Two friends have both finished the same novel and compare notes over coffee. A real book conversation is dense with the machinery of opinion: you state a stance (Я вважа́ю, що…, На мою́ ду́мку…), you report what the author or other readers said (А́втор пи́ше, що…), you describe the book with passive participles (напи́сана, ви́дана), and you say what you admire with захо́плюватися + instrumental. This page walks through how Ukrainian assembles all of that into fluent, opinionated speech — and how the stance markers keep two strong opinions from turning into an argument.
The dialogue
Мари́на: Ну як тобі́ рома́н? Мені́ зда́ється, це найси́льніше, що я чита́ла цьо́го ро́ку. So how did you find the novel? It seems to me it's the strongest thing I've read this year.
Тара́с: Че́сно? Я вважа́ю, що поча́ток затя́гнутий, але́ фіна́л усе́ ря́тує. Honestly? I think the beginning drags, but the ending saves everything.
Мари́на: Зго́дна що́до поча́тку. Зате́ головни́й геро́й напи́саний неймові́рно живо́. I agree about the beginning. On the other hand, the main character is written incredibly vividly.
Тара́с: О, тут не поспереча́єшся. А́втор пи́ше в післямо́ві, що писа́в його́ з вла́сного жи́ття. Oh, no arguing there. The author writes in the afterword that he wrote him from his own life.
Мари́на: Се́рйозно? Я цьо́го не зна́ла. Я взага́лі захо́плююся цим а́втором — у ньо́го осо́бливий стиль. Really? I didn't know that. I'm generally fascinated by this author — he has a particular style.
Тара́с: Так, мо́ва бездога́нна. До ре́чі, кни́га ви́дана ще й чудо́во — га́рна обкла́динка, прия́тний папі́р. Yes, the language is flawless. By the way, the book is beautifully published too — nice cover, pleasant paper.
Мари́на: Кри́тики, до ре́чі, пи́шуть, що це найкра́щий його́ рома́н. Хоч, як на ме́не, попере́дній був гли́бший. Critics, by the way, write that it's his best novel. Though, in my view, the previous one was deeper.
Тара́с: Мо́жливо. Але́ сюже́т ось цьо́го трима́є до оста́нньої сторі́нки. Maybe. But the plot of this one keeps you hooked to the last page.
Мари́на: Це пра́вда. Зага́лом, ра́джу всім, хто лю́бить серйо́зну про́зу. That's true. All in all, I recommend it to anyone who likes serious prose.
Line-by-line grammar
Soft stance + relative clause — Мені́ зда́ється, що…
Marina opens with Мені́ зда́ється ("it seems to me"), a dative-experiencer impersonal that hedges an opinion. Then a relative clause headed by що: найси́льніше, що я чита́ла ("the strongest thing that I've read"), where що is the relative pronoun "that." Notice the imperfective past чита́ла — she's talking about her reading experience across the year, an unbounded activity, not a single completed read.
Мені́ зда́ється, це найси́льніше, що я чита́ла цьо́го ро́ку.
'It seems to me it's the strongest thing I've read this year.' — Мені́ зда́ється is a dative-experiencer hedge; що heads a relative clause; imperfective чита́ла spans the whole year's reading.
See opinion and stance markers.
A firmer stance — Я вважа́ю, що…
Taras counters with the stronger Я вважа́ю, що… ("I consider/think that…"), the standard frame for a committed opinion, always with що introducing the content clause. The contrast затя́гнутий ("dragged out," a passive participle used predicatively) versus усе́ ря́тує ("saves everything") sets up the disagreement politely.
Я вважа́ю, що поча́ток затя́гнутий, але́ фіна́л усе́ ря́тує.
'I think the beginning drags, but the ending saves everything.' — Я вважа́ю, що is the standard frame for a firm opinion; затя́гнутий is a passive participle used as a predicate adjective.
Passive participle as description — напи́саний живо́
The book gets described with a passive past participle: головни́й геро́й напи́саний неймові́рно живо́ ("the main character is written incredibly vividly"). Напи́саний is from написа́ти (perfective "to write") + the participle suffix -ний; it agrees with masculine геро́й. This is the everyday way to describe how a work is crafted — written, made, drawn, built.
Головни́й геро́й напи́саний неймові́рно живо́.
'The main character is written incredibly vividly.' — напи́саний is a passive past participle (написа́ти + -ний) agreeing with masculine геро́й; живо́ is the adverb 'vividly.'
See the passive past participle.
Reported speech — А́втор пи́ше, що…
Here is the page's core skill. А́втор пи́ше, що писа́в його́ з вла́сного жи́ття ("the author writes that he wrote him from his own life") is indirect speech. Crucially, Ukrainian does not shift tenses the way English does (English: "writes that he had written"). The reported verb keeps the tense the speaker originally used — here писа́в (past) stays past, introduced by що. There's no backshift, no sequence-of-tenses rule.
