: u before a consonant, v after a vowel. Same meaning, different shape — pure sound logic.
• у ті часи

  in those days

  Ti points to the far away, tsi to the near — "those" versus "these". You can hear tod i, "then", living inside the phrase.
• це було давно

  that was long ago

  Davno is about the distant past; dovho is about duration — tse tryvalo dovho, "it lasted long". Mixing them up is the classic learner slip.
• перший раз

  the first time

  One pattern for every "time": pershyi raz "the first time", druhyi raz "the second time", ostannii raz "the last time". Po-pershe, "firstly", grows from the same root.
• майбутнє

  the future

  Literally "that which will be" — from bude, "will be", a form you already conjugate. The future tense itself is called maibutnii chas, "the future time".
• минуле

  the past

  From a verb meaning "to pass by" — the past is "that which has passed". The pair mynule — maibutnie mirrors "past — future"; the present is teperyshnie.
• найближчі плани

  upcoming plans

  The superlative is one little prefix: nay- turns "near" into "nearest". Inside, the consonant softens and swaps — a regular shift, not an accident.
• через рік

  in a year

  Cherez always marks time passing or motion across. "A year ago" flips it around: rik tomu — tomu here means "ago", not the dative "to that".
• постійно

  constantly

  From the root meaning "standing" — what stands permanently. Postiinyi klient is a regular customer. Zavzhdy, "always", and use chas, "all the time", round out the set.
• тимчасово

  temporarily

  Built on chas, "time": literally "for a time". Tymchasova reiestratsiia, "temporary registration", is a standard official term on documents.
• зручний час

  a convenient time

  Zruchnyi is broader than "convenient": it fits a chair, a schedule, a bag strap. The standard question is Koly tobi zruchno? — "when is it convenient for you?"
• призначити час

  to set a time

  The same verb appoints people to posts: pryznachyty dyrektora, "to appoint a director". Times get set with na plus the moment: na ranok, "for the morning".
• у другій половині дня

  in the afternoon

  The day is cut into halves: polovyna, "a half", sits in the at-form. And druhii really is "second" here — the counting word, not "other".
• ближче до вечора

  toward evening

  A comparing form plus do, "of": literally "nearer of the evening". The do-step replaces the "towards" you would expect — it does the pointing.
• у будь-який час

  anytime

  The recipe: bud-, from "let it be", glued to "which" — whichever it may be. The same recipe cooks up "anyone" and "anywhere".
• не раніше пʼятої

  not before five

  Clock hours take the ordinal in the "of" form: ne ranishe piatoi, literally "not earlier than the fifth". The word hodyny, "hours", is usually dropped — context says it.
• буду вчасно

  I will be on time

  Vchasno, "in time", is built on chas — being inside the time rather than missing it. "Budu tochne" sounds firmer.
• поки не

  until

  The negation is obligatory, as the sense requires: zachekai, poky ne pryiidu — "wait until I come". Poky without ne means "while": poky ia zhyv v Kyievi, "while I lived in Kyiv".
• століття

  century

  One word for both "century" and "hundred-year period": deviatnadtsiate stolittia, the nineteenth century. A yuvilei is the anniversary celebration, not the stretch of time itself.
• епоха

  era

  A big stretch of history: kamiana epokha, the Stone Age; epokha Vidrodzhennia, the Renaissance. A device's service life is termin sluzhby instead — different idea, different words.
• десятиліття

  decade

  Assembled like stolittia, a century: ten years plus a doubled t. The same mold gives tysiacholittia, a thousand-year stretch.
• період

  period

  A familiar international word; only the spelling is Ukrainian. Perekhidnyi period, a transition period; period doshchiv, the rainy season. A stretch with a start and an end.
• мить

  an instant

  The shortest stretch of all, feminine: za mit, in an instant; na mit, for a moment. A slightly longer moment is moment, and that loan is heard more often.
• тривалий

  long (in time)

  From tryvaty, "to last" — a word purely about time: tryvale likuvannia, tryvalyi shliakh. Dovhyi is about length in space; for duration, this is the word.
• цими днями

  one of these days

  The instrumental case with no preposition: tsymy dniamy, "by these days" — for the near past or the near future. Further back: ostannimy dniamy; ahead: u nainblyzhchi dni.
• у наші дні

  nowadays

  The little word shows as u before a consonant and v after a vowel. Den, the day, makes its plural without the e you might expect: dni.
• з давніх-давен

  from time immemorial

  Doubling the root around a hyphen is the native way to say since-ever: davnikh-daven. Daven is a folksy old of-form of the long-ago word.
• за лічені хвилини

  within minutes

  From lichyty, to count. One vowel divides counting from healing: likuvaty treats the sick, lichyty counts the seconds.
• сучасний

  modern

  Looks nothing like its meaning: from chas, "time" — literally "of our time". Suchasna muzyka, suchasna tekhnika. Ignore any accidental resemblance to other words; it is a perfectly ordinary adjective.
• давній

