🇺🇦 Ukrainian Cases: The Seven-Case System
How Ukrainian nouns change form based on their grammatical role
Seven Cases
Ukrainian has seven grammatical cases — one more than Russian. The extra case is the Vocative (кличний), used when directly addressing someone. Each case answers a specific question and changes the noun's ending.
| Case | Question | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative (називний) | Хто? Що? | Subject |
| Genitive (родовий) | Кого? Чого? | Possession, absence, "of" |
| Dative (давальний) | Кому? Чому? | Indirect object, "to" |
| Accusative (знахідний) | Кого? Що? | Direct object |
| Instrumental (орудний) | Ким? Чим? | Means, accompaniment, "with" |
| Locative (місцевий) | На кому? На чому? | Location (always with preposition) |
| Vocative (кличний) | — | Direct address |
Masculine Nouns
For masculine nouns ending in a consonant (like кіт — cat, стіл — table):
| Case | кіт (cat) | стіл (table) |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | кіт | стіл |
| Genitive | кота | стола |
| Dative | коту / котові | столу / столові |
| Accusative | кота (animate) | стіл (inanimate) |
| Instrumental | котом | столом |
| Locative | на коті | на столі |
| Vocative | коте! | столе! |
Feminine Nouns
For feminine nouns ending in -а (like книга — book, мама — mom):
| Case | книга (book) | мама (mom) |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | книга | мама |
| Genitive | книги | мами |
| Dative | книзі | мамі |
| Accusative | книгу | маму |
| Instrumental | книгою | мамою |
| Locative | у книзі | на мамі |
| Vocative | книго! | мамо! |
The Vocative Case
The Vocative is unique to Ukrainian (among major Slavic languages still using it actively). Use it when calling someone by name or addressing them directly.
| Nominative | Vocative | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Оксана | Оксано! | Оксано, йди сюди! (Oksana, come here!) |
| Іван | Іване! | Іване, допоможи! (Ivan, help!) |
| мама | мамо! | Мамо, дивись! (Mom, look!) |
| друг | друже! | Друже, як справи? (Friend, how are you?) |
| Україна | Україно! | Used in patriotic speech and poetry |
Key Prepositions
Like Russian, Ukrainian prepositions govern specific cases. Some prepositions change meaning depending on the case.
| Preposition | Case | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| в/у + Loc. | Locative | in (location) | у школі (at school) |
| в/у + Acc. | Accusative | to (direction) | у школу (to school) |
| з + Instr. | Instrumental | with | з другом (with a friend) |
| з + Gen. | Genitive | from | з України (from Ukraine) |
| без + Gen. | Genitive | without | без води (without water) |
| до + Gen. | Genitive | to, until | до школи (to school) |
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