TENSE FORMS OF VERBS IN THE UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE
In the Ukrainian language, verbs have three tenses: past, present, and future. All tenses differ in meaning and have distinct morphological features. The category of time is closely related to the category of person and is manifested in personal (and gender-based, in the past tense) forms.
Past Tense
The past tense denotes an action that took place or has already occurred before the moment of speech. Past tense verbs can be of perfective (що зробив? — what did [one] do?) and imperfective (що робив? — what was [one] doing?) aspect. Past tense verbs change by number (їла (singular) – їли (plural)), and in the singular by gender (він їв (masculine), вона їла (feminine), воно їло (neuter)). Past tense verbs are formed from the infinitive stem (dropping the ending -ти from the indefinite form) by adding suffixes: for the masculine gender -в, for the feminine and neuter genders and the plural -л-, and endings: for the feminine gender -а, for the neuter -о, for the plural -и (the masculine form has a zero ending): писати – писав (he), писала (she), писало (it), писали (they).
Present Tense
The present tense denotes an action that occurs at the moment of speech or coincides with the moment of reporting it.
Verbs in the present tense express:
- an action that coincides with the moment of speaking about it: Зараз я пишу тобі знову (Now I am writing to you again);
- a prolonged or constant action: Щодня я прокидаюся дуже рано (Every day I wake up very early);
- an action that is a property of a being or an object: Земля обертається навколо своєї осі (The Earth rotates around its axis).Present tense verbs have only the imperfective aspect and change by person and number. Present tense verbs are formed from the present tense stem using endings:Singular / Plural1st person я: -у, -ю / ми: -емо (-ємо), -имо (-їмо)2nd person ти: -еш (-єш), -иш (-їш) / ви: -ете (-єте), -ите (-їте)3rd person він, вона, воно: -е (-є), -ить (-їть) / вони: -уть (-ють), -ать (-ять)
Future Tense
The future tense denotes an action that will take place or continue after talking about it. Future tense forms can express a prolonged (unlimited in time) action (Я буду писати вдома.), a one-time or limited action with an indication of completion (Я напишу вдома.). Accordingly, they are formed from the stems of imperfective and perfective verbs. The future tense has three forms: one perfective (napyšu) and two imperfective — simple (писатиму) and compound (буду писати). Future tense verbs in all forms change by person and number. Perfective future tense verbs change in the same way as present tense verbs.
The simple form of the imperfective future tense is formed by adding particles to the infinitive: -му, -меш, -ме, -мемо, -мете, -муть: я писатиму, ти писатимеш, він / вона писатиме, ми писатимемо, ви писатимете, вони писатимуть. The compound form of the imperfective future tense is formed from the personal forms of the auxiliary verb бути (to be) and the infinitive: я буду, ти будеш, він / вона буде + infinitive: я буду писати, ви будете ходити, ми будемо, ви будете, вони будуть.
Pluperfect Tense: The Forgotten Treasure of Grammar
The pluperfect tense, or plusquamperfect, is a true pearl of the Ukrainian language. It describes a past action that was completed before another past event.
Formation: The past tense form of the main verb + the auxiliary verb бути in the corresponding past tense form (був, була, було, були).
Example: "Вона була вже пішла, коли він прийшов" (She had already gone when he arrived).
Stylistic role: This tense adds depth and multi-layeredness to the narrative, like a layer of an ancient canvas. It creates a retrospective effect and places emotional emphasis on the sequence of events.
Origin and usage: It originates from Old Church Slavonic forms and has been preserved in the Ukrainian language much more fully than in many other Slavic languages. In folklore, it is used in 15% of stories to create a fairy-tale effect. Although today it is more often found in dialects (for example, in Galicia) or formal texts, its use adds a special sophistication to speech.
Verb Aspects
Verbs can be of imperfective and perfective aspect.
Imperfective verbs express an incomplete action, without indicating its result in the past, present, or future tense.
Perfective verbs express an action with an indication of its completion or effectiveness in the past or future tense.
Unlike imperfective verbs, which appear in all three tenses, perfective verbs have meanings only for the past and future tenses.
The meaning of aspect is fixed to the stem of the verb; it is preserved in all its forms — conjugated, declinable, and unchangeable. The means of expressing aspectual meaning is most often a prefix. In addition to the prefix, aspectual meaning can be expressed by a suffix, stress, or sound alternation.
A verb of one aspect may correspond to a verb of another aspect with the same lexical meaning. Such verbs form an aspectual pair. In modern Ukrainian, almost all verbs have perfective and imperfective forms. The imperfective form of verbs is considered the primary one, as the perfective aspect is formed from it.
In the Ukrainian language, there are special verbs called biaspectual verbs. Their uniqueness lies in the fact that they combine the features of both imperfective and perfective aspects simultaneously. It is possible to determine exactly what meaning such a word has only in a specific sentence. For example, the verb гарантувати (to guarantee) in the phrase "Ми щодня гарантуємо безпеку" acts as an imperfective aspect because it means a constant action. However, in the phrase "Директор гарантував виплату премії вже сьогодні", it becomes perfective because it indicates a specific result. The words організувати (organize), обстежити (examine), реставрувати (restore), or вінчати (crown/wed) have similar properties.
