де?
“де?” — where? in Ukrainian. Phrase, level A0, topic — asking the way. A tiny word doing the whole job of "where". Its partner in the other direction — "to where" — is kudy. In a live sentence: “Де зупинка?” — Where is the bus stop? One of 19 words in the set “asking the way” in the Ukrainian course.
In short
| Written in Ukrainian | де? |
| Translation | where? |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
A tiny word doing the whole job of "where". Its partner in the other direction — "to where" — is kudy.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Де зупинка?Where is the bus stop?
Nearby words: asking the way
Right, left, straight on, how far. You ask the way rarely — and always at the moment when there is no time to work it out.
- тутhereIts pair is tam, "there" — between them they cover the whole map. Short, common, and easy to keep.
- тамthereTam i tut — "there and here" — one vowel apart, like "here/there" but easier. The pharmacy is always tam, around the corner.
- праворучto the rightLiterally "right-hand-ward" — prava ruka is "right hand". Directions come from body parts, which makes them hard to forget.
- ліворучto the leftThe mirror twin of pravoruch, same build: liva ruka, "left hand". Povernit livoruch — "turn left" — is half of all navigation.
- прямоstraight aheadOne of those rare exact matches with the expected sound. Just remember: "to the right" is pravoruch, not a cousin of pryamo.
- близькоcloseThe soft sign after z is real: blyz-ko. Its opposite daleko is just as easy — the pair covers every distance question.
- далекоfarStress on the first syllable: DA-leko. Tse daleko? — "Is it far?" — is the question asked about every route ever.
- 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.
- як пройтиhow to get thereFollow it with do plus the of-form: yak proity do vokzalu — how to get to the station. This course has no short "to" for directions; do does the work.
- дістатисяto reach (get to)From distaty, to obtain — to reach a place is to "obtain" your way to it. It takes the of-form: distatysia vokzalu, reach the station.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “asking the way”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “where?” in Ukrainian?
A tiny word doing the whole job of "where". Its partner in the other direction — "to where" — is kudy.
- How do you say “far” in Ukrainian?
Stress on the first syllable: DA-leko. Tse daleko? — "Is it far?" — is the question asked about every route ever.
- How do you say “to the right” in Ukrainian?
Literally "right-hand-ward" — prava ruka is "right hand". Directions come from body parts, which makes them hard to forget.
- How do you say “to reach (get to)” in Ukrainian?
From distaty, to obtain — to reach a place is to "obtain" your way to it. It takes the of-form: distatysia vokzalu, reach the station.
- How do you say “close” in Ukrainian?
The soft sign after z is real: blyz-ko. Its opposite daleko is just as easy — the pair covers every distance question.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- 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.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “where?” in Ukrainian?
«де?» In a live sentence: “Де зупинка?” — Where is the bus stop? Phrase, level A0, from the set “asking the way”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
A tiny word doing the whole job of "where". Its partner in the other direction — "to where" — is kudy. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.