Lesson 3 introduces you to Ukrainian verbs and their infinitive forms. The lesson also expands your knowledge of pronouns in relation to verbs.

•  Verbs – Present Tense, Group One

•  Pronouns – Personal, Interrogative

Дієслова: Теперішний час Verbs: Present Tense

In Ukrainian and English, verbs are action words which refer to the subject of the sentence and act upon the object of the sentence.

In English, the infinitive form of verbs is created by adding the word to to the verb, i.e. to read, to listen, to write. In Ukrainian, the infinitive form is created by adding the ending ти to the stem of the verb i.e. читати, слухати, писати. When ти is dropped, you are left with the stem of the verb. The verb endings which are added are governed by the subject of the sentence. Note the examples below.

Infinitive: читати

Stem : чита

Тепер я читаю.
Що ти читаєш?

In the above sentences, the pronoun я is in the first person singular, while ти is in the second person singular. These forms govern the endings of the verbs. The chart below illustrates the proper endings (called conjugations) for the verb читати (to read) in the singular and plural number.

First person: я, ми Second Person: ти, ви Third Person: він / вона / воно, вони

Conjugations for the verbs слухати (to listen) and питати (to ask) are given below.

This particular pattern of verb conjugation is most common and is identified as the Group I Conjugation, or the є-ють, е-уть group.

II. Exercise 3.i

Read the following sentences and note the change in verb endings, as given in the chart.

II. Exercise 3.ii

Practise your Ukrainian handwriting skills by writing the responses to the following statements, as illustrated in the example given. Then practise your reading skills by reading all of the statements aloud.

1.	Тарас слухає, і я слухаю.
2.	Пані Баран слухає, і я слухаю.
3.	Я слухаю, і ви слухаєте.
4.	Наталка слухає, і я слухаю.
5.	Тато й мама слухають, і я слухаю.
6.	Іван слухає, Орися слухає, і я слухаю.

II. Exercise 3.iii

Insert the correct conjugation of the verb infinitive in the given sentences.

Займенники Pronouns

You will recall that the pronoun ти is the 2nd person singular. It is also a personal pronoun.

In the dialogue Що робиш? the interrogative pronoun що (what) is combined with the personal pronoun ти to create a question.

Що робиш?

А що ти робиш?
Що ти читаєш?
Про що ти читаєш?

Note that що can be used at the beginning of a sentence or within a sentence.

II. Exercise 3.iv

Insert the appropriate question before the statements given below, as shown in the example.

Хто це? Що це?
	.			Це дім.
	.			Це Тарас.
	1.			Це пан Козак.
	2.			Це Роман.
	3.			Це журнал.
	4.			Це спорт.
	5.			Це тато.

Що це?
	.
	1.
	2.
	3.
	4.
	5.
	6.
	7.

II. Exercise 3.v

Create appropriate questions for the following statements, using the word що. Pay particular attention to pronoun substitution when forming the question.

NOTE: Only first and second person (singular and plural) pronouns are substituted. Third person pronouns remain the same.

Examples:	Тепер я читаю.
	Я питаю про спорт.
1.	Ти читаєш про гокей.
2.	Ми питаємо про шашки.
3.	Тепер я питаю.
4.	Вона читає про бейсбол.
5.	Ви читаєте про теніс.
6.	Я тепер слухаю.
7.	Я читаю журнал про спорт.
8.	Вони читають про баскетбол.

Cultural Enrichment: Continue to practise your Ukrainian handwriting skills by referring to the exercises which have been placed in the Cultural Enrichment section for Unit II.