A separate group consists of single-aspect verbs, which fundamentally do not have an aspectual pair. The first subgroup is verbs of only the imperfective aspect, which usually describe a state, a long-lasting feeling, or constant processes. These include the words мешкати (dwell), сподіватися (hope), потребувати (need), ворогувати (be at enmity), or марити (daydream). We cannot "complete" dwelling in one moment, so they do not have perfective forms. The second subgroup is verbs of only the perfective aspect. They often have prefixes indicating intensity or the end of an action, such as надивитися (have a good look), розговоритися (start talking freely), схаменутися (come to one's senses), пролунати (resound), or віддзвеніти (finish ringing). For example, it is impossible to "perform the process" of having a good look; one can only achieve the result — to have seen enough.
Regarding the present tense, it is important to remember: it exists exclusively for imperfective verbs. We create these forms by adding personal endings to the verb stem, which indicate who exactly is performing the action now. For example, from the verb працювати (to work), we get the forms: я працюю, ти працюєш, вони працюють. At the same time, sound changes can occur in the root, as in the word писати (to write), where the sound "sh" appears in the forms я пишу or ти пишеш. Perfective verbs are not used in the present tense, because it is impossible to be in the process of an action that has already been completed. Forms that look similar, such as "прочитаю" (I will read) or "збудую" (I will build), actually denote the future tense.
Ways of Forming Present Tense Verbs
Present tense forms are created from imperfective verbs by adding personal endings to the stem. Present tense forms express the meaning of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person in singular and plural.
Person / Singular / Plural
I Conjugation / II Conjugation / I Conjugation / II Conjugation
1st: -у(-ю) / -у(-ю) / -емо(-ємо) / -имо(-їмо)
2nd: -еш(-єш) / -иш(-їш) / -ете(-єте) / -ите(-їте)
3rd: -е(-є) / -ить(-їть) / -уть(-ють) / -ать(-ять)
Present tense verbs and simple future perfective verbs have the same personal endings.
I Conjugation
1st: каж-у, раді-ю / каже-мо, раді-ємо
2nd: каж-еш, раді-єш / каж-ете, раді-єте
3rd: каж-е, раді-є / каж-уть, раді-ють
II Conjugation
1st: бач-у, сто-ю / бач-имо, сто-їмо
2nd: бач-иш, сто-їш / бач-ите, сто-їте
3rd: бач-ить, сто-їть / бач-ать, сто-ять
Conjugation of Simple Future Perfective Verbs
1st: скаж-у, зробл-ю / скаж-емо, зроб-имо
2nd: скаж-еш, зроб-иш / скаж-ете, зроб-ите
3rd: скаж-е, зроб-ить / скаж-уть, зробл-ять
Past tense verbs change by gender and number: співав, співала, співало, співали. In the masculine gender, the suffix -в- (носив, водив) and a zero ending occur, or a zero ending alone (ріс, віз, ніс); in the feminine, neuter gender, and plural — the suffix -л- and the endings -а (несла), -о (несло), -и (несли).
Gender / Person / Singular / Plural
Perfective / Imperfective / Perfective / Imperfective
Masculine 3rd: написав / думав / написали / думали
Feminine: написала / думала
Neuter: написало / думало
Future tense verbs change by number and person. Imperfective verbs have simple and compound future tense forms; perfective verbs have only the simple form.
In the complex form of the future tense, the copula verb бути (to be) has personal endings with the unchanging infinitive form.
In the simple form, personal endings appear as in the present tense: виконаю, виконаєш, виконає, виконаємо, виконаєте, виконають; присяду, присядеш, присяде, присядемо, присядете, присядуть; вибіжу, вибіжиш, вибіжить, вибіжимо, вибіжите, вибіжать. The second form of the future tense of imperfective verbs in modern Ukrainian has endings -му, -меш, -ме, -мемо, -мете, -муть.
Simple form of the imperfective future tense / Compound form of the imperfective future tense
Person / Singular / Plural / Person / Singular / Plural
1st: читатиму / читатимемо / 1st: буду читати / будемо читати
2nd: читатимеш / читатимете / 2nd: будеш читати / будете читати
3rd: читатиме / читатимуть / 3rd: буде читати / будуть читати
Бути (to be) and дати (to give) are verbs with irregular forms. In the verbs сісти (to sit down), гнати (to drive/chase), жити (to live), слати (to send/spread), іти (to go), взяти (to take), підняти (to lift), atypical changes occur in the stems. These verbs should be memorized.
Conjugation of the verbs бути, дати, їсти, доповісти
1st: даю, їм, доповідаю / даємо, їмо, доповідаємо
2nd: даєш, їм, доповідаєш / даєте, їсте, доповідаєте
3rd: дає, їсть, доповідає / дають, їдять, доповідають
In the verb бути, the form є appears in all singular and plural forms of the present tense. In the future tense, бути changes: буду, будеш, буде, будемо, будете, будуть.