У четвер я відпочиваю.

The Ukrainian preposition у / в is broader than English in. Its translation depends on context.

With days of the week, у / в is normally translated as on:

• у четвер = on Thursday
• у понеділок = on Monday

So in this sentence, у четвер is simply the normal Ukrainian way to say on Thursday.

After у / в meaning on with days of the week, Ukrainian normally uses the accusative case.

The noun четвер is masculine and inanimate, so its accusative singular looks the same as its nominative singular. That is why you see четвер with no visible ending change.

Compare:

• четвер → у четвер
• середа → у середу

In середу, the accusative ending is visible. In четвер, it is not.

У and в are two forms of the same preposition. Ukrainian often switches between them for euphony, meaning whichever sounds smoother in pronunciation.

Before a word like четвер, starting with a consonant, у четвер is very natural. You may also sometimes hear в четвер, especially in speech, but у четвер is the standard, smooth form here.

So the choice is mostly about sound, not meaning.

Відпочиваю is the 1st person singular present tense form of відпочивати, which means to rest / to relax.

So:

• відпочивати = to rest
• відпочиваю = I rest / I am resting

The ending -ю shows that the subject is I.

In Ukrainian, personal pronouns are often optional because the verb ending already tells you the person.

So both of these are possible:

• У четвер я відпочиваю.
• У четвер відпочиваю.

Including я can make the sentence a little clearer or slightly more emphatic. Omitting it often sounds more natural when the subject is already obvious.

The present tense in Ukrainian is often used for habitual or regular actions, just like in English:

• I work on Monday
• I rest on Thursday

So У четвер я відпочиваю most naturally sounds like a routine, schedule, or usual pattern.

Because відпочиваю is from the imperfective verb відпочивати, it is especially suitable for describing a repeated or ongoing action.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Most often, with the present tense, it suggests a habit or regular arrangement:

• On Thursdays, I rest
• I rest on Thursday

But context could also make it refer to a specific Thursday.

If you want to be more explicit, you can say:

• цього четверга = this Thursday
• кожного четверга = every Thursday
• щочетверга = every Thursday

So the original sentence is a bit flexible, and context decides the exact reading.

No, Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible.

У четвер я відпочиваю is perfectly natural, and it puts the time expression first, giving on Thursday a little emphasis.

Other possible orders include:

• Я відпочиваю у четвер.
• Я у четвер відпочиваю.

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis shifts slightly. Putting У четвер first highlights when the action happens.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

u chet-VER ya vid-po-chy-VA-yu

A few helpful notes:

• ч sounds like English ch
• я sounds like ya
• ю sounds like yu
• Ukrainian в is often softer than English v

So the whole sentence flows roughly like:

u chet-VER ya vid-po-chy-VA-yu