Lesson 15 - Ukrainian Made Easy

🎧 Full Episode Audio

🎧 Listening Practice Audio

Alright, welcome to Lesson 15 of UME. Today we'll be talking about where we live. So, let's start by repeating these two phrases:

Я живу / Ти живеш

One more time: Я живу / Ти живеш

One thing to notice is that, in this course, we use many native speaking Ukrainians. Both men and women, and from different regions of the country. This is really important because, when your brain is exposed to a variety of voices and regional accents, it begins to hone in on kind of the average pronunciation. It's very subtle, but very important for your success. Anyway, let's repeat those two phrases again. Can you remember them?

Я...живу / Ти...живеш

You hear that "zh" sound? Like the end of the word "mirage"...zh.

живу / живеш

Here it is in context. So, imagine a guy who has to commute to work in New York from his home in Boston. He'd tell people, "I work in New York, but я живу в Бостоні."

So, я живу means "I live". Try saying...

I live in New York.

Я живу в Нью-Йорку.

So that's following the same pattern as PARK and LUTSK. That, when it's a location, it has an "uu" ending. One more time...

I live in New York.

Я живу в Нью-Йорку.

Try saying:

I'm an American (male) but I live in London.

Я американець, але живу в Лондоні.

Now we're back to that standard locational ending...that "i" sound. Listen again?

в Лондоні.

Now what was that 2nd phrase we learned?

Ти живеш

Let's say you're at a party and a friend of a friend has had too much to drink. Since you're headed out anyway, tell him: "I can take you home. А де ти живеш?"

де / ти / живеш?...is asking: Where do you live?

Ask your new friend: You live in Kiev?

Ти живеш у Києві?

So far so good. Let's go back now and review the material from the last lesson. With just two words, ask your friend: Where are you?

Ти де?

Say: I'm now downtown. Or....I'm in the center.

Я зараз в центрі.

Or:

Я зараз у центрі.

Ask, "And where's Olga?"

А де Ольга?

Say: She's now at work.

Вона зараз на роботі.

Did you remember that робота requires "на" instead of that "v" or "u" sound we would've expected? Great! Then let's keep going. Imagine you're in a cafe. Tell the waitress:

I'll have pancakes, please.

Я буду млинці, будь ласка.

Then add: And I want coffee, please.

І я хочу каву, будь ласка.

And now say: I live in Mykolaev.

Я живу в Миколаєві.

Listen to those three verb phrases one more time:

Я буду / Я хочу / Я живу

I know it's only three examples, but do you notice a pattern? When a Ukrainian speaker starts with Я, the end of his verb will always have an "uu" sound, as long as he's not using the past tense. Sometimes the "uu" or "yu" sound will be right before the end, like these. Listen closely:

Я боюсь / Я займаюся

Do you hear the "yu" sound in there?

(перебільшуйте звук "у"--->) бо....юсь / займа...юся

Я боюсь / Я займаюся

To repeat: With very few exceptions, the "ya" form of verbs will end in an "uu" sound. And that leads me to today's tip...

TIP OF THE DAY

This is one of the most important language learning tips I can give you. Never, ever learn grammar by memorizing rules or charts. Instead, learn grammar the way we're designed to learn it, which is simply by noticing the patterns of language. Because that's all grammar is: the patterns of how words change.

If a Ukrainian teacher ever tries to make you memorize a chart of verb conjugations, don't just walk away...RUN away, screaming. Memorizing sucks. It's tedious and it's unproductive. But learning is awesome. It's effortless, and very effective.

It's what we're doing here, and it's what Ukrainian infants are doing, too. They notice, "Gosh, every time someone starts with Я there's an "uu" sound at the end of the next word." This then helps them guess the meaning of future, unfamiliar words. Я зараз читаю. (SFX: newspaper sound)

Their brain is saying, Well, I don't know exactly what that means, but it's some kind of action.

This is why native speakers inevitably make terrible teachers. They're teaching you grammar the way they remember being taught in grade school. But that's not how they learned it. They were completely fluent in Ukrainian before they ever even attended kindergarten. Heck, they learned all of the word endings before they could even read. How? By picking up on the patterns. The things they learn in school are all the fancy grammar terms. That's what they remember so that's how they try to show you.

