Знахідний відмінок — Accusative Case in Ukrainian: How to Form and Use It

Today‘s article is about the Accusative case — Знахідний відмінок. We have already talked about all cases in Ukrainian in general. It’s high time to talk about one of the most common ones, the Accusative case. Actually, the use of this case is quite easy!

Formation

Here are the rules for forming the Accusative case out of the nominative (dictionary) form.The Accusative case form depends on whether the noun is animate or inanimate.

An ‘animate‘ noun is something that is alive and can move by itself. People or animals. An ‘inanimate‘ noun is a non-living object.

Masculine Nouns:

1. If the noun is inanimate, there is no change.

2. If the noun is animate and ends in a consonant, add ‘а’.

*Some masculine nouns and personal names can end in –o (тато, батько, дядько, Петро, Михайло).

In this case о → а:

• театр (nom. sing.) → театр (acc. sing.) — ‘theater’, inanimate noun
• парк (nom. sing.) → парк (acc. sing.) — ‘park’, inanimate noun

BUT:

• студент (nom. sing.) → студента (acc. sing.) — ‘student’, animate noun
• син (nom. sing.) → сина (acc. sing.) — ‘son’, animate noun
• Петро (nom. sing. → Петра (acc. sing.) — personal name
• дядько (nom. sing.) → дядька (acc. sing.) — ‘uncle‘, animate noun

Feminine Nouns:

1. Replace ‘а’ with ‘у’.

• газета (nom. sing.) → газету (acc. sing.) — ‘newspaper’
• проблема (nom. sing.) → проблему (acc. sing.) — ‘problem’

2. Replace ‘я’ with ‘ю’.

• вулиця (nom. sing.) → вулицю (acc. sing.) — ‘street’
• стаття (nom. sing.) → статтю (acc. sing.) — ‘article’

Neuter Nouns:

Inanimate nouns do not change (almost all neuter nouns are inanimate).

• вікно (nom. sing.) → вікно (acc. sing.) — ‘window’, inanimate noun
• сонце (nom. sing.) → сонце (acc. sing.) — ‘sun’, inanimate noun

Plural nouns:

For plural nouns, the accusative case just ‘borrows’ forms from the other cases, depending on whether the object is animate or not:

• Inanimate nouns – same as the Nominative plural.
• Animate nouns – same as the Genitive plural.

Learn more about the 10 uses of the Genitive case in Ukrainian here.

Table — Forming the Accusative Case in Ukrainian

NB! Right now you have to memorize that we change:

• feminine nouns а → у, я → ю
• and masculine nouns (animate) consonant → consonant + а (and sometimes о→а)

How to Use the Accusative case in Ukrainian

1. To show the object of the action

• Студент читає книгу. — The student is reading a book.

The word книгу (book) is the Accusative case form of the word книга (book) and indicates the object of the action читає (is reading).

Usually, words that are in the Accusative case answer the questions Кого? or Що? or in English Whom?  or What?

Let’s take a look at a couple of examples.

I’m sure that you know the meaning of these sentences!

• Я люблю каву.

What do I love? — coffee

Що я люблю?— каву

Каву is the Accusative case form of the noun кава (coffee).

• Я кохаю тебе!

Whom do I love? — you

Кого я кохаю? — тебе

Тебе is the Accusative case form of the pronoun ти (you).

NB! The accusative case usually follows verbs that take a direct object, for example:

• знати — to know
• читати — to read
• бачити — to see
• любити — to love, to like
• брати — to take
• купувати — to buy
• давати — to give

• Цей студент знає українську мову. — This student knows the Ukrainian language. 
• Я беру цю газету.— I’m taking this newspaper. 
• Він купує квиток. — He buys a ticket. 

Do you know the difference between кохати and любити? 5 Minute Ukrainian, Episode 38 can help with this!

Кохати refers to the relationship between two people in love, whereas любити refers to anything. Я люблю сало, but you can’t say Я кохаю сало.

Have a look at this table of different combinations with the Accusative case:

2. With prepositions В (into) and НА (on to) to express motion to somewhere.

Він їде в Україну. — He is traveling to Ukraine.

The word Україну is the Accusative case form of the word Україна and indicates the motion to this country after the preposition в (into).

• Вона йде на вечірку. — She goes to a party.

The word вечірку is the accusative case form of the word вечірка (a party).

These sentences answer the question Куди? (Where to?).

3. Days of the week answering the question ‘Коли?’ (When?)

You might already know the Ukrainian names of days of the week:

When answering the question Коли?, these names (with preposition у (в)) take the Accusative case.

• Я працюю у вівторок, середу і четвер. — I work on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
• У понеділок і п’ятницю я не працюю. — On Monday and Friday, I do not work.
• У суботу та неділю я відпочиваю. — On Saturday and Sunday, I rest.

Some names of the days of the week are masculine (inanimate, end with a consonant). Do we change them to form the Accusative? – No!

• понеділок – у понеділок_
• вівторок – у вівторок_
• четвер – у четвер_

But some names of the days of the week are feminine (end with –а  or –я ). Do we change their endings to form the Accusative? – Yes! а → у, я → ю

• середа – у середу
• п’ятниця – у п’ятницю
• субота – у суботу
• неділя – у неділю

Exercises and tasks

Put your knowledge to practice!

1. Fill in the gaps. Put the nouns into the Accusative. Use the dictionary if you need.

a) Мама обіймає _____________ і _____________.

б) Дівчинка малює ___________. Вона також намалювала ____________, _____________, _________________.

в)  Подруги їдять _____________ і п’ють ______________ .

2. Open the brackets. Choose the correct forms of the motion verbs іти та їхати.  Put the nouns into the Accusative.

1) Хлопчик (іти) в (школа).

2) Студенти (іти) на (лекція).

3) Ти (іти) в (парк)? – Ні, я не (іти).

4) Ви (іти) на (вечірка)? – Так, ми (іти).

5) Оксана і Михайло (їхати) на (робота) машиною.

6) Мої друзі (їхати) на (море) завтра.

7) Ти (їхати) в (Італія)? – Ні, я (їхати) в (Іспанія).

8) Ви (їхати) на (ринок)? – Ні, ми (їхати) в супермаркет.

3. Make as many sentences as you can using Accusative.

• Я люблю _________________________________________________
• Я їм ______________________________________________________
• Я знаю __________________________________________________
• Я бачу ___________________________________________________
• Я читаю ________________________________________________

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I hope the theoretical material and these exercises will help you learn the Accusative!

Make sure to check out Episode 15 of 5 Minute Ukrainian on Accusative case and the direct object in Ukrainian.

Learning Ukrainian and looking for great resources? Check out our list of the 1000 most common words in Ukrainian with interactive flashcards. You can also learn Ukrainian step by step wherever you are with our free Ukrainian Lessons Podcast.