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Ukrainian verbs have only three basic tenses: present, past, and future. You can experss/identify tenses through verb endings. One verb ending you already know: it's -ти; however, since it's the infinitive ending, it conveys no meaning of tense. You've also come across some tense-related verb endings in examples and dialogues, and we will now explore these endings in greater depth.
The present tense. Remember that it's only imperfective verbs that can be in the present tense. Let's review the following examples:
| Я обідаю | I have/am having lunch |
| Ти обідаєш | You have/are having lunch (familiar you) |
| Він Вона обідає Воно | He She has/is having lunch It |
| Ми обідаємо | We have/are having lunch |
| Ви обідаєте | You have/are having lunch (formal and plural you) |
| Вони обідають | They have/are having lunch |
Two essential things to learn from this example: Ukrainian personal pronouns and six verb endings to match six possible subject persons. Note that English verbs in the simple present tense do not change regardless of the subject person except in third person singular (I/you/we/they have, but he/she/it has); however, the verb to be has more forms (am/is/are) and is therefore somewhat closer to the principle of conjugation (ending changes according to the subject person) that we're now exploring in Ukrainian. If you know German, verb ending changes should be quite familiar to you since the Germans conjugate their verbs as well.
Here's a slight modification of the ending vowels given above:
| Я пишу | I write/am writing |
| Ти пишеш | You write/are writing (familiar you) |
| Він Вона пише Воно |
He She writes/is writing It |
| Ми пишемо | We write/are writing |
| Ви пишете | You write/are writing (formal and plural you) |
| Вони пишуть | They write/are writing |
You may recall from Lesson 2 (Letters and Sounds) that у and е are parts of two-sound letters ю and є. Therefore -у/-ю, -еш/-єш... -уть/-ють are essentialy the same endings. Note that the endings given in the first example follow a vowel, while endings from the second pattern follow a consonant. Stem changes, like in example 2, take place in some verbs. You will have to memorize most of these.
While the examples above may be considered to belong to the same pattern (it is called "Conjugation 1" in grammar books), conjugation 2 verbs have another vowel in their endings. For instance:
To save space, we'll use only "learn" in translations.
| Я вчу | I learn/am learning |
| Ти вчиш | You learn/are learning (familiar you) |
| Він Вона вчить Воно |
He She learns/is learning It |
| Ми вчимо | We learn/are learning |
| Ви вчите | You learn/are learning (formal and plural you) |
| Вони вчать | They learn/are learning |
If the stem ends with a vowel, the endings in this pattern take a different letter:
| Я стою | I stand/am standing |
| Ти стоїш | You stand/are standing (familiar you) |
| Він Вона стоїть Воно |
He She stands/is standing It |
| Ми стоїмо | We stand/are standing |
| Ви стоїте | You stand/are standing (formal and plural you) |
| Вони стоять | They stand/are standing |
So much for the present tense. We won't elaborate on irregularities at this point but will draw your attention to them as we go along.
The future tense. Once you have learned the present, the future tense will be easy. In fact, future perfective verbs take on the same endings which imperfective verbs take in the present tense.
Exercise 1. Practice conjugating verbs: form the future tense of the following perfective verbs for all the six persons (refer to the examples above for correct endings).
(Follow Example 1): пообідати, прочитати, повечеряти.
(Follow Example 2): прокинутися (two things to remember: 1) this pattern applies to verb stems that end in consonant; therefore, person-specific endings in this case will replace not only the regular -ти-ending, but the vowel before it will also drop out: 2) -ся will remain as is in reflexive verbs such as this one, so changeable endings should be inserted right before it), встати (a bit irregular: add letter н before all endings).
