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For time and dates Ukrainian use ordinal numbers, i.e., first, second, third, etc. In sentences these numbers functions as adjectives, which means that they decline to agree with the noun they accompany. For example, in a phrase, "Я зателефоную о першій годині" (I will phone at one o’clock), the Ukrainian for "one o’clock" is in fact "first hour" and both "first" and "hour" are in the prepositional case. If we take the phrase, "Зустріч призначено на першу годину" (The meeting is scheduled for one o’clock), you see the "first hour" again, but his time in the accusative. Comparing the two sentences, you can easily notice a change in the endings of both the noun and the ordinal number. Similar changes take place in the endings of adjectives: they will also be in the case of the governing noun.
Since ordinal numbers (as well as adjectives) agree with nouns, they are also distinguished by gender and number. Again, the distinction is marked by the ending. Take a look at and listen to the numbers from first to tenth:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
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перший другий третій четвертий п’ятий шостий сьомий восьмий дев’ятий десятий |
перша друга третя четверта п’ята шоста сьома восьма дев’ята десята |
перше друге третє четверте п’яте шосте сьоме восьме дев’яте десяте |
It is easy to discern the stems of cardinal numbers, which you learned in the previous lessons. Also, pay attention to the endings: -ий for masculine, -а for feminine and -е for neuter (these are of course endings for the nominative case). Two-digit numbers will add the same ending dropping the final ь: одинадцятий (одинадцята, одинадцяте), тридцятий (тридцята, тридцяте), etc. Higher numbers will also have the same endings, but there are slight changes in the stem:
сотий (100th), двохсотий (200th), трьохсотий (300th), чотирьохсотий (400th), п’ятисотий (500th), шестисотий (600th), восьмисотий (800th), дев’ятисотий (900th), тисячний (1000th), мільйонний (1,000,000th), мільярдний (1,000,000,000th), etc.
(This is just masculine; feminine and neuter will have -а and -е endings respectively.)
The only number to have a slightly different ending is "third" (see above).
Each adjectival gender and the plural form have their own declension patterns. As with nouns, you don’t have to learn all these now. We will show you the most common usage of ordinal numbers instead.
Time
Asking time is pretty simple:
- Котра година? (What time is it?)
- Четверта сорок три. (4:43) (64)
That’s the nominative case. Note that the number of hours is ordinal while the number of minutes is cardinal (these you learned in the previous lesson). The words "o’clock" and "minutes" are normally omitted in colloquial Ukrainian.
To say that something will happen at a certain hour, use preposition o followed by appropriate ordinal number and the feminine noun година (hour; o’clock) -- although the noun is optional,-- both in the prepositional case):
Ми зустрінемося о третій (сьомій, другій) годині. (We will meet at three (seven, two) o’clock.)
All other numbers in similar expressions of time will also have the ending -ій (again, in grammar terms, it’s the adjectival feminine ending in the prepositional case; it’s used for all "feminine prepositional" adjectives as well).
If you need to mention minutes as well, drop the word годині and add the cardinal number of minutes:
Ми зустрінемося о третій двадцять п’ять. (We will meet at three twenty-five.)
These are pretty sure and simple ways of expressing time. Similarly to English "quarter to three" or "half past five," the Ukrainian language also has other forms of expressing time. And, similarly to variations in these experssions in British and American English, there are regional variations in Ukraine as well. Here are some sample expressions that you might hear:
| Пів на шосту. | Half past six. |
| Концерт починається о пів на шосту. | The concert starts at half past six. |
| Пів шостої. | Half past six (colloquial) |
| Десять хвилин на третю. | Ten past two. |
| Десять хвилин по другій. | Ten past two. |
| За чверть десята. | A quarter to ten. |
| Без п’ятнадцяти десять. | Fifteen minutes to ten (colloquial in eastern parts of Ukraine and totally wrong! You have to be able to understand it, but please never use it!) |
Exercise 1. Rewrite the following sentences spelling the time in parentheses in the correct form (add a preposition when necessary). Use the simple form. Consult the dictionary or our glossary for unknown words.
1) Концерт закінчився (10:30).
2) Зараз 8:43.
3) Зустріч відбудеться (5).
4) Робочий день починається (9), а закінчується (18).
5) Обідня перерва в нас (13).
Dates
For compound numbers (e.g., twenty-two or one thousand forty), it is only the last component that is ordinal, the rest are regular cardinal numbers. For example:
двадцять другий (22nd), тисяча сто тридцять четвертий (1134th), триста шістдесятий (360th), двісті сімнадцятий (217th), etc..
These numbers would agree in gender with masculine nouns; in dates in the nominative, however, you should use the neuter ending -е, for instance:
Сьогодні вісімнадцяте серпня. (Today is August 18st.)
Через тиждень буде двадцять п'яте серпня. (It will be August 25th in a
week.)
Now it's high time to learn months (місяці) and days of the week (дні тижня) in Ukrainian.
| січень лютий березень квітень травень червень липень серпень вересень жовтень листопад грудень |
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
понеділок вівторок середа четвер п'ятниця субота неділя |
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday |
To say that something happened/will happen on a particular date, the genitive case is often used for dates and accusative for days of the week. For example:
Таня народилася в суботу, шістнадцятого березня тисяча дев'ятсот вісімдесят четвертого року. (Tanya was born on Saturday, March 16th, 1984).
Here "Saturday" is in the accusative. "On Wednesday," "on Friday," and "on Sunday" will have similar endings (в середу, в п'ятницю and в неділю), and the rest of days (since they are masculine and therefore follow a different declension pattern) have the same forms in the accusative as in the nominative.
Forming the genitive of months is also pretty simple: for those that end in -ень, replace these three last letters with -ня (e.g., серпень -- серпня) and remember that the genitive of лютий is лютого, and the genitive of листопад is листопада.
You may have noticed in the example above that the ending of "four" in 1984 is again -ого -- this is the genitive ending you should use for ordinal numbers in dates. Again, it's only the last component of a compound number that is declined; the rest are cardinal numbers without any changes. The word "year" in the genitive case (року) should also be included in dates. Here are some more examples:
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