Impersonal Verb Constructions | Ukrainian Grammar

An impersonal sentence (безособо́ве ре́чення) is one with no grammatical subject at all — nothing in the nominative, no "doer," not even a dummy placeholder. Where English is obliged to insert a hollow "it" (it's raining, it's cold, it seems) or a vague "one/you" (one must go, you can't smoke here), Ukrainian simply leaves the subject slot empty and lets the verb stand alone. This is not an exotic corner of the grammar — it is how Ukrainian says some of the most everyday things in the language: that you're cold, that you feel like sleeping, that one must hurry, that there's no money. This page sorts the construction into six types, each worth recognising on sight.

Why this matters more than it looks

English grammar forbids a subjectless sentence, so it manufactures fake subjects: the "weather it" (it's snowing), the "anticipatory it" (it's hard to say), the generic "you/one" (you can't park here). Ukrainian has none of these crutches and needs none. The verb carries the meaning by itself, and the person affected — if there is one — appears not as a subject but as a dative experiencer. Internalising this flips a large number of high-frequency sentences from "find a subject" to "drop the subject, datively mark the experiencer."

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The master pattern for states: DATIVE experiencer + impersonal predicate. "I'm cold" is not Я хо́лодний (that means 'I am a cold person/thing') but Мені́ хо́лодно — literally "to-me [it is] cold." The person is dative, the predicate is a frozen adverb-like word, and there is no subject. Master this one frame and a dozen everyday sentences fall out.

Type 1: weather and nature

The classic subjectless verbs. Natural phenomena just happen, with no agent and no subject. Many are single impersonal verbs; others are impersonal-only uses.

Ukrainian	English
Світа́є.	It's getting light / dawn is breaking.
Смерка́є. / Темні́є.	It's getting dark / dusk is falling.
Сніжи́ть.	It's snowing.
Похолода́ло.	It's got colder.
Надво́рі хо́лодно.	It's cold outside.

Уже́ світа́є, а ми ще й не ляга́ли спа́ти.

It's already getting light, and we haven't even gone to bed yet. (Світа́є — a subjectless weather verb.)

За ніч си́льно похолода́ло, надво́рі мину́с де́сять.

It got much colder overnight; it's minus ten outside. (Похолода́ло, хо́лодно — no subject anywhere.)

Type 2: physical and emotional states (the DATIVE experiencer)

This is the most important type for a learner. To say how someone feels — cold, hot, sick, sad, bored, good, bad — Ukrainian uses dative person + impersonal predicate. The feeling word (хо́лодно, ва́жко, ну́дно, со́ромно...) looks like an adverb and never agrees with anybody, because there is nobody for it to agree with.

Мені́ хо́лодно, мо́жна зачини́ти вікно́?

I'm cold, may I close the window? (Мені́ — dative; хо́лодно — impersonal predicate; no subject.)

Йому́ ста́ло пога́но про́сто на ле́кції.

He felt ill right in the middle of the lecture. (Йому́ — dative experiencer; ста́ло пога́но — impersonal.)

Ді́тям ну́дно сиді́ти вдо́ма ці́лий день.

The kids are bored sitting at home all day. (Ді́тям — dative; ну́дно — impersonal.)

A crucial sub-case is the dative + хо́четься / спи́ться family — the impersonal -ся verbs of urge and bodily inclination. Here the involuntary feeling of wanting is expressed impersonally, in deliberate contrast to the plain personal хо́чу "I want":

Мені́ чому́сь хо́четься спа́ти, хоч я до́бре ви́спався.

For some reason I feel like sleeping, even though I slept well. (хо́четься — impersonal 'I feel like'; contrast хо́чу 'I want', which is a deliberate choice.)

Уночі́ мені́ зо́всім не спа́лося — пережива́в за за́втрашній і́спит.

At night I couldn't sleep at all — I was worried about tomorrow's exam. (не спа́лося — the impersonal -ся of an involuntary state.)

The dative experiencer threads through so much of the language that it gets a dedicated treatment on the dative impersonal and the broader uses of the dative.

To express necessity, possibility, and permission impersonally, Ukrainian uses a small set of predicative words followed by an infinitive: тре́ба / потрі́бно "(it is) necessary," мо́жна "(it is) possible / one may," не мо́жна "one may/must not," слід "(one) should," ва́рто "(it is) worth." The person, if named, is again dative. There is no subject.

Predicative	Meaning	Example
тре́ба + inf.	need / must	Мені́ тре́ба йти.
мо́жна + inf.	may / one can	Мо́жна вві́йти?
не мо́жна + inf.	may not / mustn't	Тут не мо́жна кури́ти.
слід + inf.	should / ought	Слід поду́мати.
ва́рто + inf.	(it's) worth	Ва́рто спро́бувати.

Мені́ тре́ба бі́гти, бо запі́знююся на по́тяг.

I have to run, I'm late for the train. (тре́ба + infinitive; experiencer мені́ in the dative.)

Тут не мо́жна паркува́тися — ви́пишуть штраф.

You can't park here — they'll fine you. (не мо́жна — impersonal prohibition, no subject; English needs a fake 'you'. ви́пишуть штраф is itself an agentless 3pl.)

Мо́жна мені́ без че́рги, бу́дь ла́ска? Мені́ лише́ запита́ти.

Could I skip the queue, please? I just need to ask something. (Мо́жна — impersonal request for permission, with a dative experiencer.)

