Literary Text: Франко, «Захар Беркут» | Ukrainian Grammar

«Захар Беркут» (1883) is Ivan Franko's historical novel about a free Carpathian community resisting the Mongol invasion of 1241. Its famous opening is a set-piece of nineteenth-century Ukrainian prose: a slow, elegiac panning shot over the Тухольщина valley before the story begins. For a C1 reader it is ideal — the syntax is rich but transparent, and it showcases features that beginners rarely meet in authentic use: present-tense scene-setting, a long descriptive chain governed by the genitive, and a couple of older locative endings worth recognising. We annotate only the lines we quote, so every sentence here is one you can fully parse.

The text

Су́мно і непривітно тепер в нашій Тухо́льщині!

Пра́вда, і Стрий і О́пір одна́ково ми́ють її́ рінисті, зеле́ні узбере́жжа, луги́ її́ одна́ково покрива́ються весно́ю тра́вами та цві́тами, і в її́ лазуро́вім, чи́стім пові́трі одна́ково пла́вле та колесу́є оре́л-бе́ркут, як і пе́ред да́вніми віка́ми.

Sad and unwelcoming is our Tukholshchyna now!

True, both the Stryi and the Opir wash its pebbly, green banks just the same; its meadows are covered, just the same, with grasses and flowers in spring; and in its azure, clear air, just the same, the golden eagle floats and wheels, as in ancient ages too.

This is the canonical opening of chapter I (Franko, 1883; text per the academic Зібрання творів, vol. 13). The translation is literal, to keep the grammar visible; it does not reproduce Franko's rhythm.

Line-by-line grammar

«Су́мно і непривітно тепер…» — the impersonal predicate scene-set

The novel opens with no subject at all. Су́мно ('[it is] sad') and непривітно ('[it is] unwelcoming') are predicative adverbs, not adjectives agreeing with a noun — they form an impersonal sentence describing a mood that hangs over the whole valley. There is no 'it,' no copula: Ukrainian states the atmosphere directly. Тепер ('now') anchors it in the narrator's present, setting up the elegy: the place is sad now, whatever it once was.

У горах уночі су́мно і ти́хо, тільки ві́тер гуде́ в коми́нах.

'In the mountains at night it is sad and quiet, only the wind howls in the chimneys.'

Без тебе́ в ха́ті ста́ло непривітно й по́рожньо.

'Without you the house has become unwelcoming and empty.'

On these subjectless predicative-adverb sentences, see Locative: Uses for the place phrase and the impersonal pattern they sit in.

«…в нашій Тухо́льщині» — the locative of place

The mood is located by в нашій Тухо́льщині — preposition в plus the locative of Тухо́льщина (the Tukhlia region), with the possessive наш agreeing as нашій (feminine locative). The locative is the dedicated 'where' case and never stands without a preposition. Note Franko's в before a consonant — modern euphonic norms would often prefer у here (у нашій), but в is well within the standard and was his choice.

У на́шій місце́вості та́ка приро́да трапля́ється рі́дко.

'In our locality such scenery is rare.' (locative of place after у/в)

«і Стрий і О́пір одна́ково ми́ють…» — paired і…і and a present-tense subject

The two rivers are joined by the correlative і…і ('both…and'): і Стрий і О́пір ('both the Stryi and the Opir'), a compound subject. (Franko leaves out the comma between the two halves — modern punctuation would write і Стрий, і О́пір — but the і…і pairing is the same.) Their verb is ми́ють ('[they] wash') — 3rd person plural present, imperfective, describing an ongoing, timeless action. Franko narrates the landscape in the present tense precisely because it is changeless: the rivers do now what they did 'before ancient ages.' Одна́ково ('the same, equally'), repeated like a refrain across the passage, hammers home that constancy.

І ма́ти, і ба́тько одна́ково раді́ли, коли́ ми поверта́лися додо́му.

'Both mother and father rejoiced equally whenever we came home.'

Рі́чка ми́є кру́ті береги́ вже́ ти́сячі ро́ків.

'The river has been washing the steep banks for thousands of years already.'

For why both halves of і…і are obligatory, see The Correlative; on the freedom of subject placement, Word Order.

«її́ рінисті, зеле́ні узбере́жжа» — the genitive/possessive chain and stacked adjectives

The description piles up modifiers. Її́ ('its') is the invariable possessive referring back to Тухо́льщина; it governs узбере́жжа ('banks, shores' — the object the rivers wash), itself fronted by two stacked adjectives рінисті, зеле́ні ('pebbly, green'). Stacking attributes before the noun this way, separated by commas, is a mark of literary description. Узбере́жжа here is the accusative plural (the thing washed); луги́ ('meadows') in the next clause is the subject. Reading such chains — possessor + adjective + adjective + noun, each in its right case — is the core C1 skill this passage drills.

Ту́ристи милува́лися її́ ди́кими, скелясти́ми берега́ми.

'The tourists admired its wild, rocky banks.'

The descriptive use of the genitive and the endings of these plurals are in Genitive Plural: Forms.

«покрива́ються весно́ю тра́вами та цві́тами» — reflexive verb + instrumentals

Покрива́ються ('are covered, cover themselves') is a reflexive verb in -ся, here doing passive-like work: the meadows get covered. What covers them stands in the instrumental: тра́вами та цві́тами ('with grasses and flowers') — the instrumental of means. And весно́ю ('in spring') is the instrumental of time, the standard way Ukrainian names a season-when: весно́ю, влі́тку, восени́, взи́мку. Three instrumentals, three different jobs — means and time — in one clause.

