A trip to the post office is a perfect A2 errand: it forces you to name an object, say where it is going, ask the price, and understand a number you did not choose. This dialogue runs the whole script in connected speech. Watch four things as you read: how "to send" pairs відпра́вити with an accusative object and до + genitive for the destination, why the post office is на по́шті and not в по́шті, how prices come back to you in гри́вень, and how the clerk's choice of perfective verbs frames each step as one finished action.
The dialogue
Оле́на: До́брий день! Я хо́чу відпра́вити лист до Кана́ди. Скі́льки це кошту́є? Good afternoon! I'd like to send a letter to Canada. How much does it cost?
Праці́вниця: До́брий день. Звича́йний чи рекомендо́ваний? Good afternoon. Regular or registered?
Оле́на: Рекомендо́ваний, будь ла́ска. І ще тре́ба ма́рку. Registered, please. And I also need a stamp.
Праці́вниця: До́бре. Покладі́ть лист на ваги́ — подиви́мося ва́гу. Два́дцять грам, усе гара́зд. Alright. Put the letter on the scale — let's check the weight. Twenty grams, that's fine.
Оле́на: А скі́льки йти́ме лист? And how long will the letter take?
Праці́вниця: Десь два ти́жні. Запо́вніть, будь ла́ска, а́дресу й і́ндекс ось тут. About two weeks. Please fill in the address and the postal code right here.
Оле́на: Гото́во. А мо́жна ще відпра́вити поси́лку в Льві́в? Невели́ку. Done. And can I also send a parcel to Lviv? A small one.
Праці́вниця: Зві́сно. Поста́вте її́ на ваги́… Кілогра́м три́ста. По Украї́ні — за два дні. Of course. Put it on the scale… One kilo three hundred. Within Ukraine — in two days.
Оле́на: Чудо́во. Скі́льки з ме́не за все? Great. How much do I owe altogether?
Праці́вниця: Сто́ де́в’ять гри́вень. Плати́ти ка́рткою чи готі́вкою? One hundred and nine hryvnias. Paying by card or cash?
Оле́на: Ка́рткою. Дя́кую вам! By card. Thank you!
Line-by-line grammar
"I'd like to send a letter" — відпра́вити + accusative, до + genitive
The backbone of the whole errand is відпра́вити ("to send"), and it governs two slots: a direct object in the accusative (what you send) and a destination with до + genitive (where it goes). Here лист ("letter") is an inanimate masculine noun, so its accusative looks identical to the nominative — but the destination is unmistakably genitive: Кана́да → Кана́ди.
Я хо́чу відпра́вити лист до Кана́ди.
'I'd like to send a letter to Canada.' відпра́вити takes the accusative object (лист) and до + genitive for the destination (Кана́ди).
Note the aspect: відпра́вити is perfective — Olena pictures the sending as one complete act, not a habit. The imperfective відправля́ти would mean "to be sending / to send regularly," which is not what she means. See до + genitive of destination and verbal aspect.
Я хо́чу відпра́вити лист, а не відправля́ти його́ щодня́.
'I want to send a letter, not be sending it every day.' — perfective відпра́вити (one act) vs imperfective відправля́ти (repeated/ongoing).
"How much does it cost?" — скі́льки + кошту́є
The standard price question is Скі́льки це кошту́є? ("How much does this cost?"). Кошту́є is the 3rd-person singular of кошту́вати; скі́льки ("how much") is the question word, and це ("this") is the neuter pronoun standing in for the item. Keep the three together as a chunk — it is the single most useful sentence in any shop.
Скі́льки це кошту́є?
'How much does this cost?' — скі́льки (how much) + the neuter pronoun це + кошту́є (3sg of кошту́вати).
A close cousin appears at the till: Скі́льки з ме́не? ("How much do I owe?" — literally "how much from me"), with з + genitive of the person who pays.
Скі́льки з ме́не за все?
'How much do I owe altogether?' — literally 'how much from me for everything'; з ме́не is з + genitive, за все is за + accusative.
"At the post office" — на по́шті, not в по́шті
You go на по́шту ("to the post office," на + accusative) and you are на по́шті ("at the post office," на + locative). Like several Ukrainian institutions and open-ended places — на вокза́лі (at the station), на робо́ті (at work), на ри́нку (at the market) — пошта takes на, not в. There is no clean logic here; it is a fixed list you absorb item by item, and пошта is one of the words you simply have to file under на.
Я на по́шті, відправля́ю поси́лку.
'I'm at the post office, sending a parcel.' — на + locative по́шті for location; пошта is one of the nouns that take на, not в.
Покладі́ть лист на ваги́.
'Put the letter on the scale.' — на + accusative ваги́ for motion onto a surface; ваги́ ('scales') is used in the plural.
See the в / на choice.
"How long will it take?" — the synthetic future йти́ме
The clerk's letter "will go" — йти́ме is the synthetic (one-word) future of іти́ ("to go"), formed by adding -му/-меш/-ме to the infinitive: ітиму, ітимеш, йти́ме. Spoken Ukrainian loves this compact future for the third person. The fuller analytic version бу́де йти́ is also correct but heavier.
А скі́льки йти́ме лист?
