Infinitive (imperfective): ду́мати — "to think, to have an opinion, to intend" Perfective partner: поду́мати "to think (for a moment), to give it a thought, to have the thought" Type: first conjugation; perfectly regular vowel-stem verb
ду́мати is morphologically as tame as зна́ти — a regular -а- vowel stem with root stress throughout (ду́маю, ду́маєш, ду́має…) — but its government is where the work is. Ukrainian splits English "think about" into two prepositions that mean genuinely different things: про + accusative is thinking of / about someone or something (ду́маю про те́бе "I'm thinking of you"), while над + instrumental is pondering, working through, mulling over a problem (ду́маю над зада́чею "I'm working on the problem"). And for stating an opinion you take a що-clause (ду́маю, що… "I think that…"). The mood-question Як ти ду́маєш? "What do you think?" is one of the most useful phrases in the language. Every form is stress-marked.
Present tense — regular vowel stem
ду́мати adds the first-conjugation endings to the stem дума-, with the accent on ду́- throughout, the 1sg in -ю (ду́маю) and the 3pl in -ють (ду́мають). No mutation, no stress shift.
| Person | ду́мати — PRESENT | English |
|---|---|---|
| я | ду́маю | I think |
| ти | ду́маєш | you think (sg.) |
| він / вона́ / воно́ | ду́має | he / she / it thinks |
| ми | ду́маємо | we think |
| ви | ду́маєте | you think (pl./formal) |
| вони́ | ду́мають | they think |
Я ці́лий день ду́маю про на́шу розмо́ву.
I've been thinking about our conversation all day. (ду́мати про + accusative — about a topic.)
Як ти ду́маєш, чи ва́рто йому́ зателефонува́ти?
What do you think, is it worth calling him? (Як ти ду́маєш? — the standard 'what's your opinion' frame.)
Він до́вго ду́має над ко́жним хо́дом.
He thinks a long time over every move. (ду́мати над + instrumental — pondering.)
Past tense — ду́мав / ду́мала / ду́мало / ду́мали
Regular gendered past on the stem дума-, root stress: masculine ду́мав, feminine ду́мала, neuter ду́мало, plural ду́мали.
| Gender / number | Past | English |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | ду́мав | (he / I / you m.) thought |
| feminine | ду́мала | (she / I / you f.) thought |
| neuter | ду́мало | (it) thought |
| plural | ду́мали | (we / you / they) thought |
The imperfective past covers "was thinking / used to think / thought (as a held opinion)." A very common idiom is я ду́мав, що… "I thought (mistakenly) that…" — used to flag a belief that turned out wrong.
Я ду́мав, що зу́стріч у вівто́рок, а вона́ в се́реду.
I thought the meeting was on Tuesday, but it's on Wednesday. (ду́мав, що — a corrected assumption.)
Вона́ до́вго ду́мала, перш ніж відпові́сти.
She thought for a long while before answering. (Feminine past ду́мала.)
Future tense — all three forms
With the perfective partner поду́мати, ду́мати shows the full future system: the perfective simple future (a momentary thought) and the two imperfective futures (ongoing reflection).
Perfective simple future — поду́маю "I'll give it a thought"
The perfective поду́мати is regular and present-shaped with a future meaning — a single, bounded act of thinking-it-over. The reflective set phrase я поду́маю "I'll think about it" is the polite way to defer a decision.
| Person | поду́мати (pf.) — FUTURE |
|---|---|
| я | поду́маю |
| ти | поду́маєш |
| він / вона́ / воно́ | поду́має |
| ми | поду́маємо |
| ви | поду́маєте |
| вони́ | поду́мають |
Imperfective futures — analytic vs synthetic
| Person | Analytic (бу́ду + inf.) | Synthetic (-му) |
|---|---|---|
| я | бу́ду ду́мати | ду́матиму |
| ти | бу́деш ду́мати | ду́матимеш |
| він / вона́ / воно́ | бу́де ду́мати | ду́матиме |
| ми | бу́демо ду́мати | ду́матимемо |
| ви | бу́дете ду́мати | ду́матимете |
| вони́ | бу́дуть ду́мати | ду́матимуть |
Дай мені́ час, я поду́маю над твоє́ю пропози́цією.
Give me time, I'll think over your offer. (Perfective future поду́маю — a bounded reflection.)
Хоч би що ти каза́в, я ду́матиму про це по-сво́єму.
Whatever you say, I'll go on thinking about it my own way. (Synthetic imperfective future ду́матиму.)
Imperative
Built on the present stem: 2sg ду́май, 2pl ду́майте, 3rd person хай / неха́й ду́має. Поду́май! (perfective) is the sharper "think it over!" / "use your head!"
| Addressee | Imperative |
|---|---|
| ти (informal) | ду́май / поду́май |
| ми (let's) | ду́маймо / поду́маймо |
| ви (formal / plural) | ду́майте / поду́майте |
| 3rd person (let him/them) | хай / неха́й ду́має |
Поду́май, перш ніж щось каза́ти.