These predicatives are the backbone of how Ukrainian does modality; they are laid out alongside the modal verbs on the modality overview.

Type 4: the -но / -то passive

The agentless completed-action passive — Зро́блено, Напи́сано, Заборо́нено — is itself an impersonal construction: invariant predicate, no subject, the logical object in the accusative. It belongs in this list as the construction that reports what got done without a doer.

Усе́ вже зро́блено, мо́жемо відпочива́ти.

Everything's already done, we can relax. (зро́блено — impersonal -но; no subject.)

На две́рях напи́сано: «Стороннім вхід заборо́нено».

On the door it says: 'No entry for unauthorized persons'. (напи́сано, заборо́нено — impersonal -но forms.)

It is large enough to have its own page.

Type 5: existence and absence — є / нема́є

Negative existence is impersonal. To say something isn't there / there is no X, Ukrainian uses нема́є (нема́) plus the genitive — with no subject. (The positive counterpart, є "there is," is closer to a normal predicate, but the negative is squarely impersonal.)

У ме́не нема́є дрі́бних, плачу́ ка́рткою.

I don't have any change, I'll pay by card. (нема́є + genitive дрі́бних; subjectless.)

У хо́лодильнику нічо́го нема́є — тре́ба в магази́н.

There's nothing in the fridge — we need to go to the shop. (нічо́го нема́є + тре́ба, two impersonals.)

The genitive after нема́є is part of the wider genitive of negation and absence.

Type 6: the agentless 3rd-person plural ("they/people say")

To report what "people" say or do without naming anyone, Ukrainian uses a bare 3rd-person-plural verb with no pronoun — no вони́. This is the natural equivalent of English's vague "they," "people," or an agentless passive.

Ка́жуть, що взи́мку тут дуже га́рно.

They say it's very beautiful here in winter. (Ка́жуть — bare 3pl, no 'they'; 'people say'.)

По ра́діо передава́ли, що за́втра бу́де дощ.

On the radio they said it'll rain tomorrow. (передава́ли — agentless 3pl; English needs 'they' or a passive 'it was said'.)

У нас тут не ку́рять, ви́йдіть, будь ла́ска, надві́р.

People don't smoke here, please step outside. (ку́рять — agentless 3pl stating a norm.)

The point is the missing pronoun: добавляючи вони́ you would specify those particular people; leaving it out keeps the agent generic, which is exactly the impersonal effect.

Source-language comparison

For an English speaker, every type here corresponds to an English sentence that needs a fake subject — and Ukrainian throws the fake subject away. "It's snowing" → Сніжи́ть. "I'm cold" → Мені́ хо́лодно (dative, not "I am"). "One mustn't smoke here" → Тут не мо́жна кури́ти. "There's no money" → Гро́шей нема́є. "They say…" → Ка́жуть…. The recurring move is: delete the dummy subject; if there's a person involved, put them in the dative.

For a Russian speaker, the inventory is familiar (Светает, Мне холодно, Нельзя, Нет денег, Говорят), so the transfer is excellent — the work is lexical and orthographic: тре́ба (not надо), нема́є / нема́ + genitive (Russian нет), мо́жна / не мо́жна (Russian можно/нельзя), слід / ва́рто, and the Ukrainian -но/-то impersonal, which is far more prominent than its Russian counterpart.

Common Mistakes

❌ Я хо́лодний сього́дні. (using a personal adjective for 'I'm cold')

Means 'I am a cold person' — for the sensation use the dative impersonal: Мені́ хо́лодно сього́дні.

✅ Мені́ хо́лодно сього́дні.

I'm cold today — dative мені́ + impersonal хо́лодно.

❌ Воно́ сніжи́ть надво́рі. (adding a dummy subject 'воно́')

Incorrect — Ukrainian has no weather 'it'; the verb stands alone: Надво́рі сніжи́ть.

✅ Надво́рі сніжи́ть.

It's snowing outside — subjectless weather verb.

❌ Я тре́ба йти. (nominative subject with тре́ба)

Incorrect — тре́ба is impersonal; the experiencer is dative: Мені́ тре́ба йти.

✅ Мені́ тре́ба йти.

I have to go — dative мені́ + impersonal тре́ба.

❌ Гро́ші нема́є. (nominative after нема́є)

Incorrect — нема́є takes the GENITIVE: Гро́шей нема́є.

✅ Гро́шей нема́є.

There's no money — нема́є + genitive гро́шей.

❌ Вони́ ка́жуть, що бу́де дощ. (naming 'вони́' for the generic 'they say')

Over-specified — for the generic 'people say', drop the pronoun: Ка́жуть, що бу́де дощ.

✅ Ка́жуть, що бу́де дощ.

They say it'll rain — agentless bare 3pl.

Key Takeaways

An impersonal sentence has no subject — no nominative, no dummy "it/one/you."
States use a DATIVE experiencer: Мені́ хо́лодно, Йому́ пога́но, Мені́ хо́четься спа́ти (impersonal хо́четься vs personal хо́чу).
Weather/nature verbs stand alone: Світа́є, Сніжи́ть, Похолода́ло.
Modal predicatives
- infinitive: тре́ба, мо́жна / не мо́жна, слід, ва́рто (experiencer dative).
нема́є + genitive for absence (Гро́шей нема́є); the -но/-то passive for completed actions (Зро́блено).
The bare 3rd-plural (Ка́жуть, передава́ли) is the agentless "people/they" — drop the pronoun.

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