забивати цвях
“забивати цвях” — to hammer in a nail in Ukrainian. Phrase, level A1, topic — home and things. Tsviakh is the native nail — no borrowing will fit in its place. The hammer stays molotok and the twisting fastener stays shurup: the toolbox splits by origin. In a live sentence: “Забивати цвях треба рівно” — You need to hammer the nail in straight. One of 255 words in the set “home and things” in the Ukrainian course.
In short
| Written in Ukrainian | забивати цвях |
| Translation | to hammer in a nail |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Tsviakh is the native nail — no borrowing will fit in its place. The hammer stays molotok and the twisting fastener stays shurup: the toolbox splits by origin.
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.
- Забивати цвях треба рівноYou need to hammer the nail in straight
Nearby words: home and things
Room, key, water, electricity. You will need them on your first day in a rented flat.
- дімhouseSaid "deem", with a long i. Doma, "at home", becomes vdoma — one small word, and the preposition v grows onto the front of it.
- квартираapartmentThe same word as flat or apartment. A floor is poverkh and the floor you walk on is pidloha — one English word splits in two here.
- житлоlodgingThe word of rental ads: zdaetsia zhytlo — "lodging for rent". In live conversation people just say kvartyra.
- кімнатаroomApartments are counted by rooms: dvokimnatna kvartyra — a two-room apartment, said in one breath.
- кухняkitchenThe cook is a kukhar — same nest, one letter more. He will reappear in the lesson about jobs.
- ванна кімнатаbathroomThe room, not the tub — though the same word does both jobs. The toilet lives separately and is called tualet: no surprises there.
- балконbalconyRental ads write z balkonom — "with a balcony" — and that with-phrase adds to the price. A balcony counts here.
- поверхfloor (storey)Floors count from one: pershyi poverkh. Nothing borrowed from any "floor" you know — just memorize its shape.
- ліфтelevatorSaid "lyft". When it fails — lift ne pratsiuie — you get the phrase from the next lesson for free.
- сходиstairsAlways plural — many steps, one word. Skhody vverity lead up; the elevator being broken makes them personal.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “home and things”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to hammer in a nail” in Ukrainian?
Tsviakh is the native nail — no borrowing will fit in its place. The hammer stays molotok and the twisting fastener stays shurup: the toolbox splits by origin.
- How do you say “balcony” in Ukrainian?
Rental ads write z balkonom — "with a balcony" — and that with-phrase adds to the price. A balcony counts here.
- How do you say “lodging” in Ukrainian?
The word of rental ads: zdaetsia zhytlo — "lodging for rent". In live conversation people just say kvartyra.
- How do you say “stairs” in Ukrainian?
Always plural — many steps, one word. Skhody vverity lead up; the elevator being broken makes them personal.
- How do you say “bathroom” in Ukrainian?
The room, not the tub — though the same word does both jobs. The toilet lives separately and is called tualet: no surprises there.
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 “to hammer in a nail” in Ukrainian?
«забивати цвях». In a live sentence: “Забивати цвях треба рівно” — You need to hammer the nail in straight. Phrase, level A1, from the set “home and things”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Tsviakh is the native nail — no borrowing will fit in its place. The hammer stays molotok and the twisting fastener stays shurup: the toolbox splits by origin. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.