Think before you say anything. (Perfective imperative поду́май — a one-off, considered act.)
Не ду́май про невда́чу — про́сто роби́ свою́ спра́ву.
Don't think about failure — just do your job. (Negated imperative ду́май + про + accusative.)
Participles and verbal adverbs
| Form | ду́мати |
|---|---|
| imperfective verbal adverb | ду́маючи "thinking, while thinking" |
| perfective verbal adverb | поду́мавши "having thought, on reflection" |
The verbal adverbs are both usable; поду́мавши "having given it thought / on reflection" is the more common in writing.
Поду́мавши, я вирі́шив не їхати сього́дні.
On reflection, I decided not to go today. (Perfective verbal adverb поду́мавши.)
Key uses & case government
1. ду́мати про + accusative — think of / about
For thinking of or about a person, a topic, the future — anything you turn your attention toward — use про + accusative. This is the emotional and topical sense.
Не хвилю́йся за ме́не, ду́май про себе́.
Don't worry about me, think about yourself. (про + accusative reflexive себе́.)
2. ду́мати над + instrumental — ponder, work through
For working through a problem, a task, a plan — effortful, goal-directed thought — use над + instrumental. The overlap with English "think over / work on" is exact. This belongs to the wider prepositional government of verbs.
Уся́ кома́нда ти́ждень ду́мала над ди́зайном застосу́нку.
The whole team spent a week thinking over the app's design. (над + instrumental ди́зайном.)
3. ду́мати, що… — state an opinion
To say what you think is the case, follow ду́мати with a що-clause. This is "think that…" — your opinion or belief.
Я ду́маю, що нам тре́ба ви́їхати ра́ніше.
I think we need to leave earlier. (ду́мати, що + clause — an opinion.)
4. ду́мати + infinitive — intend to
ду́мати + a bare infinitive can mean "intend / plan to" — a mild, tentative intention (close to "be thinking of doing").
Ми ду́маємо переї́хати до Льво́ва насту́пного ро́ку.
We're thinking of moving to Lviv next year. (ду́мати + infinitive = a soft intention.)
A note for Russian and English speakers
In Russian the verb is думать (dumat’) with думаю / думаешь, and it governs о + prepositional for "think about" (думать о тебе). Standard Ukrainian uses про + accusative (ду́мати про те́бе) — do not carry over the Russian о + prepositional pattern. Ukrainian also has the synthetic future ду́матиму, absent in Russian. In English, "think about" collapses two ideas Ukrainian separates: про + accusative (attention/topic) vs над + instrumental (effortful problem-solving). And English "think that" maps cleanly to ду́мати, що.
Common Mistakes
❌ Я ду́маю о тобі́.
Wrong preposition (that's Russian о + prepositional) — Ukrainian is про + ACCUSATIVE: ду́маю про те́бе.
✅ Я ду́маю про те́бе.
I'm thinking about you.
❌ Ми ду́маємо над цю пробле́му.
над takes the INSTRUMENTAL, not the accusative: ду́маємо над ціє́ю пробле́мою.
✅ Ми ду́маємо над ціє́ю пробле́мою.
We're thinking over this problem.
❌ Я ду́маю що ти ма́єш ра́цію.
Punctuation/structure — the opinion clause needs the conjunction що with a comma before it: ду́маю, що ти ма́єш ра́цію.
✅ Я ду́маю, що ти ма́єш ра́цію.
I think you're right.
❌ Я бу́ду поду́мати над цим.
Aspect/future error — поду́мати is PERFECTIVE and already forms its own future: поду́маю над цим. бу́ду takes only an imperfective infinitive (бу́ду ду́мати).
✅ Я поду́маю над цим.
I'll think about it.
❌ Вона́ ду́мав про ма́му.
Agreement error — the past agrees with gender; a female subject takes ду́мала: вона́ ду́мала.
✅ Вона́ ду́мала про ма́му.
She was thinking about her mum.
Key Takeaways
- Regular vowel stem: ду́маю / ду́маєш / ду́має / ду́маємо / ду́маєте / ду́мають — root stress, no mutation.
- про + accusative = think of/about (a person, a topic); над + instrumental = ponder, work through (a problem). Not interchangeable.
- ду́мати, що… = state an opinion ('think that…'); ду́мати + infinitive = a soft intention ('be thinking of doing').
- Past: ду́мав / ду́мала / ду́мало / ду́мали; future: perfective поду́маю (a bounded thought) vs imperfective бу́ду ду́мати = ду́матиму (ongoing).
- The key phrase Як ти ду́маєш? = "What do you think?" — your go-to for asking opinions.
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