Three words, two grammar lessons. «Язи́к без кісто́к» — "the tongue [has] no bones" — is a copula-less nominal sentence (no verb at all) built on без + genitive plural, and the genitive plural кісто́к shows off one of Ukrainian's signature tricks: a fleeting vowel that appears out of nowhere when an ending drops. Said of someone who talks too much or too recklessly, it is the kind of phrase that freezes a thorny grammar point into something you will never forget.
The proverb
Язи́к без кісто́к.
The tongue has no bones. (said of a chatterbox — someone who talks too much or too freely)
Язи́к без кісто́к.
[The] tongue without bones.
This is a fixed folk saying (наро́дний ви́слів), public-domain. The fuller variants spell out the punchline — «Язи́к без кісто́к: що хо́че, те й ме́ле» ("the tongue has no bones: it grinds out whatever it likes") — but the bare three-word form stands on its own. The image: bone gives a limb structure and restraint; a tongue, having none, wags freely in any direction. So the proverb describes a person whose talk has no brakes — a базі́ка (chatterbox / blabbermouth), someone who says too much, repeats gossip, or blurts out things better left unsaid. You reach for it (often with a sigh) about a relative who can't keep a secret, or about your own slip after you've said something you regret.
Word by word
| Word | What it is | Literal sense |
|---|---|---|
| язи́к | noun, masculine — nominative sg (subject) | "tongue" |
| без | preposition, governs the genitive | "without" |
| кісто́к | noun, feminine — genitive plural of кі́стка | "bones" |
There is no verb. The "has"/"is" of the English translation lives nowhere on the page — Ukrainian simply omits it. That absence is the first lesson.
The grammar
The copula-less nominal sentence — where is the verb?
The English needs a verb twice over: "the tongue has no bones." Ukrainian needs none. In the present tense, Ukrainian routinely drops the linking verb бу́ти ("to be") — the present form є is usually left out — so a simple "X is/has Y" sentence can be pure nouns: «Язи́к без кісто́к» = literally "Tongue without bones," understood as "The tongue is without bones / has no bones." This zero copula is the default for present-tense identity, description, and (with без) "lacking" statements. The proverb's punch comes partly from this compression: a whole proposition delivered with not one verb.
Він люди́на без при́нципів.
He's a man without principles. (no verb — є 'is' is dropped)
Ка́ва без цу́кру, будь ла́ска.
Coffee without sugar, please. (a complete request, no verb)
Кварти́ра без меблі́в — як коро́бка.
A flat without furniture is like a box. (zero copula on both sides)
For the missing present-tense "to be" and when є does resurface, see The Present of Бути. On dropping predictable words generally, see Ellipsis and Gapping.
без + genitive — the preposition of absence
без ("without") always governs the genitive. This is non-negotiable: there is no без + any other case. без names what is lacking, and Ukrainian channels "absence, lack, removal" through the genitive across the board (нема́є + gen, без + gen, the genitive of negation). So "without bones" is без кісто́к — кісто́к must be genitive.
Я ви́йшов з ха́ти без па́расольки і відра́зу промо́к.
I left the house without an umbrella and got soaked at once. (без + genitive sg)
Не люблю́ ча́ю без лимо́на.
I don't like tea without lemon. (без + genitive)
без belongs to a whole family of genitive-governing prepositions (для, до, від, з…); the full set is in Prepositions Governing the Genitive.
кісто́к — the genitive plural (and the zero ending)
Now the harder half. кісто́к is the genitive plural of кі́стка ("bone"). Feminine nouns in -а form their genitive plural with a zero ending — you don't add an ending, you strip the -а: кі́стк-а → кісток. Ukrainian's genitive plural is famous for this "ending that is the absence of an ending," and it is one of the trickiest form-sets in the language precisely because the work happens at the end of the stem rather than on a visible suffix.
У ри́бі бага́то дрібни́х кісто́к.
