гривня
“гривня” — hryvnia in Ukrainian. Noun, level A1, topic — shopping and money. The Ukrainian currency. After numbers from five up it becomes hryven: desyat hryven, "ten hryvnias" — the ending melts. In a live sentence: “Кава — пʼять гривень” — The coffee is five hryvnias. One of 85 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Ukrainian course.
In short
| Written in Ukrainian | гривня |
| Translation | hryvnia |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The Ukrainian currency. After numbers from five up it becomes hryven: desyat hryven, "ten hryvnias" — the ending melts.
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.
- Кава — пʼять гривеньThe coffee is five hryvnias
Nearby words: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- скільки коштує?how much is it?Skilky is "how much", koshtuye is "it costs". About several items the verb grows an ending: skilky koshtuyut?
- крамницяshopUkrainian's own word for a shop, from kram, "goods". The borrowed mahazyn is equally common — two doors, same shop.
- прилавокcounterThe market table where goods lie. A separate stall at the bazaar is a stiyka or just a mistse — but the shop counter is always this word.
- продавецьvendorThe -ets ending marks the male person. A woman is prodavchynia — and at the market it is more often her you will be talking to.
- покупецьbuyerFrom kupuvaty, "to buy" — the same ancient root as English "cheap" and "shop" cousins. Buyer and vendor are one family with two endings.
- вагиscalesFrom vaha, "weight" — a distant cousin of the word inside "wagon". Always plural, like the English scales: the pans come in twos.
- кілограмkilogramSpelled with i and a single m, and at the market almost always clipped to kilo anyway. Ask for "kilo pomidoriv" and the scales start moving.
- свіжийfreshFresh bread and fresh news take the same word: svizhi novyny. The i letters give it the "ee" ring — svy-zhyy.
- стиглийripeFrom styhnuty, "to ripen" — a far cousin of English "stand" and "stay": fruit that has stood long enough. The meaning traveled, the root stayed.
- цінникprice tagFrom tsina, "price". The little tag itself is tsinnyk, but in speech people point and say tsina more often than they name the tag.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “hryvnia” in Ukrainian?
The Ukrainian currency. After numbers from five up it becomes hryven: desyat hryven, "ten hryvnias" — the ending melts.
- How do you say “kilogram” in Ukrainian?
Spelled with i and a single m, and at the market almost always clipped to kilo anyway. Ask for "kilo pomidoriv" and the scales start moving.
- How do you say “counter” in Ukrainian?
The market table where goods lie. A separate stall at the bazaar is a stiyka or just a mistse — but the shop counter is always this word.
- How do you say “price tag” in Ukrainian?
From tsina, "price". The little tag itself is tsinnyk, but in speech people point and say tsina more often than they name the tag.
- How do you say “scales” in Ukrainian?
From vaha, "weight" — a distant cousin of the word inside "wagon". Always plural, like the English scales: the pans come in twos.
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 “hryvnia” in Ukrainian?
«гривня». In a live sentence: “Кава — пʼять гривень” — The coffee is five hryvnias. Noun, level A1, from the set “shopping and money”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The Ukrainian currency. After numbers from five up it becomes hryven: desyat hryven, "ten hryvnias" — the ending melts. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.