по дорозі
“по дорозі” — on the way in Ukrainian. Phrase, level A1, topic — asking the way. Doroha is "road", so this is literally "along the road" — the English "on the way". Po plus a special ending does the whole job. In a live sentence: “Нам по дорозі, ходімо разом” — I will buy bread on the way. One of 19 words in the set “asking the way” in the Ukrainian course.
In short
| Written in Ukrainian | по дорозі |
| Translation | on the way |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Doroha is "road", so this is literally "along the road" — the English "on the way". Po plus a special ending does the whole job.
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.
- Нам по дорозі, ходімо разомI will buy bread on the way
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.
- де?where?A tiny word doing the whole job of "where". Its partner in the other direction — "to where" — is kudy.
- 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.
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 “on the way” in Ukrainian?
Doroha is "road", so this is literally "along the road" — the English "on the way". Po plus a special ending does the whole job.
- 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 do you say “there” in Ukrainian?
Tam i tut — "there and here" — one vowel apart, like "here/there" but easier. The pharmacy is always tam, around the corner.
- How do you say “how to get there” in Ukrainian?
Follow 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.
- How do you say “straight ahead” in Ukrainian?
One of those rare exact matches with the expected sound. Just remember: "to the right" is pravoruch, not a cousin of pryamo.
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 “on the way” in Ukrainian?
«по дорозі». In a live sentence: “Нам по дорозі, ходімо разом” — I will buy bread on the way. Phrase, level A1, from the set “asking the way”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Doroha is "road", so this is literally "along the road" — the English "on the way". Po plus a special ending does the whole job. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.