There are a lot of small bones in fish. (genitive plural after бага́то)
Соба́ка ро́зкидав кі́стки по всьо́му дворі́.
The dog scattered the bones all over the yard. (nominative/accusative plural кі́стки, for contrast)
How feminines, neuters, and masculines each build the genitive plural — zero, -ів, or -ей — is set out in Genitive Plural: Forms.
The fleeting vowel — why кістка becomes кісток
Here is the jewel of the page. Strip the -а from кі́стка and you are left with the cluster -стк, three consonants with no vowel. Ukrainian dislikes such a stack at the end of a word, so it inserts a fleeting vowel (a "ghost" о or е) to break it up: кістк- → кісток. This vowel exists only when the ending is gone — it appears in the genitive plural (кісто́к) but is absent everywhere the -а ending is present (кі́стка, кі́стки, кі́стці…). That is exactly why it is called fleeting (випадни́й): it surfaces and vanishes depending on whether the stem is "closed" by a dropped ending.
| Form | Word | Fleeting vowel? |
|---|---|---|
| nominative sg | кі́стка | no (ending -а present) |
| genitive sg | кі́стки | no |
| genitive pl | кісто́к | yes — о inserted (-стк- → -сток) |
The same mechanism gives ві́кно → ві́кон ("windows"), сестра́ → сесте́р ("sisters"), and ло́жка → ло́жок ("spoons"). Once you spot the consonant cluster left behind by a dropped ending, you can predict the fleeting vowel before you ever hear the word.
На ку́хні браку́є кі́лькох ло́жок.
A few spoons are missing in the kitchen. (ло́жка → ло́жок, same fleeting vowel)
У ха́ті не було́ ві́кон, ли́ше ма́ленькі отво́ри.
The house had no windows, only small openings. (ві́кно → ві́кон)
The full mechanics — which vowel surfaces, and the о/і twist in some stems — are in Fleeting Vowels.
язи́к — the metonymy
One small literary point. язи́к literally means the physical tongue, but here it stands for a person's speech, talk, the act of speaking — a classic metonymy (naming the whole "a talkative person / loose talk" by the body part that produces it). Ukrainian leans on язи́к for this all the time: трима́ти язи́к за зуба́ми ("to hold one's tongue behind one's teeth" = keep quiet), го́стрий на язи́к ("sharp-tongued"), злі язики́ ("malicious gossips," lit. "evil tongues"). Recognising the metonymy is what unlocks the proverb: it is obviously not about anatomy.
Трима́й язи́к за зуба́ми, бо нас почу́ють.
Hold your tongue — they'll hear us. (язи́к = one's talk)
Вона́ ду́же го́стра на язи́к.
She's very sharp-tongued. (язи́к stands for speech)
When you'd actually say it
You say it, usually wryly, about someone who can't stop talking or who lets slip what they shouldn't.
— Він уже́ всі́м розпові́в про ва́ше весі́лля. — Ну що поробиш, язи́к без кісто́к.
'He's already told everyone about your wedding.' 'What can you do — the tongue has no bones.'
Не звертай ува́ги на її́ балачки́: язи́к без кісто́к, ме́ле, що попа́ло.
Don't mind her chatter — the tongue has no bones, it grinds out whatever comes.
Glossary
| Word | Form / note | Everyday equivalent / contrast |
|---|---|---|
| язи́к | masc. noun, "tongue"; here metonymic for "speech" | cf. трима́ти язи́к за зуба́ми "hold one's tongue" |
| без | preposition + genitive, "without" | opposite: з + instrumental "with" |
| кісто́к | gen pl of кі́стка; zero ending + fleeting о | nom sg кі́стка → gen pl кісто́к (-стк → -сток) |
| [є] | dropped present copula "is/has" | Ukrainian omits є in the present |
Common Mistakes
❌ Язи́к без кістки́.
Wrong number — the proverb is plural: bones, кісто́к (gen pl), not кістки́ (gen sg, 'a bone').
✅ Язи́к без кісто́к.