'And how long will the letter take?' — йти́ме is the synthetic future of іти́ (it 'will be going'); literally 'how much will the letter go.'
Десь два ти́жні.
'About two weeks.' — десь ('somewhere/about') softens the estimate; два ти́жні uses the special form ти́жні after the numeral два.
"Fill in" and "put" — perfective imperatives
The clerk gives crisp instructions with perfective imperatives, each a single completed action: покладі́ть ("put"), запо́вніть ("fill in"), поста́вте ("place"). Perfective is the natural choice for a one-off command — do it once, and it's done. Note the spelling поста́вте: after в the plural ending -те attaches directly, with no soft sign and no apostrophe (постав → поста́вте), unlike forms such as сядь → ся́дьте that keep the soft sign.
Запо́вніть, будь ла́ска, а́дресу й і́ндекс.
'Please fill in the address and the postal code.' — perfective imperative запо́вніть (one completed action); а́дресу is accusative, і́ндекс accusative.
Поста́вте її́ на ваги́.
'Put it on the scale.' — perfective imperative поста́вте (no apostrophe after в); її́ is the accusative of вона́ (the parcel, поси́лка, is feminine).
Prices — the genitive plural гри́вень
A price names a quantity, and after numbers Ukrainian counts in the genitive: сто́ де́в’ять гри́вень ("one hundred and nine hryvnias"). The form гри́вень is the genitive plural of гри́вня, with a fleeting е wedged into the consonant cluster (гривн- → гривень). After the small numerals two, three, four you would hear дві гри́вні (nominative-like дуальна form), but anything ending in 5–20 and most larger sums take гри́вень.
Сто́ де́в’ять гри́вень.
'One hundred and nine hryvnias.' — after numbers ending in 5–0, the currency is genitive plural: гри́вня → гри́вень (with a fleeting е).
По Украї́ні — за два дні.
'Within Ukraine — in two days.' — по + locative Украї́ні for 'across/within'; за + accusative два дні for the time within which delivery happens.
See money and counting and the genitive after numbers.
"Within two days" — за + accusative for a deadline
That за два дні is worth a second look. With a time expression in the accusative, за means "within / in the space of" — the period it will take to complete something. (Do not confuse it with за + instrumental, "behind," or за + accusative meaning "for" a price.)
Поси́лка дійде́ за два дні.
'The parcel will arrive in two days.' — за + accusative два дні means 'within / in the span of two days,' a delivery deadline.
How this differs from English
English builds this errand with one flexible verb, "send," plus the preposition "to" for the destination and bare "by" for the method: send a letter to Canada, pay by card. Ukrainian distributes that work across cases. The destination is not just "to" — it is до + genitive (до Кана́ди), and you must reshape the country's name. The payment method is not "by" — it is the bare instrumental: ка́рткою ("by card"), готі́вкою ("by cash"), with no preposition at all. English speakers reach for a word like з or через here and produce something no clerk would say; the correct answer is simply to put the instrument in the instrumental and stop.
The second trap is the price. English says "it costs nine hryvnias" with a plain plural, but Ukrainian makes the currency agree with the number: one form after 2–4 (гри́вні), another after 5 and up (гри́вень). You cannot freeze a single plural the way English does — the noun's ending tracks the numeral in front of it.
Common Mistakes
❌ Я хо́чу відпра́вити лист в Кана́ду.
Incorrect — a sent item's destination uses до + genitive, not в + accusative, for a country you mail to.
✅ Я хо́чу відпра́вити лист до Кана́ди.
Correct — 'I'd like to send a letter to Canada,' with до + genitive Кана́ди.
❌ Я в по́шті.
Incorrect — пошта takes на, not в, like вокза́л, робо́та, ри́нок.
✅ Я на по́шті.
Correct — 'I'm at the post office,' на + locative по́шті.
❌ Сто́ де́в’ять гри́вень я плачу́ з ка́рткою.
Incorrect — the payment method is the bare instrumental, with no preposition з.
✅ Сто́ де́в’ять гри́вень я плачу́ ка́рткою.
Correct — 'I pay one hundred and nine hryvnias by card,' instrumental ка́рткою with no preposition.
❌ Скі́льки це кошту́ють?
Incorrect — це is singular neuter, so the verb is singular: кошту́є, not кошту́ють.
✅ Скі́льки це кошту́є?
Correct — 'How much does this cost?' with the 3rd-person singular кошту́є.
❌ Поси́лка дійде́ в два дні.
Incorrect — 'within a span of time' for delivery uses за + accusative, not в.
✅ Поси́лка дійде́ за два дні.
Correct — 'the parcel will arrive in two days,' за + accusative два дні.
Phrases to reuse
- Я хо́чу відпра́вити + (accusative) + до + (genitive) — "I'd like to send … to …" (лист до Кана́ди, поси́лку до Льво́ва)
- Скі́льки це кошту́є? — "How much does this cost?"
- Скі́льки з ме́не за все? — "How much do I owe altogether?"
- за два дні / за два ти́жні — "in two days / in two weeks" (за + accusative, a deadline)
- Плати́ти ка́рткою чи готі́вкою? — "Paying by card or cash?" (bare instrumental)
- Запо́вніть, будь ла́ска, а́дресу й і́ндекс. — "Please fill in the address and the postal code."
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