Ukrainian has a family of non-finite verb forms — words built from verbs that behave like adjectives or adverbs rather than finite predicates. This page is the map: it names each form, shows one example of each, and — crucially — flags how alive each one is in standard Ukrainian. That last point is the big one, because a defining feature of good Ukrainian style is that it uses participles less than Russian does, preferring a relative clause with який where Russian (and clumsy translated Ukrainian) would reach for an active participle. Knowing which forms to embrace and which to rewrite is what separates natural Ukrainian from a Russian calque.
The four forms at a glance
| Form | Ukrainian name | Acts like | Example | Status in standard Ukrainian |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passive participle | пасивний дієприкме́тник | adjective | напи́саний 'written', відкри́тий 'open(ed)' | Fully alive |
| Active participle | активний дієприкме́тник | adjective | пожо́вклий 'yellowed'; (читаючий 'reading' — avoid) | Past -лий ok; present -чий discouraged |
| Verbal adverb | дієприслі́вник | adverb | чита́ючи 'while reading', прочита́вши 'having read' | Alive, common in writing |
| Impersonal -но/-то | предикати́в на -но/-то | predicate | напи́сано 'it is written', зро́блено 'it is done' | Idiomatic Ukrainian passive |
We'll take them one at a time. Each has its own dedicated page; this overview gives you the lay of the land and the style verdict.
Passive participles (-ний / -тий): fully alive
The passive participle describes a noun as having undergone an action — written, built, opened, broken. It is formed from (usually perfective) transitive verbs and agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case, just like an adjective. Two endings dominate:
- -ний (the common one): написа́ти → напи́саний 'written', зроби́ти → зро́блений 'done', збудува́ти → збудо́ваний 'built', прочита́ти → прочи́таний 'read'.
- -тий (a smaller set, often verbs in -ну-, -и-, monosyllables): відкри́ти → відкри́тий 'opened', розби́ти → розби́тий 'broken', взя́ти → взя́тий 'taken', ми́ти → ми́тий 'washed'.
Це лист, напи́саний ще мое́ю ба́бусею.
This is a letter written by my grandmother. (напи́саний — passive participle, agrees with лист.)
Две́рі були́ відкри́ті навсте́ж.
The door was wide open. (відкри́ті — -тий participle, agreeing in plural.)
This form is entirely standard and productive — embrace it freely. For its full formation and use, see the passive past participle.
Active participles: handle with care
The active participle describes a noun by the action it does (present) or did/became (past). Here Ukrainian and Russian diverge sharply, and this is the page's central stylistic lesson.
Present active (-чий / -ючий / -ачий — "doing"): This is the form to avoid. The Russian-style читаючий студент ('a reading student'), пишучий, керуючий sound bookish, bureaucratic, or outright Russian in Ukrainian. Standard Ukrainian rewrites them as a relative clause with який:
| Avoid (active participle) | Prefer (relative clause) |
|---|---|
| чита́ючий студе́нт | студе́нт, яки́й чита́є — a student who is reading |
| працю́ючі ма́ми | ма́ми, які́ працю́ють — mothers who work |
| зроста́юча ціна́ | ціна́, що зроста́є — a price that is rising |
Студе́нт, яки́й чита́є в куто́чку, — мій сусі́д.
The student reading in the corner is my neighbour. (Natural Ukrainian rewrites 'the reading student' as a який-clause.)
Past active (-лий — "having become"): This form, by contrast, is fine and common — but mostly for verbs of change of state (intransitive), where it has effectively become an adjective:
Пожо́вкле листя вкрива́ло сте́жку в па́рку.
Yellowed leaves covered the path in the park. (пожо́вкле — past active -лий, from пожо́вкнути 'to turn yellow'; fully natural.)
Засо́хла троя́нда все ще стоя́ла у ва́зі.
The withered rose still stood in the vase. (засо́хла — -лий participle, adjective-like.)
For the full picture of which active participles survive and which to avoid, see active participles.
The verbal adverb (дієприслі́вник): -чи and -вши
The verbal adverb (дієприслі́вник) is not adjectival — it modifies the verb, describing a second action by the same subject. It's the equivalent of English "-ing" / "having -ed" clauses ("while reading…", "having finished…"). Two forms, split by aspect:
- Imperfective -чи / -ючи / -ачи = a simultaneous action, "while doing": чита́ти → чита́ючи 'while reading', іти́ → іду́чи 'while walking', усміха́тися → усміха́ючись 'smiling'.
