Lesson 4 introduces you to two prepositions and their use with the Accusative case.

Прийменники Prepositions

The preposition на (meaning for in this case) is used after a verb of motion to imply movement in a particular direction. In such instances на takes the Accusative Case of the word to which it refers.

Ходімо на футбол!
The preposition у or в (in) appears in the question below.
А хто грає у футбол?

This preposition allows us to indicate participation in a particular sport or activity. As such, the phrase грати у or грати в is always followed by the Accusative Case.

When there is motion involved in an activity, the prepositions на and у/в take the Accusative Case. In English, we do not require a preposition to indicate that we're participating in a sport.

I'm playing football.

I'm playing tennis.

I'm playing cards.

However, in Ukrainian we make a point of placing ourselves “in” the game as participants, by inserting the word у(в) before the name of the sport.

Я граю у футбол.

Я граю в теніс.

Я граю в карти.

There are times when we need to change the form of the preposition from у to в. How do you decide when to use the preposition у and when to use в? It is best to follow these guidelines:

1. Use у before the consonants ф (граю у футбол) and в (граю у волейбол) .

2. Use у when the preceding word ends in a consonant and the following word begins with
a consonant (граєш у теніс).

3. Use в when the word preceding it ends in a vowel and the following word begins with a
consonant (грає в теніс).

III. Exercise 4.i

Complete the following question/answer series. Choose any teams you would like, using names of Canadian cities or provinces given earlier in this unit.

III. Exercise 4.ii

		(вона)	Вона грає в теніс.
1.		(ми)
2.		(ви)
3.		(вони)
4.		(ти)
5.		(я)

III. Exercise 4.iii

You will notice that the prepositions про and у(в) are repeated in the question and answer patterns given below.

Complete the exercise which follows.

1.	(Лариса, читати, теніс)		а.
			б.
2.	(Роман, грати, бейсбол)		а.
			б.
3.	(Оленка, грати, волейбол)		а.
			б.
4.	(Андрій, читати, гокей)		а.
			б.
5.	(Соня, грати, ґольф)		а.
			б.

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 III.