The tongue has no bones. (genitive plural)
❌ Язи́к без кісткі́в.
Over-regularised — feminine -а nouns take a ZERO genitive plural (кісто́к), not the masculine -ів ending.
✅ Язи́к без кісто́к.
…without bones. (zero ending + fleeting vowel)
❌ Язи́к без кісткок.
Missing the fleeting vowel — the cluster -стк- needs an inserted о: кіст-О-к, not 'кісткок'.
✅ Язи́к без кісто́к.
…without bones. (fleeting о breaks the cluster)
❌ Язи́к є без кісто́к.
Unnatural — Ukrainian drops the present copula є; inserting it here sounds stilted and bookish.
✅ Язи́к без кісто́к.
The tongue has no bones. (zero copula)
❌ Язи́к без ко́сток.
Russian smuggling — the Ukrainian word is кі́стка (gen pl кісто́к), with і; ко́стка / ко́сток is Russian.
✅ Язи́к без кісто́к.
…without bones. (standard Ukrainian кісто́к)
Now practice Ukrainian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Ukrainian→Related Topics
- Prepositions Governing the GenitiveA2 — The genitive governs the largest set of Ukrainian prepositions — the prepositions of absence, benefit, origin, bounded destination, proximity, sequence, and opposition: без, для, до, від, з/із/зі, бі́ля/ко́ло, по́близу, се́ред/посере́д, навко́ло/довко́ла, після, про́ти/навпро́ти, замість, крім/окрім, ра́ди/зара́ди, протя́гом, під час. The key insight for English speakers is that the rich meanings of English 'to', 'from', and 'for' fan out across several fixed genitive pairings — до (to a person / up to a limit), від (from a source), з (out of a place), для (for a beneficiary) — each learned as one unit.
- Genitive Plural: FormsB1 — Ukrainian's hardest ending set, taught as a procedure: the zero ending for feminine -а/-я and neuter -о (often with a fleeting vowel — кни́га→книг, вікно́→ві́кон, сестра́→сесте́р), the -ів/-їв ending for masculines (стіл→столі́в, брат→браті́в), and -ей for soft-feminine -ь and many soft/hushing stems (ніч→ноче́й, кінь→коне́й), with the о/і alternation surfacing in zero-ending forms (нога́→ніг, гора́→гір, шко́ла→шкіл).
- Fleeting Vowels (О/Е → ∅)B1 — Ukrainian's appearing-and-vanishing vowel: an о or е that props open a consonant cluster in one form and disappears in another — inserted in the genitive plural (вікно́→ві́кон, сестра́→сесте́р) and dropped when an ending is added (сон→сну, день→дня) — and the choice between о and е/є is predictable from the surrounding consonants.
- The Present of Бути (and the Missing Copula)A1 — Ukrainian normally has NO present-tense 'to be': Він студе́нт 'he is a student', Я вдо́ма 'I'm home' — the copula simply disappears, often replaced in writing by a dash (Київ — столи́ця). The single present form є exists for all persons but is used sparingly: for existence and possession (У ме́не є час 'I have time'), for emphasis or formal definitions (Украї́на є незале́жною держа́вою), and it negates to нема́є + genitive (нема́є ча́су). Inserting є everywhere is a beginner error; forgetting it in 'у ме́не є…' is the opposite error.
- Ellipsis and Omission in SentencesB2 — Ukrainian routinely leaves out words that English must say: the present-tense copula (Він лі́кар 'he is a doctor'), subject pronouns (Чита́ю 'I'm reading'), and a repeated verb under coordination — where a dash then stands in for the gap (Я люблю́ ка́ву, а він — чай) — so recognising these systematic omissions is essential to both parsing and natural production.
- Proverb: «Сло́во — срі́бло, мовча́ння — зо́лото»A2 — A close reading of the proverb 'word is silver, silence is golden' — how the dash replaces the verb 'to be' and how the neuter -ння verbal noun works.