So you’ve come to the very last lesson in our Ukrainian for Beginners course. It does’t have any special topic, it will indeed be a collection of remarks that you might find useful on your trip to Ukraine or in futher Ukrainian language courses.

1. Transliteration. As we mentioned in lesson 2, transliteration rules may vary. This is nothing to worry about as long as you’re aware of variations and are consistent in your own usage. In 1996, an Official Resolution on Transliteration was issued; however, its rules are obligatory only for transliteration of Ukrainian names in the translations of Ukrainian laws and other official documents. Major differences of this transliteration guide from what you learned in lesson 2 include:

Ukrainian letter	Transliteration used in lesson 2	Official Resolution suggests
є	ye	ye -- first letter in the word; ie -- in the middle of the word
ї	yi	yi -- first letter in the word; i -- in the middle of the word
ю	yu	yu -- first letter in the word; iu -- in the middle of the word
я	ya	ya -- first letter in the word; ia -- in the middle of the word
щ	shch	sch

You can find the complete Resolution on the Web. The Resolution is in Ukrainian, but you can scroll down a bit to the transliteration table.

In more rare cases, you will see the consonant й transliterated as j. You should avoid doing so since j in English has a completely different pronunciation.

You’re more or less free to choose which transliteration method you like best (it concerns primarily the vowels). It is hard to judge without a special study which style is used more, but the author of this course from her own experience finds the one cited in lesson 2 customary.

2. Major Ukrainian cities. For your information and reference, here’s a list of the largest Ukrainian cities. They are all cities of administrative importance -- capitals of Ukrainian large administrative districts (called oblasts), unless otherwise indicated.

Київ -- capital of Ukraine Харків (Харков+ending in other cases) Одеса Дніпропетровськ Львів (Львов+ending in other cases) Донецьк Луганськ Кіровоград Суми Полтава Запоріжжя Вінниця Хмельницький

Луцьк Тернопіль (Тернопол+ending in other cases) Ужгород Чернівці Рівне Черкаси Чернігів Івано-Франківськ Миколаїв Херсон Житомир Сімферополь (capital of the Autonomous Crimea Republic) Севастополь (a large city in Crimea)

3. Ти and ви -- familiar and formal you. This is comparable to French tu and vous, or German du and Sie, although usage may slightly vary. Usually only young people (mostly teenagers and college students) would address their peer with ти from the very beginning of being acquainted, or older people can say ти to those who are clearly much younger (the youngsters in this case would still continue calling the older person with the formal you -- ви). Using ти emphasizes the peer relationship in the first case and age difference ("inferiority") in the second. Among other people or those who met each other in a formal situation the pronoun ви would be used. They can begin calling each other ти when one of them suggests it, usually when they become friends or expect to meet each other often and perhaps become friends. Otherwise using ти with a person you don’t know well implies rudeness or lack of good manners. Your best approach would be to call anyone ви except for children, unless you’re a teenager speaking with your peers.

Ви is also plural you which is used in addressing any group of people.

If you’re an American, be careful in using the Ukrainian word друг, which is often translated as "friend" but actually means only a quite close friend, someone you trust, have known for a pretty long time and usually see on a regular basis. My experience suggests that Americans can use the word "friend" in a broader context, which often uncludes people with whom you get along well, even if you haven’t known them that long. When no long-lasting friendship is implied, use the word знайомий for men and знайома for women, which literally means "acquaintance" and is in Ukrainian culture more adequate in this context. However, avoid using this word in front of the person whom you’re this way describing; you can use it when speaking about this person to someone else. It is not insulting, but when used, for instance, in introductions, it brings in a touch of "coldness." Once you become close friends, you can use the word друг without such reservations.

Well, it’s time to say good-bye. Hope you now have a good idea about Ukrainian phonetics and grammar, a reference site, and a solid base for further studies and essential communication in Ukrainian. We would appreciate hearing from you; please send your questions, comments, or suggestions to Olga Bohachova. Your comments are essential for making this site better and perhaps for extending it to the next language level, if our users need it.

До побачення та всього найкращого!