Old East Slavic had two kinds of adjective: a long (declined) form used attributively and a short (undeclined, noun-like) form used predicatively. Modern Ukrainian has almost entirely abandoned the short form — it kept the long form for both jobs. So where Russian still says он здоро́в, она́ сча́стлива with short predicatives, Ukrainian says Він здоро́вий, Вона́ щасли́ва with the ordinary full adjective. What remains in Ukrainian is a small, frozen handful of short forms, mostly locked into set predicative phrases. This page lays out that surviving set, shows how it is used, and — most usefully for a learner trained on Russian — makes clear that the full form is the predicative default and the short forms are residual.
The default: the FULL adjective is predicative
Start with the rule that covers ninety-nine percent of cases: to describe a subject after "to be," Ukrainian uses the full adjective in the nominative, agreeing in gender and number, with the present-tense copula dropped.
Він уже́ здоро́вий — учо́ра ви́писали з ліка́рні.
He’s well again — they discharged him from hospital yesterday. — full predicative здоро́вий, no copula.
Вона́ сього́дні така́ щасли́ва, що аж сві́титься.
She’s so happy today she’s practically glowing. — full predicative щасли́ва.
Ді́ти стомле́ні, тре́ба укла́сти їх спа́ти.
The kids are tired, we need to put them to bed. — full plural predicative стомле́ні.
There is no Ukrainian здоро́в, щасли́в, *стомле́н as a living predicative form. If a Russian-trained learner produces them, they read as Russianisms. The Ukrainian instinct is: predicative = full nominative adjective.
The surviving short forms
A closed set of short predicative adjectives lives on, mostly in fixed expressions. They have a bare-consonant masculine (often with an inserted -е-: -ен) and a regular feminine in -на, neuter in -не, plural in -ні. Several keep a full-form twin used interchangeably.
| Short masc. | Fem. | Meaning | Full-form twin |
|---|---|---|---|
| рад | ра́да | glad | ра́дий / ра́да |
| пе́вен | пе́вна | sure, certain | пе́вний / пе́вна |
| зго́ден | зго́дна | in agreement, agreeable | зго́дний / зго́дна |
| пови́нен | пови́нна | must, obliged to | (no everyday full twin) |
| ва́рт | ва́рта | worth(while) | ва́ртий / ва́рта |
| ви́нен | ви́нна | owing; guilty | ви́нний / ви́нна |
| го́ден | го́дна | able, fit, worthy | го́дний / го́дна |
| ла́ден | ла́дна | ready/willing (to) | — |
| по́вен | по́вна | full | по́вний / по́вна |
| гото́в | гото́ва | ready | гото́вий / гото́ва |
Note the masculine -ен pattern: an -е- is inserted into the consonant cluster (пе́вен, зго́ден, ви́нен, го́ден, ла́ден), and it drops back out in the feminine and the rest (пе́вна, зго́дна, ви́нна). These short forms are predicative only — you cannot use рад or пе́вен attributively before a noun (there is no *рад чолові́к; "a glad man" would need ра́дісний). They do not decline through the cases.
Ду́же рад тебе́ ба́чити — скі́льки літ, скі́льки зим!
So glad to see you — it’s been ages! — short masculine рад, fully idiomatic in the greeting.
Я зго́ден, дава́й так і зро́бимо.
I agree, let’s just do it that way. — short зго́ден in the standard 'I agree' formula.
пови́нен: 'must' — the one you’ll use daily
The most important survivor is пови́нен / пови́нна / пови́нні, the everyday way to say "must, have to, ought to." It behaves like a short predicative, agrees with the subject, and is followed by the infinitive. There is no full-form alternative in normal use, so you must know this one actively.
Ти пови́нен поверну́ти кни́жку до п’я́тниці — бібліоте́ка штрафу́є.
You must return the book by Friday — the library charges fines. — masculine пови́нен + infinitive.
Ми пови́нні попереди́ти їх зазда́легідь, це че́сно.
We must warn them in advance, it’s only fair. — plural пови́нні.
ва́рт(а) and ви́нен: worth and owing
ва́рт(о) means "worth / worthwhile." As an impersonal predicate it appears as ва́рто + infinitive ("it’s worth doing"); as a personal short adjective ва́рт / ва́рта agrees with a subject ("worth it"). ви́нен / ви́нна carries two linked senses — "owing (money)" and "guilty / at fault" — and is the standard way to state a debt.
Цей фільм ва́рто подиви́тися — рі́дко що так чі́пляє.
