Lesson 5 - Ukrainian Made Easy

You're listening to Ukrainian Made Easy, Lesson #5. Before doing our review, let's add one new occupation which is kind of a cognate. Listen and repeat: адвокат

One more time: адвокат

So what kind of occupation is an адвокат? Well, when the police arrest a suspect, they must inform him that he has the right to remain silent, and that he has the right to hire an адвокат.

To put it another way: The person you hire to represent you in court is called your... адвокат.

So адвокат is the Ukrainian word for lawyer. It sounds like advocate, which makes sense. A lawyer is an advocate for your rights. Just note how the emphasis is on the end of the word: адвоКАТ.

Remember, after learning a new word from context, you want to get right to using it. So try to say...

My dad is a lawyer.

Мій тато -- адвокат.

This is my friend David. He's an attorney.

Це мій друг Девід. Він адвокат.

Alright, now let's do some review. In Ukrainian, how do you greet someone?

Добрий день!

Say: My name is Christopher.

Мене звати Крістофер.

And what's your name?

А як Вас звати?

This is my dad. He's a lawyer.

Це мій тато. Він -- адвокат.

My dad is an American, whereas my mom is an Englishwoman.

Мій тато -- американець, а моя мама -- англійка.

Ask formally: You're a lawyer?

Ви адвокат?

This is my friend. He's an Australian.

Це мій друг. Він -- австралієць.

This is my female friend. She is an American.

Це моя подруга. Вона -- американка.

Ask her informally: You're an American?

Ти американка?

Alright, in today's lesson we'll be learning two question words. Here's the first one. Repeat after the speaker: Хто

Imagine I'm showing my Ukrainian friend Nataliya some photos of my friends and family on Facebook. Can you get the meaning of Хто from our short conversation? I point to a family photo and say... Це я.

Ммм-хмм. А хто це?

Це моя мама.

I then show her the next photo of me and some friends. Nataliya asks...

Це твій друг Джейсон, так?

Так, це Джейсон.

А хто це?

Це моя подруга Ненсі.

So what is she asking when she says, "А хто це?"

She's asking, "And who is this?"

So, хто is one of the Ukrainian words for "who."

Ask someone: Who is this?

Хто це?

As we did in the last lesson, I want to show you how that little word "ah" works in Ukrainian. Again, imagine Nataliya is looking at my photos on Facebook. She points to someone and asks...

Хто це? Твій друг Стів, так?

Так. Це Стів.

Ммм-хммм... (pointing to a girl) А хто це?

See how she used "ah" to set up a contrasting question? The literal meaning of "ah" in this context is along the lines of: Having processed what you just said, I'd now like to ask the following:

I don't mean to make a big deal out of such a little word, but you'll hear it all the time---I just want you to have a firm grasp on it. So ask your friend:

Who is this? Your mom, yes?

Хто це? Твоя мама, так?

She answers that yes, it's her mom. So now follow that up by asking:

And who is this? Your dad?

А хто це? Твій тато?

It's worth noting that in Ukrainian, the order of words is much more flexible than in English. For example, we might have phrased that last question this way:

And this is who?

А це хто?

By putting хто last, we're placing more importance on it. Again, word order is one of those things I'll be pointing out as we go. In the meantime, let's try our other question word for today. Repeat after the native speaker:

Що?

One more time...

Що?

For this, imagine you're at a Ukrainian friend's house for dinner. Now, you know darn well that the soup you've just been served is borscht, but you want practice asking questions, so you point to the soup and ask your friend Tanya...

Таня, що це?

Це борщ.

Then Uncle Tolik pours a pink liquid into your shot glass. Ask him...

Ей, Толік...що це?

Це компот.

So, що is one of the Ukrainian words for "what."

Your turn. Ask: What is this?

Що це?

Grandma tells you it's borscht, and then---pointing to the dish of red fish eggs she just gave you---follow up with...

And what's this?

А що це?

Did you add the "ah" at the beginning? Or you might have phrased it: And this is what?

А це що?

Anyway, she points to the red fish eggs and tells you...

Це ікра.

So, ікра is the Ukrainian word for caviar. And that's why our question phrase is so useful. We can use it to learn lots of new words. Let's repeat the word for caviar one more time:

ікра

Alright, let's get back to our lesson today. So... pretend your Ukrainian friend is showing you a picture of himself sitting in a restaurant across from two men wearing suits. Point to the older man in the picture and ask...

Who is that?

Хто це?

How will your friend reply:

This is my lawyer.

Це мій адвокат.

Then point to the other man and ask: And who is this?

А хто це?

This is my friend Pavlo. He is a businessman.

Це мій друг Павло. Він -- бізнесмен.

Then point to the bottle in the photo and ask...

What's this?

Що це?

Listen to his answer:

Це лимонад.

And so, with that "Що це?" question, we learned another easy word. We say lemonade and in Ukrainian they pronounce it... лимонад.

Just one last new word to cover today, and you probably already know it. But I just need to make sure. Try saying: ні

If you know the meaning of this word, then nod and say, "Так... I know it."

If you don't, then shake your head and say, "Ні, I don't know it."

Так and ні are opposites.

Так functions as YES and ні as No.

Let's work with it a little. Imagine showing a picture of your roommate Kevin to your new Ukrainian friend. She asks: Це Джон?

Tell her: No, this is Kevin.

Ні. Це Кевін.

Is he a businessman?

Він -- бізнесмен?

No, he's an engineer.

Ні. Він -- інженер.

Someone hands you a glass of yellow liquid. Let's be silly and ask:

What is this? Borscht?

Що це? Борщ?

No. This is lemonade.

Ні. Це лимонад.

So, practice asking these questions as you go about your day.

In the next episode we'll learn how to order food and drinks---certainly a useful thing to know---and we'll learn how to develop fluency in Ukrainian. Yes, even beginners should be working towards fluency right from the start. And I'll show you how, in the next episode. Meanwhile, head over to UkrainianMadeEasy.com for today's downloads.