Lingoflyдозволити собі
- дозволити собіdozvolyty sobito afford
“дозволити собі” (dozvolyty sobi) — to afford in Ukrainian. Phrase, level B1. From volia, "will": dozvolyty is to allow — to afford something is to allow it to yourself. The phrase calques "allow oneself" exactly, sobi and all. In a live sentence: “Такої покупки я не можу дозволити собі” (Takoi pokupky ya ne mozhu dozvolyty sobi) — Once a year we allow ourselves a vacation.
In short
| Written in Ukrainian | дозволити собі (dozvolyty sobi) |
| Read in Latin letters | dozvolyty sobi |
| Translation | to afford |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
From volia, "will": dozvolyty is to allow — to afford something is to allow it to yourself. The phrase calques "allow oneself" exactly, sobi and all.
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.
- Такої покупки я не можу дозволити собіTakoi pokupky ya ne mozhu dozvolyty sobiOnce a year we allow ourselves a vacation
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 afford” in Ukrainian?
«дозволити собі» (dozvolyty sobi), read “dozvolyty sobi”. In a live sentence: “Такої покупки я не можу дозволити собі” (Takoi pokupky ya ne mozhu dozvolyty sobi) — Once a year we allow ourselves a vacation. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters д, о (o), з (z), в (v), о (o), л, и, т, и, с, о (o), б (b)…
How is “дозволити собі” (dozvolyty sobi) written in Latin letters?
dozvolyty sobi. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
From volia, "will": dozvolyty is to allow — to afford something is to allow it to yourself. The phrase calques "allow oneself" exactly, sobi and all. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.