Lesson 11 - Ukrainian Made Easy

You're listening to Lesson 11 of UME. No review needed today since we covered nearly all our vocabulary during the midterm. So let's jump right in to our first new phrase. Listen and repeat...

мені подобається

That's two words: мені / по..до..ба...єть...ся

That word has five syllables. Listen again? подобається / по..до..ба...єть...ся

Now try to keep that in your ear as I try to distract you for a moment.

Say: My name is Diana.

Мене звати Діана.

What's our new phrase today?

мені подобається

Say: This is my mom.

Це моя мама.

This is my dad.

Це мій тато.

And again...our new phrase? мені подобається

Nice. So...what does it mean? Well, imagine I've just gotten home from a trip to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. My roommate looks at the merchandise I bought and he says, "Hmm, you bought just one small AC/DC poster, but you got two huge Led Zeppelin posters, three Led Zeppelin T-shirts and the entire Zeppelin box set?"

So I tell him, "That's because мені подобається AC/DC but I love Led Zeppelin."

Try making your own example. Like, if we're talking about ice cream flavors:

Мені подобається vanilla but I love chocolate.

Hit pause and make your own.

So, how would you translate Мені подобається? This is a classic example of where we need to know the Super Literal Translation. What we call the SLT. Because, although Мені подобається functions as "I like", what you're literally saying is, to me is pleasing.

So, to convey the idea that: I like borscht. I need to phrase it literally:

To me is pleasing borscht.

Мені подобається борщ.

Make it: I like pizza. Again, literally: To me is pleasing pizza.

Мені подобається піца.

Now hopefully you're raising your hand and asking..."Wait! Why isn't it pizzU, with an "uu" sound at the end? Doesn't liking something count as doing something to it?"

That's a great question! But the answer is No. And here's why: We're not taking any action in the sentence at all. Grammar-wise, the pizza is doing the action. The pizza is pleasing to me.

As that idea sinks in...What do you think Dasha is saying here?

Мені подобається музика.

She said: To me is pleasing ....music.

Yay, another cognate! Try that same phrase?

Мені подобається музика.

Say you like caviar...

Мені подобається ікра.

Ah, but now say: I want caviar.

Я хочу ікру.

Now we are the one taking action. And since we're acting upon the caviar, it had to take that hit:

I want (FIST / PALM) ікру.

Next. How would you say: This is my tea.

Це мій чай.

And to your friend: This is your tea.

Це твій чай.

So, the Ukrainian word for "my" started with an M --- мій.

And the friendly word for "your" started with a T --- твій.

Bearing that in mind, here's our new word:

тобі

One more time: тобі

So imagine you're a big fan of rock music, whereas your roommate prefers jazz. He suggests you both head to a club to listen to live music, but you remind him:

Мені подобається рок, а тобі подобається джаз.

We see that "rock" and "jazz" are cognates. рок / джаз

Мені подобається рок, а тобі подобається джаз.

He's saying: To me is pleasing rock, whereas to you is pleasing jazz.

So, тобі is the Ukrainian word meaning "to you."

тобі

Ukrainians use it when you are the recipient of something. In this case, essentially you are the recipient of pleasure from jazz or rock, or whatever.

So...Talking about your preferences for soup, try to say...

I like solyanka, whereas you like borscht.

Мені подобається солянка, а тобі подобається борщ.

Say just: to me, to you

мені, тобі

You could think of that as "for me", and "for you"

мені, тобі

Compare that with: My and your

мій , твій.

Try this: My, to me

Мій ... мені

Your, to you

Твій ... тобі

I'm just kind of pointing out the pattern there: Me and mine..those words start with an M.

You and yours....informally in Ukrainian start with a T.

Now, a minute ago we learned two music cognates: rock and jazz. Listen one more time and repeat:

рок / джаз

Well, blues is another cognate. Listen...

блюз

So ask a friend: Do you like blues?

Тобі подобається блюз?

How will she answer: No. I like rock.

Ні. Мені подобається рок.

A quick side note: This word подобається is the form we use with singular nouns. Things like pizza, or rock music, or art, and so on. But if we like something plural, we need to slightly change the word. Listen: Мені подобаються млинці.

To me ARE pleasing crepes....plural

по-до-ба-ють-ся

That fourth syllable is changing from a "yeh" sound to a "yu" sound.

One more time: Мені подобаються млинці.

The difference is very subtle. Listen to them side by side:

подобається / подобаються

подобається / подобаються

Ask your friend: Do you like yogurt?

Тобі подобається йогурт?

So imagine you're slurping away at your soup of salted meats, and your host asks....

Як тобі солянка?

Мені дуже подобається!

Hmm. What do you think they were saying? Well, we know all those words.

Як ....how

тобі ...to you

солянка....solyanka.

In other words, How is it to you? And he makes a big thumbs up:

Мені дуже подобається!

What's that word in the middle? дуже

To me it's дуже pleasing! It's very pleasing. In other words, he really likes it.

Ask your friend: How is the soup to you?

Як тобі суп?

To me very pleasing!

Мені дуже подобається.

Excellent! And now...

Alright, here's our next new word: танцювати

One more time? танцювати

(SFX: music) Oh man! With this funky groove playing...I just have to get up and танцювати.

With moves like these, now you see why I go every Friday to the disco club and танцювати.

Fill in the blank on this next one. So...To move your body rhythmically to music is to....

танцювати

Do you hear the "cognate-ness" of the word? We say "to dance" and they say "танцю....вати"

Ask your friend: Do you like to dance?

Literally: To you is pleasing to dance?

Тобі подобається танцювати?

No. I don't like to dance.

Ні, мені не подобається танцювати.

That's a lot of "n"s isn't it? Listen again:

Ні, мені не подобається танцювати.

How will your friend ask, in just two words: Wanna dance?

Хочеш танцювати?

Say, Yes, I want to dance.

Так. Я хочу танцювати.

Let's try just a few more phrases. Ask a friend: Want coffee?

Хочеш каву?

No thanks.

Ні дякую.

I don't like coffee.

Мені не подобається кава.

Is there tea?

Є чай?

And one more time, ask your friend: Do you like to dance?

Тобі подобається танцювати?

How will she reply: Yes! I really like to dance!

Так. Мені дуже подобається танцювати!

Of course, please go to UkrainianMadeEasy.com to get the transcript and the audio downloads. And for homework, be sure to use this very important construction with as much of your vocabulary as you can fit in there. Practice saying and asking... Do you like yogurt? I like yogurt. I don't like caviar. Do you like caviar? and so on.

Next time we'll take it a step further by learning to talk about the things we love. I'll see you there!