Imperfective verbs in the future tense can have two forms:
| Я буду перекладати | I will translate/ will be translating |
| Ти будеш перекладати | You will translate/ will be translating |
| Він Вона буде перекладати Воно |
He She will translate/ will be translating It |
| Ми будемо перекладати | We will translate/ will be translating |
| Ви будете перекладати | You will translate/ will be translating (formal and plural you) |
| Вони будуть перекладати | They will translate/ will be translating |
This form is practically identical to English simple future (e.g., I will translate), except that the verb "will" also has person-specific endings (same as in Example 2 above).
| Я перекладатиму | I will translate/ will be translating |
| Ти перекладатимеш | You will translate/ will be translating |
| Він Вона перекладатиме Воно |
He She will translate/ will be translating It |
| Ми перекладатимемо | We will translate/ will be translating |
| Ви перекладатимете | You will translate/ will be translating (formal and plural you) |
| Вони перекладатимуть | They will translate/ will be translating |
Here you see Example 2 present tense endings again, but they are added to the whole infinitive (the -ти ending doesn't disappear) plus letter м.
Each verb can have both forms. However, usage leans towards the latter; use the will-pattern with longer verbs that would sound too bulky with extra endings.
The past tense. You’ll have to remember only four endings for the past tense, but the conjugation principle has changed: endings here are gender- and number-specific rather than person-specific, as it is for the present and future tenses.
There are no differences between perfective and imperfective past tense formation. Some irregularities, like elsewhere, do occur, so pay attention when you see new verbs in sentences.
Take a look:
| Я | лежав лежала лежало |
I lay |
| Ти | лежав лежала лежало |
You lay (familiar you) |
| Він Вона Воно |
лежав лежала лежало | He/She/It lay |
| Ми | лежали | We lay |
| Ви | лежали | You lay (formal and plural you) |
| Вони | лежали | They lay |
As you see, genders are not manifested in plural. However, the verb that agrees with the я subject in the past tense will take one of the two endings, depending on the gender of the speaker (the neuter ending grammatically is also possible but is unlikely contextually since hardly anyone will speak of himself as воно). Similarly, verb that agrees with the pronoun ти should take one of the relevant endings as required by the gender of the addressee.
Exercise 2.This could be a standard telephone conversation with an office receptionist. However, you can use standard phrases from it in a private conversation as well. Learn the following dialogue by heart. Note the modal verbs (may, must, etc.): they are followed by the infinitive.
| Секретарка: - Ало! |
Secretary: - Hallo! (If it’s an office, you can often hear the name of the organization instead.) |
| Микола: - Добрий день! Чи можу я говорити з Петром Івашенком? | Mykola: - Good afternoon (Good day)! May I speak with Petro Ivashenko? (The first and last names in Ukranian also decline; here they are in the instrumental case. The English translation always uses the nominative for all nouns and names.) |
| Секретарка: - Хто його питає? | Who wants to speak with him? (Literally: Who’s asking him?) |
| Микола: - Микола Бойчук. | Mykola Boychuk |
| Секретарка: - Хвилинку, будь ласка.... Перепрошую, він щойно вийшов. Йому щось передати? | One minute please... Sorry, he’s just left. Would you like to leave a message? |
| Микола: - Ви не знаєте, коли він повернеться? | Do you happen to know when he’ll be back? |
| Секретарка: - Можливо, за годину. | Perhaps in an hour. |
| Микола: - А в нього є мобільний телефон? Я мушу терміново з ним поговорити. | Does he have a mobile phone? I must speak with him immediately (urgently). |
| Секретарка: - Здається, він не взяв телефона з собою. | It seems he hasn’t taken the phone with him. |
| Микола: - А куди він поїхав? | And where did he go? |
| Секретарка: - На вокзал. Він спершу має купити квитки, а потім заїде на пошту. | To the train station. He has to buy tickets first and then he’ll stop by at the post office. |
| Микола: - Гаразд. Передайте, будь ласка, Петрові, що ми не зможемо сьогодні зустрітися. | OK. Please tell Petro that we won’t be able to meet today. |
| Секретарка: - Повторіть, будь ласка, ваше ім’я. | Please tell me your name again. (Please repeat your name.) (Note a new verb form -- imperative) |
| Микола: - Микола Бойчук. Дякую. До побачення. | Mykola Boychuk. Thank you. Bye. |
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