Traditional Easter greetings in Ukrainian are completely different from our usual Добрий день. Ukrainians love Easter and have a variety of traditions connected with it. No wonder – it is one of the biggest and oldest Christian holidays.

In this short article you will find a way to greet your Ukrainian family and friends.

Христос воскрес! [khrystos voskres] – Christ has risen!

This is what you say if you are greeting another person first. As you know, Ukrainians are mostly Orthodox Christians. The very first one to say it is the priest after the midnight mass. The congregation answers the following:

Воістину воскрес! [voistynu voskres] – Indeed He has risen! 

This is the only appropriate response to Христос воскрес. You can hear alternative pronunciations: воістину / воїстину [voyistynu] воскрес / воскресе [voskrese]

Easter greetings in Ukrainian
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We keep greeting each other in this way for the three days of the holiday. If you are celebrating with people, you know well, after these words, you can kiss each other three times on alternate cheeks.

If you feel like Христос воскрес is too religious for you, try the following Easter greetings. They are becoming more popular in big cities where people don’t go to churches that often.

Discover more interesting facts about Easter in Ukraine with Ukrainian Lessons Podcast episode > ULP 3-116 Великдень в Україні – Easter in Ukraine

З Великоднем! [z velykodnem] – Happy Easter!

As you know, the preposition “з” can be used with any holiday. Ukrainians just put it in front of the occasion.

Easter greetings in Ukrainian
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Зі святом Великодня /
Пасхи! [zi sv’atom velykodn’a / paskhy] – Happy Easter!

As a matter of fact, there are two translations for Easter: Великдень and Пасха. Пасха is said to be a Jewish name, while Великдень is the Christian one. However, both of them are common nowadays.

Watch out! Don’t mix up Пасха [paskha] Easter and паска [paska] Easter bread.

Вітаємо з Великоднем! [vitajemo z velykodnem] – Congratulations on Easter!

Do you remember the word вітаємо? It means to congratulate and can be used with every holiday. 

Easter greetings in Ukrainian
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Do you like Ukrainian Easter eggs – “pysanky“? Learn how to paint them with Ukrainian Lessons Podcast episode > ULP 3-114 Майстер-клас з писанкарства – How to make pysanky

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Now you are all set for your Easter holidays in Ukraine. 🙂

To learn more about Ukrainian greetings, you can read this article: Greetings in Ukrainian for every occasion (with audio!)

Looking for more resources to improve your Ukrainian vocabulary? Check out our 1000 most common words in Ukrainian with interactive flashcards. Also, you can learn Ukrainian step by step with our free Ukrainian Lessons Podcast.