- Perfective -вши / -ши = a prior, completed action, "having done": прочита́ти → прочита́вши 'having read', прийти́ → прийшо́вши 'having arrived', зроби́ти → зроби́вши 'having done'.
Чита́ючи цей лист, я не міг стри́мати сліз.
Reading this letter, I couldn't hold back tears. (чита́ючи — imperfective verbal adverb, simultaneous action.)
Прочита́вши лист, вона́ до́вго мовча́ла.
Having read the letter, she was silent for a long time. (прочита́вши — perfective verbal adverb, a completed prior action.)
The verbal adverb is alive and common, especially in writing — but it carries one strict rule: its subject must be the same as the main clause's subject. (A dangling verbal adverb is as wrong in Ukrainian as a dangling participle in English.) The two forms get full treatment on imperfective verbal adverbs.
The -но / -то impersonal: idiomatic Ukrainian passive
This is the form to love — and the one Russian conspicuously lacks. The impersonal predicative in -но / -то states that an action has been done, with no grammatical subject and no agent. It's built from the passive participle stem but ends in invariable -но (or -то): напи́сано 'it has been written', зро́блено 'it has been done', збудо́вано 'it has been built', відкри́то 'it has been opened'.
Робо́ту ви́конано в строк.
The work has been completed on time. (ви́конано — the -но impersonal; роботу is in the accusative, there is no subject.)
На две́рях напи́сано «Зачи́нено».
On the door it says 'Closed'. (напи́сано and зачи́нено — both -но impersonals; this is the everyday way to phrase such notices.)
Цей міст збудо́вано ще за́ Австро-Уго́рщини.
This bridge was built back in Austro-Hungarian times. (збудо́вано — the idiomatic Ukrainian passive, where English uses 'was built'.)
This construction is the natural Ukrainian passive: where English says "the work was done" and Russian leans on a passive participle (работа сделана) or a reflexive, idiomatic Ukrainian reaches for Робо́ту зро́блено. It is invariable (no agreement), takes the logical object in the accusative, and is the default way to express an agentless completed action. Full coverage on the -но/-то impersonal.
Source-language comparison
For an English speaker, two forms map onto things you know and one is genuinely new. The passive participle (напи́саний) ≈ English "written/built," used as an adjective. The verbal adverb (чита́ючи, прочита́вши) ≈ English "-ing / having -ed" adverbial clauses ("Reading the letter…," "Having read it…") — with the same same-subject requirement. The new one is the -но/-то impersonal (Робо́ту зро́блено), which has no neat English single-word equivalent; think of it as a tidy, subject-free "it's done / it has been done" that Ukrainian uses where English needs a full passive.
For a Russian speaker, the big adjustment is stylistic, not formal. Russian uses present active participles freely (читающий, работающий); Ukrainian treats these as bookish or Russified and prefers який-clauses (студе́нт, який чита́є). Conversely, Ukrainian embraces the -но/-то impersonal (збудо́вано, написа́но) far more readily than Russian, where it's marginal. So translating from Russian, your instinct will be to over-use active participles and under-use -но/-то — flip both. The passive participle (-ний/-тий) and the verbal adverb transfer with surface adjustments.
Common Mistakes
❌ Чита́ючий студе́нт сиді́в у куто́чку. (present active participle, Russian-style)
Unnatural in Ukrainian — rewrite as a який-clause: Студе́нт, яки́й чита́в, сиді́в у куто́чку.
✅ Студе́нт, яки́й чита́в, сиді́в у куто́чку.
The student who was reading sat in the corner. — the natural relative-clause version.
❌ Робо́та зро́блена в строк. (passive participle where the -но impersonal is idiomatic)
Not wrong, but the idiomatic Ukrainian is the -но impersonal: Робо́ту зро́блено в строк.
✅ Робо́ту зро́блено в строк.
The work was done on time. — the idiomatic -но impersonal with the accusative робо́ту.
❌ Чита́вши лист, я не міг стри́мати сліз. (perfective verbal adverb for a simultaneous action)
Incorrect — a simultaneous action takes the imperfective -чи form: Чита́ючи лист, я не міг стри́мати сліз.
✅ Чита́ючи лист, я не міг стри́мати сліз.
Reading the letter, I couldn't hold back tears. — imperfective verbal adverb for simultaneity.