А́втор пи́ше в післямо́ві, що писа́в його́ з вла́сного жи́ття.
'The author writes in the afterword that he wrote him from his own life.' — reported speech with що; Ukrainian keeps the original tense (писа́в, past) with no English-style backshift; з + genitive marks the source.
Кри́тики пи́шуть, що це найкра́щий його́ рома́н.
'Critics write that it's his best novel.' — пи́шуть, що introduces reported speech; the content clause keeps its own present tense (це … рома́н), no tense shift.
See reported speech.
захо́плюватися + instrumental — what you admire
To say you're fascinated by or admire something, Ukrainian uses захо́плюватися with the instrumental of the thing: захо́плююся цим а́втором ("I'm fascinated by this author"). The -ся reflexive verb governs the instrumental directly — no preposition. This is a whole class of "emotional stance" verbs (пиша́тися "be proud of," ціка́витися "be interested in") that all take the instrumental.
Я захо́плююся цим а́втором — у ньо́го осо́бливий стиль.
'I'm fascinated by this author — he has a particular style.' — захо́плюватися governs the instrumental directly (цим а́втором), no preposition; у ньо́го + genitive expresses 'he has.'
See reflexive verb government and uses of the instrumental.
A second passive participle — кни́га ви́дана
Кни́га ви́дана чудо́во ("the book is published beautifully") brings another passive participle, ви́дана (from ви́дати, "to publish"), agreeing with feminine кни́га. Paired with the adverb чудо́во, it describes the physical edition. The vocabulary of book talk surfaces naturally: обкла́динка (cover), папі́р (paper), мо́ва (language/prose), стиль (style).
Кни́га ви́дана ще й чудо́во — га́рна обкла́динка, прия́тний папі́р.
'The book is beautifully published too — nice cover, pleasant paper.' — ви́дана is a passive participle agreeing with feminine кни́га; ще й ('and on top of that') adds the point.
Concessive stance — хоч, як на ме́не
Marina concedes and counters in one move: Хоч, як на ме́не, попере́дній був гли́бший ("though, in my view, the previous one was deeper"). Хоч ("although") signals concession, як на ме́не marks personal opinion, and гли́бший is the comparative of глибо́кий ("deep") — a value judgement about the earlier book. Stacking these markers is exactly how Ukrainian keeps a disagreement collegial.
Хоч, як на ме́не, попере́дній був гли́бший.
'Though, in my view, the previous one was deeper.' — хоч concedes; як на ме́не flags it as opinion; гли́бший is the comparative of глибо́кий ('deeper').
Evaluating the plot — сюже́т трима́є
Сюже́т ось цьо́го трима́є до оста́нньої сторі́нки ("the plot of this one keeps you hooked to the last page") uses трима́ти ("to hold/keep") idiomatically for a gripping plot, with до + genitive (до оста́нньої сторі́нки) for "up to." The closing recommendation reuses ра́дити + dative (ра́джу всім) plus a relative clause хто лю́бить ("who likes").
Сюже́т ось цьо́го трима́є до оста́нньої сторі́нки.
'The plot of this one keeps you hooked to the last page.' — трима́ти is used idiomatically for a gripping plot; до + genitive (до оста́нньої сторі́нки) marks the endpoint.
Ра́джу всім, хто лю́бить серйо́зну про́зу.
'I recommend it to anyone who likes serious prose.' — ра́дити + dative (всім); хто лю́бить is a relative clause; серйо́зну про́зу is the accusative object of лю́бить.
How this differs from English
The single biggest difference is reported speech. English drags the embedded verb backwards in time — "He writes that he had written," "She said she was tired." Ukrainian does none of this: the reported clause preserves the tense of the original utterance. А́втор пи́ше, що писа́в keeps писа́в exactly as the author would have said it. Once you stop trying to "backshift," reported speech in Ukrainian becomes dramatically simpler than in English — you just quote the original tense under що.
The second difference is stance distribution. English opinion words tend to be adverbs and parentheticals ("honestly," "in my view," "arguably"). Ukrainian carries a heavier load on fixed framing clauses (Я вважа́ю, що…; Мені́ зда́ється; На мою́ ду́мку) and on case-governed emotion verbs (захо́плююся + instrumental, пиша́юся + instrumental). The instrumental after these verbs has no English counterpart at all — English uses prepositions ("fascinated by," "proud of"), so learners reach for a preposition and produce ungrammatical захо́плююся з а́втором. The case is the preposition.
Common Mistakes
❌ А́втор пи́ше, що він написа́в би його́ з життя́.
Incorrect — there's no English-style backshift or conditional; keep the author's original past tense.
✅ А́втор пи́ше, що писа́в його́ з життя́.
Correct — reported speech keeps the original tense писа́в under що, no shift.