  ancient

  From davno, "long ago": ancient in the sense of millennia — davnie misto, davnii zvychai. Staryi is merely "old" without the sense of depth.
• давнина

  the distant past

  From davnyi, long-ago: literally the long-ago-ness. Mynule is the past in general, while davnyna is the far end of it.
• зрідка

  every so often

  From ridkyi, "rare", with z- in front: now and then, not often. Ridko is plain "rarely"; this word is rarer still, and gentler.
• щодня

  daily

  The shcho- prefix marks regularity: shchodia, shchotyzhnia, shchoroku — by the day, by the week, by the year.
• регулярно

  regularly

  The same Latin word English borrowed, so it is a freebie to spot. The native neighbor in meaning is shchorazu — every single time.
• уперше

  for the first time

  From pershyi, first, with the little u- before the consonant — after a vowel you will hear it with v: vpershe. Round two is udruge.
• наново

  anew

  The na- prefix where you might expect za-: nanovo, from novyi, new. The borrowed twin zanovo turns up too, but nanovo is the house word.
• усе частіше

  more and more often

  The word for all shows as use before a consonant and as vse after a vowel. Chastishe is the comparing form of chasto, often — with an i in the middle.
• у будні

  on weekdays

  Buden is a working day, u budni is "on weekdays"; weekends are u vykhidni. The u before a consonant is that familiar v/u preposition pair at work.
• через раз

  every other time

  Word for word the same idea: cherez raz, "through a time" — sometimes it, sometimes not. The same pattern gives cherez den, every other day, and cherez tyzhden, every other week.
• раз на рік

  once a year

  Frequency through na: raz na rik, dvichy na tyzhden, trychy na den. Raz is one word for "one time", but "twice" and "three times" are dvichy and trychy — their own words.
• раз по раз

  time and again

  Repeating the word around a little preposition is the native recipe for again and again. There is no word-for-word carry-over of the English idiom.
• тим часом

  meanwhile

  Literally "by that time": in the meantime, while other things happen. Add the conjunction and you get tym chasom iak, "while", introducing a whole clause.
• паралельно

  in parallel

  Both for lines and for activities: paralelno z robotoiu studiuye, he studies alongside his job. The adjective is parallelnyi — one word, two domains, exactly like English.
• до того часу

  until then

  Literally "until that time". If a whole clause follows, Ukrainian reaches for doky ne: Doky ne pryi de, pochekai — wait until he comes.
• згодом

  in due course

  From hodyna in its old sense of time: literally with time. Three letters shorter than anything English keeps in stock for it.
• напередодні

  on the eve of

  Built as "on the fore-day": naperedodni svia ta, on the eve of the holiday. One word where English uses a phrase, and the stress lands on the "do" syllable.
• у подальшому

  going forward

  From podalshyi, further along, in its place-form. The shorter way to say it is nadali, and that one means exactly the same.
• цього разу

  this time around

  The of-form with no preposition: tsoho razu, not na tsei raz. The same pattern builds toho razu and inshoho razu — last time, another time.
• своєчасно

  just in time

  Looks and is a calque of "in due time". You know vchasno, "on time"; svoiechasno is booklier and stresses the lucky timing — the right moment, caught.
• заднім числом

  retroactively

  The same picture the English idiom draws: chyslo, a date, in its with-form chyslom, with zadnim, the back one, in front of it.
• без зволікання

  without delay

  From zvolikaty, "to drag one's feet"; the "of" form follows bez, as always. In letters you will also see bez zvolikan or simply nehaino, "immediately".
• вранці

  in the morning

  From ranok, morning, glued to a tiny v, "in": vranci. A twin form zranku, "since morning", says the same thing from the other end of the day.
• вдень

  by day

  Den, "day", fused with the same little v: vden. Where English reaches for a by-form or an -s ending, this course glues a preposition on and writes it solid.
• ввечері

  in the evening

  From vechir, evening. After a vowel the preposition keeps its v (vvecheri); after a consonant it turns to u (uvecheri) — the same flip you see elsewhere.
• вночі

  at night

  From nich, night, whose i softens into o before the ending: nich but nochi. The same switch lives inside the word for night-time itself.
• кожного дня

  every day

  No preposition: just kozhnoho dnia, the of-form of "each day". A single fused word, shchodnia, says the same thing and is what you hear most.
• весь день

  all day long

  Plain ves den in the object form, exactly as English lines it up. Tsylii den, "a whole day", means the same and sounds a touch livelier.
• момент

  moment

  The same word, borrowed like in English. More often you will hear khvylynku — "a little minute", from khvylyna, the word for minute.
• годинник

  clock

  Hodyna is "hour", hodynnyk is the device that counts hours — a wristwatch or a wall clock. The "hour" root does all the work.
• котра година

  what time is it?

