Lingoflyза два кроки
- за два крокиza dva krokytwo steps away
“за два кроки” (za dva kroky) — two steps away in Ukrainian. Phrase, level A1, topic — asking the way. The preposition is za, "behind", not "in": za dva kroky. Kroky is the plural of krok, a step — and krokuvaty, to stride, is the verb inside. In a live sentence: “Готель за два кроки звідси” (Hotel za dva kroky zvidsy) — The hotel is two steps away from here. Written with the characters з (z), а (a), д, в (v), а (a), к, р, о (o), к, и.
In short
| Written in Ukrainian | за два кроки (za dva kroky) |
| Read in Latin letters | za dva kroky |
| Translation | two steps away |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The preposition is za, "behind", not "in": za dva kroky. Kroky is the plural of krok, a step — and krokuvaty, to stride, is the verb inside.
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.
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?de?where?A tiny word doing the whole job of "where". Its partner in the other direction — "to where" — is kudy.
- тутtuthereIts pair is tam, "there" — between them they cover the whole map. Short, common, and easy to keep.
- тамtamthereTam i tut — "there and here" — one vowel apart, like "here/there" but easier. The pharmacy is always tam, around the corner.
- праворучpravoruchto the rightLiterally "right-hand-ward" — prava ruka is "right hand". Directions come from body parts, which makes them hard to forget.
- ліворучlivoruchto the leftThe mirror twin of pravoruch, same build: liva ruka, "left hand". Povernit livoruch — "turn left" — is half of all navigation.
- прямоpriamostraight aheadOne of those rare exact matches with the expected sound. Just remember: "to the right" is pravoruch, not a cousin of pryamo.
- близькоblyzkocloseThe soft sign after z is real: blyz-ko. Its opposite daleko is just as easy — the pair covers every distance question.
- далекоdalekofarStress on the middle syllable: da-LE-ko. Tse daleko? — "Is it far?" — is the question asked about every route ever.
- ітиityto go (on foot)Two syllables, i-TY; after a vowel it shrinks to yty: treba yty. Present: idu, idesh, ide — the i leads every step.
- як пройтиyak proityhow to get thereFollow it with do plus the of-form: yak proity do vokzalu — how to get to the station. There is no short "to" for directions in Ukrainian; 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 “two steps away” in Ukrainian?
The preposition is za, "behind", not "in": za dva kroky. Kroky is the plural of krok, a step — and krokuvaty, to stride, is the verb inside.
- 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. There is no short "to" for directions in Ukrainian; 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 “two steps away” in Ukrainian?
«за два кроки» (za dva kroky), read “za dva kroky”. In a live sentence: “Готель за два кроки звідси” (Hotel za dva kroky zvidsy) — The hotel is two steps away from here. Phrase, level A1, from the set “asking the way”; written with the characters з (z), а (a), д, в (v), а (a), к, р, о (o), к, и.
How is “за два кроки” (za dva kroky) written in Latin letters?
za dva kroky. 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?
The preposition is za, "behind", not "in": za dva kroky. Kroky is the plural of krok, a step — and krokuvaty, to stride, is the verb inside. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.