Продавець може замінити товар.

Продавець usually means seller, salesperson, or shop assistant, depending on context.

In a store, it often means the person serving customers. In a more general business context, it can mean the person or party selling something.

It is a masculine noun. If you want to specify a female seller, Ukrainian also has продавчиня.

Here продавець is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence — the person doing the action.

So:

• продавець = the seller / a seller as the subject

If the noun changed role in the sentence, its form would change too. For example:

• немає продавця = there is no seller / there isn’t a seller
• бачу продавця = I see the seller

Може is the 3rd person singular form of могти, meaning can, is able to, or sometimes may, depending on context.

Because продавець is singular, you use може:

• я можу = I can
• ти можеш = you can
• він / вона / продавець може = he / she / the seller can
• вони можуть = they can

In this sentence, може most naturally means can.

After могти (can / to be able to), Ukrainian normally uses an infinitive.

So:

• може замінити = can replace

This is similar to English can replace, where replace is also a base verb form.

The infinitive ending here is -ти:

• замінити = to replace

This is a question of aspect, which is very important in Ukrainian.

• замінити = perfective
  Focuses on a completed single result: replacing the item
• замінювати = imperfective
  Focuses on the process, repetition, or general ongoing action

In Продавець може замінити товар, the idea is that the seller is able to carry out the replacement successfully, so замінити is the natural choice.

Compare:

• Продавець може замінити товар. = The seller can replace the item.
• Продавець може замінювати товари щодня. = The seller can replace items every day.

Товар is the direct object, so it is in the accusative case.

However, for many inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative singular looks exactly the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: товар
• accusative: товар

That is why the form does not visibly change here.

Ukrainian does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So:

• продавець can mean the seller or a seller
• товар can mean the item/product or an item/product

The exact meaning comes from context, not from an article.

That is very normal in Ukrainian.

Yes. Ukrainian word order is more flexible than English word order because case endings help show grammatical roles.

The most neutral version is:

• Продавець може замінити товар.

You can change the order for emphasis, for example:

• Продавець товар може замінити.

That might emphasize товар a bit more.

But in this sentence, since товар has the same form in nominative and accusative, unusual word order can sometimes make the sentence feel less clear at first glance. So the original order is a good, natural default.

The usual stresses are:

• продаве́ць
• мо́же
• заміни́ти
• това́р

So the whole sentence is pronounced roughly like:

продаве́ць мо́же заміни́ти това́р

Stress is important in Ukrainian, because it is not always predictable.

Yes, sometimes може can be understood as may or is allowed to, but context decides.

In this sentence, the two most likely meanings are:

• the seller is able to replace the item
• the seller is allowed to replace the item

Without more context, English could translate it as either can or may, but can is usually the most straightforward choice for learners.

Yes, товар is a very common and natural word for product, goods, or item for sale.

Depending on context, Ukrainian could also use other words, such as:

• річ = thing
• виріб = product/article
• продукція = products/output
• предмет = object/item

But in shopping, sales, returns, and exchanges, товар is one of the most standard choices.