We don't do that here. True, eventually it's good to know certain grammar terms, but only after you have the patterns mastered. But all you want at first is to discover the patterns of how Ukrainian words change.

And speaking of patterns, let's look at another one. Pretend your friend has ordered tea and you thought he didn't like tea at all. In three words --- including the word "you" --- ask him:

You want tea?

(здивовано) Ти хочеш чай?

Ask a friend: You live in London?

Ти живеш в Лондоні?

Now we only have two examples here, but do you hear a pattern? Listen again...

Ти хочеш / Ти живеш

When a Ukrainian speaker starts with Ти, the end of the verb will always have an "esh" sound, as long as they're not talking about the past tense.

Ти хочеш / Ти живеш

And as with the "ya" forms, sometimes the "sh" sound comes just before the end. Like these...

Ти займаєшся / Ти боїшся

Hear the "sh" sound in there?

Ти займа-єшшш-ся / Ти бої-шшш-ся

Imagine, then, that we're in a cafe with our friend. I say..

I'll have coffee.

Я буду каву.

Now, how might you ask your friend: What will you have? Hit PAUSE and think about it for a second.

(swell)

Ready?

What will you have?

Що ти будеш?

Let's compare the Я and Ти forms side by side. Repeat after the speaker...

Я буду... Ти будеш

Я хочу... Ти хочеш

Я живу... Ти живеш

It's always: Ya-something-uu....and....tee-something-shh

So, from now on, try to keep your ear out for those patterns.

And let's go back, now, to our main construction of the day. Imagine you're showing your new Ukrainian friend some photos, one of which is of the city you live in. Your friend will ask:

Is this ____?

And you'll answer: Yes. I live in ____.

For example:

Це Нью-Йорк?

Say: Yes, I live in New York.

Так. Я живу в Нью-Йорку.

Let's try another. This time, though, I won't prompt you. Just reply to the speaker's question the way we did in the first example.

Це Лондон?

Так. Я живу в Лондоні.

Це Берлін?

Так. Я живу в Берліні.

Це Сідней?

Так. Я живу в Сіднеї.

Це Лос-Анджелес?

Так. Я живу в Лос-Анджелесі.

Це Торонто?

Так. Я живу в Торонто.

Now, regardless of whether we're talking about a city or a state, if it ends in an "oh" sound, it won't change. Listen...

Це Чикаго?
Так. Я живу в Чикаго.

And if the word ends in a "ya" sound, like Australia and California, listen to the ending...

Це Каліфорнія?
Так. Я живу в Каліфорнії.

That ending was: ії

Is this Australia?

Це Австралія?

Yes. I live in Australia.

Так. Я живу в Австралії.

Let's try a few more. Again, without any prompting, just answer the speaker:

Це Арізона?

Так, я живу в Арізоні.

Це Сан Дієго?

Так. Я живу в Сан Дієго.

Let's try to work this construction into a longer statement about yourself.

Say: My name is Tony.

Мене звати Тоні.

I'm an American but I live in Odessa.

Я американець, але я живу в Одесі.

If you're an American woman, you'd of course have said:

Я американка...

Anyway, speaking with you on friendly terms, your new friend asks:

Do you like Odessa?

Тобі подобається Одеса?

Yes, I love Odessa.

Так. Я люблю Одесу.

Did you get all the three forms of the word Odessa correct? We heard: Одеса, Одесі and Одесу.

If you got all three correct, give yourself an A+ for having excellent Ukrainian grammar. It really will impress your Ukrainian friends!

Let's try that same exchange but with different content words:

Say: Hello, my name is Robert.

Привіт, мене звати Роберт.

I'm an Englishman but I live in Lviv.

Я англієць, але я живу у Львові.

Again, speaking with you on friendly terms, your new friend asks:

Do you like Lviv?

Тобі подобається Львів?

Tell her: Yes, I love Lviv.

Так. Я люблю Львів.

For homework, try that exchange with some other combinations. And of course, make sure you've made flashcards for these new constructions.

In the next lesson we'll learn to talk about one of the most common topics of conversation: Where we work. Meanwhile, head over to UkrainianMadeEasy.com for today's transcript and audio downloads and I'll see you next time!

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