❌ Я захо́плююся з цим а́втором.
Incorrect — захо́плюватися takes a bare instrumental, no preposition.
✅ Я захо́плююся цим а́втором.
Correct — 'I'm fascinated by this author,' bare instrumental цим а́втором.
❌ Геро́й напи́сано неймові́рно живо́.
Incorrect — a personal subject (геро́й) needs the agreeing participle, not the impersonal -но form.
✅ Геро́й напи́саний неймові́рно живо́.
Correct — напи́саний agrees with masculine геро́й.
❌ Я ду́маю це найкра́щий рома́н.
Incorrect — the opinion frame requires що before the content clause.
✅ Я вважа́ю, що це найкра́щий рома́н.
Correct — 'I think that it's the best novel,' with що introducing the clause.
❌ На мою́ ду́мка, кни́га гли́бша.
Incorrect — 'На мою́' needs the accusative ду́мку, not the nominative ду́мка.
✅ На мою́ ду́мку, кни́га гли́бша.
Correct — the fixed phrase На мою́ ду́мку ('in my opinion') uses the accusative ду́мку.
Phrases to reuse
- Я вважа́ю, що… / На мою́ ду́мку, … — "I think that… / In my opinion, …"
- Мені́ зда́ється, … — "It seems to me…"
- А́втор пи́ше, що… — "The author writes that…"
- Я захо́плююся цим а́втором. — "I'm fascinated by this author." (+ instrumental)
- Кни́га чудо́во ви́дана. — "The book is beautifully published."
- Сюже́т трима́є до оста́нньої сторі́нки. — "The plot keeps you hooked to the last page."
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- Reported (Indirect) SpeechB1 — How to report what someone said — and the one rule English speakers must unlearn: Ukrainian does NOT backshift tenses. 'He said he would come' is Він сказа́в, що при́йде (the future is kept, not turned into 'would'); the embedded tense reflects the ORIGINAL utterance, not the reporting verb. Statements take що + comma; yes/no questions take чи ('whether'); wh-questions keep the question word; and commands/requests use щоб + the past form, never an infinitive.
- Passive Past Participles (-ний / -тий)B1 — The passive past participle (паси́вний дієприкме́тник) — Ukrainian's main 'done/made/written' word. Formed from perfective transitive verbs in -ний/-ений (прочи́таний, напи́саний, зро́блений, побудо́ваний) or -тий (відкри́тий, забу́тий, розби́тий, ми́тий). It declines like an adjective and agrees in gender, number, and case (напи́саний лист, напи́сана запи́ска, напи́сані листи́), used attributively (зачи́нені две́рі) and predicatively (Две́рі зачи́нені). Crucially, Ukrainian reserves -ний for the resultant STATE and prefers the -но/-то impersonal (Две́рі зачи́нено) for the action itself.
- Stance and Opinion MarkersB1 — The comma-set parentheticals that let a Ukrainian speaker frame a proposition: opinion (на мою́ ду́мку / по-мо́єму 'in my opinion', я вважа́ю 'I consider', як на ме́не 'as for me'), certainty (безпере́чно 'undoubtedly', очеви́дно 'obviously', напе́вно 'surely'), hedging (ма́буть 'probably', мо́жливо 'perhaps', зда́ється 'it seems', ні́би / ні́бито 'supposedly'), evaluation (на жаль 'unfortunately', на ща́стя 'fortunately', чесно ка́жучи 'frankly'), and the reported-speech particle мовля́в — explaining that Ukrainian carries attitude through these comma-set adverbials, not through tone alone.
- Instrumental: Core UsesA2 — What the instrumental does — the bare 'by means of' (писа́ти ру́чкою, ї́хати авто́бусом, говори́ти украї́нською) with no preposition, the predicate noun after past/future/infinitive of бу́ти and after ста́ти/працюва́ти (він був учи́телем, хо́чу ста́ти лі́карем), companionship with з (з дру́гом, чай з цу́кром), route (іти́ лі́сом), and time adverbials (вра́нці, весно́ю).
- Government of Reflexive (-ся) VerbsB2 — Reflexive -ся verbs carry their own fixed case government that almost never matches the English preposition: боя́тися and дотри́муватися take the genitive, цікавитися and користуватися the instrumental, дивува́тися the dative, while сподіва́тися takes на + accusative and одружи́тися з + instrumental — so each -ся verb's case must be memorised as a chunk.
- Relative Clauses (Який, Що, Хто)B1 — How Ukrainian builds 'the house we saw,' 'the woman I spoke with,' 'the city I was born in.' The relativizer який agrees with its antecedent in gender and number but takes its CASE from its role inside the relative clause, so one word points two ways at once; the comma before it is obligatory; prepositions front (з якою, в якому) and are never stranded; the invariant що is the colloquial subject/object option; and той, хто / те, що build headless relatives.