Сухий ґрунт потребує поливу.

to require

Breakdown of Сухий ґрунт потребує поливу.

• сухий: dry
• ґрунт: the soil
• полив: the watering

Questions & Answers about Сухий ґрунт потребує поливу.

Why is поливу in this sentence, not полив?

Because the verb потребувати / потребуватися normally takes the genitive case in Ukrainian.

So:

• потребувати що? is not the pattern here
• instead, it is потребувати чого? = to need something with genitive

That is why:

• dictionary form: полив = watering / irrigation
• in the sentence: поливу = genitive singular

So Сухий ґрунт потребує поливу is structurally like:

• The dry soil needs watering
• literally: Dry soil needs of-watering

This is a very common thing learners need to remember: some Ukrainian verbs require a different case than an English speaker might expect.

What case is сухий ґрунт?

Сухий ґрунт is in the nominative singular.

Why?

• ґрунт is the subject of the sentence
• the subject is normally in the nominative
• сухий agrees with ґрунт in gender, number, and case

So here we have:

• ґрунт — masculine singular nominative
• сухий — masculine singular nominative to match it

This agreement is a basic feature of Ukrainian adjectives.