  Kotra is "which one" in the feminine — because hodyna, "hour", is a she. The answer flips the order: Hodyna pyata, "the fifth hour".
• лютий

  February

  Follows sichen, January, which you know. The name means "fierce" — lyutiy moroz is a savage frost, and the same word scolds a fierce person.
• березень

  March

  The month of the birch — bereza — when the sap runs. All these month names describe farm life, not Roman emperors.
• квітень

  April

  From kvity, "flowers" — the month of first bloom. Written lowercase, like all the months here.
• травень

  May

  From trava, "grass" — the month the grass comes in. Soft and green, unlike anything tragic it might sound like.
• червень

  June

  Named for a red dye insect once gathered in this month — the same root gave the word for the color red. A month name with a color hiding inside.
• серпень

  August

  From serp, "sickle" — harvest month. It follows lypen, July, which you know; the tool is right there in the name.
• вересень

  September

  The month of blooming heather — veres. School starts on the first of it: pershoho veresnya sticks on its own.
• жовтень

  October

  From zhovtyy, "yellow" — the month of yellow leaves. The logic of the name is visible even though the word is new.
• листопад

  November

  The one month name an English speaker can decode from its parts: "leaf-fall". Here it is only the month, not the phenomenon.
• грудень

  December

  From hrudky — the frozen clods that pave the winter roads. It closes the row that sichen began.
• доба

  a full day and night

  A day together with its night — a 24-hour stretch. On shop signs it lives inside tsilodobovo, "around the clock", literally "whole-doba-ly".
• сторіччя

  centenary

  One of a pair: this word leans toward the anniversary, the celebration of a hundred years. Its partner stolittia covers the century as an era of history.
• секунда

  second (of time)

  The international word, behaving after numbers the way you expect: dvi sekundy, pyat sekund. Sekundochku — "one sec" — is the friendly version.
• півгодини

  half an hour

  Piv means "half" and glues straight on: piv plus hodyny, one word. English writes "half an hour" in three pieces; Ukrainian refuses to split.
• полудень

  noon

  Literally "mid-day". Do not collide it with pivden, "the south" — noon and south are near-twins in sound and utterly different in meaning.
• північ

  midnight

  The course trap: pivnich is midnight, pivnichnyi is "northern". Midnight and north sound the same — context is your only rescue.
• зараз

  now

  The most frequent time word in conversation. Nothing to do with any English word — just plant it: zaraz ia vdoma, "I am home now".
• термін

  deadline

  The everyday word for a due date or time limit; the other candidate word belongs to official papers. Its second life is a technical term of science — same shape, different field.
• знову

  again

  For requests you will more often hear shche raz, "one more time". Znovu is the plain "once again" of coming back.
• скоро

  soon

  Same family as English "shortly soon" ideas — a cousin of "score"? No: anchor it on yaknaishore, no — the useful one is yaknaishorishe, "as soon as possible", built from it.
• давно

  a long time ago

  Davno ne bachylysia — "we have not seen each other for ages" — the classic greeting of old friends. The verb comes from bachyty, "to see".
• нещодавно

  recently

  Longer than its simple cousin nedavno and built in three pieces: not-so-long-ago. Both are said, but the long one sounds more careful, more grown-up.
• пізно

  late

  Nothing in the shape helps; just memorize it. Its relative is zapizniuvatysia, "to be late" — you met the family in the lesson about the road.
• рано

  early

  The morning word lives inside: ranok, "morning", z ranku, "in the morning" — the same ran- runs through the whole family.
• швидко

  quickly

  From it come shvydkyy, "fast", and shvydshe, "faster". A whole speed family grows out of one root.
• легко

  easily

  Spelled exactly as an English eye expects, though the throaty h in the middle is breathed, not growled. The adjective for "easy" is the same word with a tail.
• важко

  with difficulty

  One word for "hard" and "heavily", like saying "it weighs on me". Its exact opposite is legko — learn the pair as one unit.
• щойно

  just now

  One word where English uses two: shchoino — shchoino pryishov, he has just come. It also means "as soon as", which makes it doubly useful.

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.

• Зачекайте хвилину, будь ласка

  Wait a minute, please
• Одна година — і я вдома

  One hour — and I am home
• Сьогодні понеділок, а завтра вівторок

  Today is Monday, and tomorrow is Tuesday
• Завтра я вільний

  Tomorrow I am free
• Гарного дня!

  Have a good day!
• Ранок тихий, місто ще спить

  The morning is quiet, the city is still asleep

What is worth knowing about these words

хвилина — minute. A word all its own — no "minute" inside. After five it shortens: pyat khvylyn, the counting form every number demands.

година — hour. The great false friend of the course: hodyna is an HOUR, not a year. A year is rik. Skilky hodyn? — "how many hours?" Keep them apart at all costs.

сьогодні — today. Said "siohodni", stress in the middle. A word that appears in every second sentence of daily speech — worth over-learning.

завтра — tomorrow. Zavtra bude doshch — "tomorrow there will be rain". The little helper bude, "will be", is the future of buty, which you just met.

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

Today, tomorrow, in the morning, at six. You cannot arrange to meet without these — let alone understand the answer.

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.

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• Food and drink175 words
• Shopping and money85 words
• Asking the way19 words
• Why a word list doesn't sticka note