Grammatical Case

Відмінок

• A grammatical system that changes the endings of words to show their role and function in a sentence.
• Grammatical cases are fundamental to Ukrainian because they encode meaning directly in word endings, allowing for flexible word order and clear communication.

Roles and functions

Ukrainian is an inflected language, meaning that words change form to express grammatical information. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and numerals all change their form to show how the different parts of speech interact. We've already seen a small part of this system through grammatical gender.

Grammatical cases are another part of this system. A case shows the role a word plays in a sentence and the function it performs. Ukrainian expresses these roles by changing the ending of a word. These words with different endings are called case forms.

To clarify: кава is the Ukrainian word for coffee. This is it's nominative case form - the base or default form as it appears in a dictionary. In the accusative case, кава becomes каву.

• Це кава. This is coffee.
• Я люблю каву. I love coffee.

The -у ending shows that coffee has taken the role of the direct object in this sentence, and its function as such is to denote the thing that the action (liking/loving) is directed at.

Many sources treat "role" and "function" interchangeably, but I find it helpful to differentiate the two.

Flexible word order

Where English relies heavily on word order to express meaning, Ukrainian relies on case forms instead. Because the endings contain the grammatical information, Ukrainian word order is far more flexible than English. You can rearrange the parts of a sentence without changing its basic meaning.

• Я люблю каву. I love coffee.
• Каву я люблю. I love coffee.

Both of these sentences can be translated the same way because the case form is what matters, not the word order - каву stays in the accusative case no matter where it appears.

This flexibility allows the speaker to shift emphasis while retaining the same meaning. In the first sentence, the emphasis is on the statement that I love something. In the second sentence, the emphasis is on coffee being the thing that I love. Do you notice the difference? How about in this comparative sentence:

• Я люблю чай, але каву я люблю більше. I like tea, but I like cofee more.

In this sentence, I'm conveying that I like tea, but it's coffee that I really like. There's almost a poetic tone to it.

Experimenting with flexible word order is fascinating for a native English speaker like myself and allows for greater nuance in expression - but it's only possible if you know the cases well.

There are seven cases in Ukrainian. Each one has specific functions and is used in particular situations.

Nominative case

Називний відмінок

• Denotes the subject of a sentence - the person or thing performing the action.
• Dictionary form of the word: all nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and numerals are listed in the nominative case.
• Answers the questions: хто? (who?), що? (what?).

Genitive case

Родовий відмінок

• Expresses relationship or possesion; marks absence, lack, or negation; used after words of quantity and measurement.
• Answers кого? (of whom?), чого? (of what?), звідки? (where from?), скільки? (how much? how many?).
• Corresponds to the English "of" or "apostrophe s" ('s) in many contexts.

Dative case

Давальний відмінок

• Denotes the indirect object - the person or thing an action is directed to or for; used to state one's age; used in impersonal sentences.
• Answers кому? (to whom?), чому? (to what?).
• Often corresponds to English "to" or "for" in meaning.

Accusative case

Знахідний відмінок

• Denotes the direct object - the person or thing an action is directed at; indicates motion toward a place (into, onto, toward).
• Answers кого? (whom?), що? (what?), про кого? (about whom?), про що? (about what?), куди? (where to?).
• Distinguishes between animate and inanimate nouns.

Instrumental case

Орудний відмінок

• Indicates the means or instrument by which an action is performed; expresses accompaniment.
• Answers ким? (with whom? by whom?), чим? (with what? by what?).
• Often corresponds to English "with", "by", or "as", depending on the context.

Locative case

Місцевий відмінок

• Expresses location in space or time: where something or someone is, where something takes place.
• Also known as the prepositional case because it's always used with prepositions.
• Answers the questions: де? (where?), у/в кому? (in whom?), у/в чому? (in what?), на кому? (on whom?), на чому? (on what?).

Vocative case

Кличний відмінок

• Used for direct address - calling to someone, speaking to someone, getting someone's attention.
• Applies only to nouns, mainly names, kinship terms, and nouns referring to people.

How to learn cases

The cases above are listed in the order you'll usually find in a dictionary or declension table. However, they're not typically learned in that order. Since Looping Ukrainian follows a similar structure to the Яблуко textbooks, we'll be learning and reviewing them in this order:

1. Nominative
2. Locative
3. Vocative
4. Accusative
5. Genitive
6. Instrumental
7. Dative

So how should you learn the cases? Here's what I suggest.

First, learn the role and function of each case. Understand what they do, the situations they're used in, and the questions they answer.

Second, learn the prepositions that require each case. Most prepositions are used with a specific case. Instead of memorizing rules, think in terms of "preposition + case dependency". Just keep in mind that this does not apply to all prepositions.

Third, add case forms to your flashcards. As you learn each new case, add the case form of the word you're studying to your existing flashcard (which should, by default, be in the nominative case).

Fourth, practice using the cases in real sentences (like in the member discussion section under each post!). Use each case with common verbs and simple sentence structures. You want to spend most of your time seeing, hearing, and using the cases in context, not staring at a declension table.

These will take a lot of time and repeated exposure to learn well. I highly recommend learning them one at a time and immediately putting each one into practice. Consistent use is what will make the patterns stick. Бажаю успіху! (I wish you success!)

Useful tools to check case forms

The Ukrainian orthographic dictionary I recommend for checking word stress and grammatical gender is also an excellent tool for checking case forms. This Ukrainian dictionary works well too. Use whichever you prefer.