This film is worth watching — rarely does anything grip you like that. — impersonal ва́рто + infinitive.
Я ви́нен тобі́ сто гри́вень — за́втра відда́м, обіця́ю.
I owe you a hundred hryvnias — I’ll pay you back tomorrow, I promise. — ви́нен 'owing'.
Не я ви́нен, що по́тяг запізни́вся, — не диви́ся так на ме́не.
It’s not my fault the train was late — don’t look at me like that. — ви́нен 'guilty / at fault'.
A note on poetic and archaic short forms
Beyond the everyday survivors, Ukrainian poetry and folk song preserve a wider range of old short forms — зеле́н (зеле́н гай "a green grove"), я́сен, дрі́бен, and others — frozen in the language of songs, folk epics (ду́ми), and elevated verse. (literary / archaic) These are recognition-only for a learner: you will meet зеле́н сад in a folk text, but you would never say it in conversation, where it is зеле́ний сад. Do not productively form short adjectives by analogy with these — they are fossils, not a pattern.
Ой у лу́зі черво́на кали́на похили́лася — рядо́к, що зна́є ко́жен.
‘Oh, in the meadow the red guelder-rose has bent low’ — a line everyone knows. — modern full черво́на; the folk register is where archaic short forms survive.
Source-language comparison
For an English speaker, the takeaway is reassuringly simple: predicative adjectives in Ukrainian are just the normal full adjective in the nominative, agreeing with the subject (Він хво́рий, Вона́ хво́ра). There is no English short-form analogue to worry about. Learn пови́нен ("must"), ра́д(а) ("glad"), ва́рто ("worth"), and ви́нен ("owe / guilty") as useful fixed predicates, and otherwise just use full adjectives after "to be."
For a Russian speaker, this is one of the clearest Ukrainian-vs-Russian divergences and a frequent source of error. Russian uses short predicatives productively (он бо́лен, она́ голодна́, я уве́рен, они́ гото́вы); Ukrainian uses the full form in almost all of these (Він хво́рий, Вона́ голо́дна, Я пе́вний/пе́вен, Вони́ гото́ві). Don’t calque the Russian short adjective. The handful that survive in Ukrainian (рад, пе́вен, зго́ден, пови́нен, ва́рт, ви́нен, го́ден) are lexical exceptions, not evidence that the category is alive — and even several of those have a full twin (пе́вний, зго́дний, ва́ртий) that is equally correct.
Common Mistakes
❌ Він здоро́в, вона́ щасли́ва (short masculine)
Russianism — Ukrainian uses the full predicative form: Він здоро́вий. There’s no living short *здоро́в.
✅ Він здоро́вий
He is well — full predicative adjective.
❌ Я уве́рен, що це так
Wrong word and form — 'sure' is пе́вен/пе́вний, not the Russian уве́рен: Я пе́вен / Я пе́вний, що це так.
✅ Я пе́вен, що це так
I’m sure that’s so — surviving short form пе́вен (or full пе́вний).
❌ Вона́ пови́нен зателефонува́ти
No agreement — пови́нен agrees with the subject: feminine Вона́ пови́нна зателефонува́ти.
✅ Вона́ пови́нна зателефонува́ти
She must call — feminine пови́нна.
❌ рад чолові́к (short form used attributively)
Short forms are predicative only — before a noun use a full adjective: ра́дісний чолові́к 'a glad/joyful man'.
✅ Чолові́к рад / ра́дісний чолові́к
The man is glad / a joyful man — рад predicatively, ра́дісний attributively.
❌ зеле́н парк бі́ля до́му
Archaic short form in everyday speech — use the full form: зеле́ний парк. зеле́н survives only in folk/poetic register.
✅ зеле́ний парк бі́ля до́му
a green park near the house — modern full form.
Key Takeaways
- Ukrainian lost the productive short predicative: the default is the full adjective in the nominative (Він хво́рий, Вона́ щасли́ва).
- Only a small frozen set survives, predicative-only and non-declining: рад, пе́вен, зго́ден, пови́нен, ва́рт, ви́нен, го́ден, ла́ден, по́вен, гото́в (-ен masc. → -на fem.).
- пови́нен / пови́нна ("must" + infinitive) is the high-frequency survivor — learn it actively and make it agree.
- ва́рто ("worth, worthwhile") and ви́нен ("owe / guilty") are common fixed predicates.
- Archaic/poetic shorts (зеле́н, я́сен) are recognition-only (literary / archaic) — never form new ones. This whole area is a major Ukrainian-vs-Russian divergence: don’t calque Russian short forms.
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