❌ Прочита́вши лист, на ме́не нахлину́ли спо́гади. (dangling verbal adverb — different subject)
Incorrect — the verbal adverb's subject must match the main clause: Прочита́вши лист, я порину́в у спо́гади.
✅ Прочита́вши лист, я порину́в у спо́гади.
Having read the letter, I sank into memories. — same subject for both actions.
Key Takeaways
- Passive participle (-ний/-тий: напи́саний, відкри́тий) — fully alive, adjective-like, agrees with its noun. Use freely.
- Present active participle (-чий: читаючий) — avoid; rewrite as a який-clause (студе́нт, який чита́є). Past active -лий (пожо́вклий) is fine.
- Verbal adverb (дієприслі́вник): imperfective -чи = "while doing" (чита́ючи); perfective -вши = "having done" (прочита́вши). Same subject as the main clause — no dangling.
- -но/-то impersonal (напи́сано, зро́блено, збудо́вано) — the idiomatic Ukrainian passive, subject-free, object in the accusative; embrace it where Russian wouldn't.
- The signature of good Ukrainian style: fewer active participles, more relative clauses, and the -но/-то impersonal.
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
- 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.
- The -но / -то Impersonal PassiveB1 — The -но/-то predicative (безособо́ва фо́рма на -но/-то) is a hallmark of authentic Ukrainian that Russian lacks. Built from the passive-participle stem (прочи́тано, напи́сано, зро́блено, збудо́вано, відкри́то, забу́то), it is INVARIANT — it never agrees with anything — and forms an agentless, subjectless past passive: Кни́гу прочи́тано 'the book has been read', Робо́ту ви́конано 'the work has been completed', Вхід заборо́нено 'entry forbidden'. The logical object stays in the ACCUSATIVE (Кни́гу, not Кни́га), there is no grammatical subject, and було́ can be added for a past-perfect nuance (Робо́ту було́ ви́конано). This is the natural Ukrainian passive — everywhere in signs, news, and formal writing.
- Active Participles (and Why to Avoid Them)B2 — Active participles describe a noun by what it DOES (present, -чий/-ючий/-ачий: чита́ючий 'reading', сидя́чий 'sitting') or what it BECAME (past, -лий: пожо́вклий 'yellowed', посиві́лий 'greyed', опа́лий 'fallen'). The present active participle is widely considered un-Ukrainian, a calque from Russian — standard usage rewrites студе́нт, чита́ючий кни́гу as a relative clause студе́нт, яки́й чита́є кни́гу. The intransitive -лий resultative (зів’я́лий 'wilted', змарні́лий) is genuine and adjective-like. This page teaches recognition for reading and the rewrite habit for writing good Ukrainian.
- Verbal Adverbs: Imperfective (-чи / -ючи)B1 — The imperfective verbal adverb (дієприслі́вник недоко́наного ви́ду) is formed from the present stem + -чи/-ючи/-ачи (чита́ючи 'while reading', ідучи́ 'while walking', говоря́чи, сидя́чи) and -чись for reflexives (посміха́ючись). It expresses an action SIMULTANEOUS with the main verb and shares its subject: Ідучи́ додо́му, я зустрі́в дру́га 'walking home, I met a friend'. It is invariant (no agreement). The same-subject rule is strict: the doer of the verbal adverb must be the main clause's subject, exactly the English dangling-participle rule (no *Поверта́ючись додо́му, пішо́в дощ).
- 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.
- Impersonal Verb ConstructionsB1 — Безособо́ві ре́чення — sentences with NO grammatical subject, which Ukrainian uses constantly. Six types: weather/nature (Світа́є, Похолода́ло, Сніжи́ть); states with a DATIVE experiencer (Мені́ хо́лодно, Йому́ пога́но, Хо́четься спа́ти); modal predicatives (Тре́ба йти, Мо́жна?, Не мо́жна, Слід поду́мати); the -но/-то passive (Зро́блено); existence/absence with нема́є + genitive (Гро́шей нема́є); and the agentless 3rd-plural 'they/people' (Ка́жуть, що...). The key insight: where English inserts a dummy 'it' or 'one/you', Ukrainian drops the subject entirely and makes the experiencer DATIVE — 'I'm cold' is Мені́ хо́лодно (literally 'to-me cold'), 'I feel like sleeping' is Мені́ хо́четься спа́ти.