Навесні́ поля́ покрива́ються кві́тами, а во́сени — ли́стям.

'In spring the fields are covered with flowers, and in autumn with leaves.'

Весно́ю тут усе́ ожива́є, а взи́мку — ні́би засина́є.

'In spring everything here comes alive, and in winter it seems to fall asleep.'

«в її́ лазуро́вім, чи́стім пові́трі» — the archaic locative ending -ім

Here is the line most worth a C1 learner's attention. The adjectives лазуро́вім ('azure') and чи́стім ('clear') are locative singular forms agreeing with пові́трі ('air,' neuter locative). Modern standard Ukrainian writes this ending -ому: у лазуро́вому, чи́стому пові́трі. The shorter -ім (лазуро́вім, чи́стім) is an older / poetic variant, still fully comprehensible and common in nineteenth-century prose and in verse, where it saves a syllable. Recognise it as the locative -ому and you will never be thrown by it in classic texts.

У чи́стому гірсько́му пові́трі ди́халося ле́гко.

'In the clear mountain air it was easy to breathe.' (modern -ому, = Franko's -ім)

«пла́вле та колесу́є оре́л-бе́ркут» — two verbs, marked word order, and the title bird

The eagle closes the panorama. Two present-tense verbs describe its flight: пла́вле ('floats, glides' — a literary present of пла́вати/пли́сти) and колесу́є ('wheels, circles' — from колесува́ти, literally 'to go in circles,' from ко́лесо 'wheel'). The subject оре́л-бе́ркут ('the golden eagle' — literally 'eagle–berkut') comes after its verbs: verb–verb–subject is marked, descriptive word order, letting the action unfold before the bird is named — a small piece of suspense Ukrainian's free word order allows. And бе́ркут is, of course, the title's eponym: the eagle that gives Захар Беркут his surname.

Над доли́ною пові́льно колесу́є оре́л, ви́глядаючи здо́бич.

'Above the valley an eagle slowly wheels, scanning for prey.'

Високо в не́бі пла́влять білі хма́ри.

'High in the sky white clouds float.'

On why this verb-before-subject order is expressive rather than wrong, see Word Order: Free but Not Random.

«Стародавнє село Тухля — се була́ велика гірська́ оселя» — the demonstrative се

A page on Franko's opening should flag one more archaism you will hit immediately in the next chapter, in his definition of the village: «Стародавнє село Тухля — се була́ велика гірська́ оселя…» ('Ancient Tukhlia village — this was a great mountain settlement…'). The little word се is an older, literary demonstrative meaning 'this / this is,' the ancestor of modern це. Where Franko writes се, today we write це: це була́ велика оселя. It survives now only in fixed phrases (що се таке? feels archaic next to що це таке?) and in deliberately old-flavoured prose.

Це була́ найзвича́йніша ха́та, але́ для нас — ці́лий світ.

'This was the most ordinary house, but for us — a whole world.' (modern це = Franko's се)

For the present-tense gap behind була́ (the missing «є» in the present), see The Present of «бути»; and on imperfective vs perfective past in narration, Aspect in the Past.

Glossary: older / literary forms → modern equivalents

In the text	Form / note	Modern standard
лазуро́вім, чи́стім	older/poetic locative singular in -ім	лазуро́вому, чи́стому ('azure, clear')
се (була́)	archaic demonstrative 'this / this is'	це ('this')
пла́вле	literary present of пла́вати/пли́сти, 'glides'	пли́ве / лина́є ('floats, glides')
узбере́жжа	'banks, shores' (object of ми́ють)	береги́ / узбере́жжя ('banks'); spelling узбере́жжя today
рінистий	'pebbly, gravelly' (of a riverbed)	кам’яни́стий / усте́лений рі́нню (literary; рі́нь 'river gravel')
оселя	'settlement, dwelling-place'	посе́лення / осе́ля ('settlement; abode')

Common Mistakes

These are errors learners make when they try to reuse Franko's literary forms in their own modern Ukrainian.

❌ Я живу́ в нови́м, га́рнім буди́нку.

Archaic ending in modern prose — say в но́вому, га́рному буди́нку; -ім is a literary/older locative.

✅ Я живу́ в но́вому, га́рному буди́нку.

'I live in a new, nice building.'

Franko's лазуро́вім, чи́стім are fine in his 1883 prose, but in modern writing the locative singular of adjectives is -ому.

❌ Се мій нови́й телефо́н.

Archaic — се is old-fashioned; modern Ukrainian uses це.

✅ Це мій нови́й телефо́н.

'This is my new phone.'

Read се in classic texts, but write це.

❌ Рі́чки ми́ють берег.

Number mismatch — a plural subject (рі́чки) needs the plural object 'banks': береги́; and the verb agreement is fine, but watch the object number.

✅ Рі́чки ми́ють круті́ береги́.

'The rivers wash the steep banks.'

In Franko's sentence the rivers wash the banks (plural); keep object number consistent with sense.

❌ Навесні́ поля́ покрива́ють кві́тами.

Missing -ся — without the reflexive it means 'the fields cover [something] with flowers'; you need покрива́ються ('get covered').

✅ Навесні́ поля́ покрива́ються кві́тами.

'In spring the fields are covered with flowers.'

The passive-like 'get covered' needs the reflexive -ся, exactly as Franko writes покрива́ються.

💡

Franko's opening is a master class in the descriptive present: he narrates an unchanging landscape in the present tense, stacks adjectives before each noun, and lets verbs precede their subject for effect. Read the -ім locatives and the demonstrative се as windows into nineteenth-century usage — recognise them, but in your own Ukrainian write -ому and це.

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