Кравець вкоротив рукав.

Here it is capitalized simply because it is the first word of the sentence.

As a common noun, кравець means tailor and is normally written with a lowercase letter: кравець.

It can also be a surname in real life, since Кравець is a common Ukrainian last name. But in this sentence, if the meaning shown to the learner is the tailor shortened the sleeve, then it is just the noun tailor, capitalized only because it starts the sentence.

Кравець is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence — the person doing the action.

So the structure is:

• Кравець = the tailor, the subject
• вкоротив = shortened
• рукав = the sleeve, the object

Вкоротив is a past tense, masculine singular verb form.

It agrees with the subject кравець, which is masculine singular.

So this form means roughly shortened or did shorten.

Compare:

• вкоротив = masculine singular
• вкоротила = feminine singular
• вкоротило = neuter singular
• вкоротили = plural

For example:

• Кравчиня вкоротила рукав. = The seamstress shortened the sleeve.
• Кравці вкоротили рукав. = The tailors shortened the sleeve.

The infinitive is вкоротити. Many Ukrainian verbs in -ити form the masculine past tense with -ив:

• робити → робив
• просити → просив
• вкоротити → вкоротив

So вкоротив is the regular masculine past form of вкоротити.

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

But for masculine inanimate singular nouns, the accusative form is usually the same as the nominative form. That is why рукав looks unchanged.

So:

• nominative: рукав
• accusative: рукав

If the noun were masculine animate, you would usually see a different form. For example:

• Я бачу брата. = I see my brother.

There, the accusative брата does not look like the nominative брат.

Вкоротив is perfective, so it presents the action as completed.

The sentence means that the tailor finished shortening the sleeve.

If you wanted to talk about the process, repetition, or an unfinished action, you would normally use an imperfective verb, such as вкорочував.

Very roughly:

• вкоротив рукав = he shortened the sleeve, completed the job
• вкорочував рукав = he was shortening the sleeve / used to shorten the sleeve

No. Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible.

Кравець вкоротив рукав is a neutral, straightforward order: subject + verb + object.

But you can change the order for emphasis or style, for example:

• Рукав вкоротив кравець.
• Вкоротив рукав кравець.

These alternatives are possible, but the emphasis changes. The neutral version for learners is the original one:

• Кравець вкоротив рукав.

A helpful pronunciation guide is:

Краве́ць вкороти́в рука́в.

Approximate pronunciation:

kra-VETS vko-ro-TYV roo-KAV

A few notes:

• ць at the end of кравець is a soft consonant cluster.
• в in connected speech may sound lighter than an English v, depending on position and speaker.
• Stress matters in Ukrainian, so it helps to learn the stressed syllables early.

No. Ukrainian does not have articles like English the and a/an.

So Кравець вкоротив рукав can be understood as:

• The tailor shortened the sleeve
• A tailor shortened a sleeve

Which one sounds best depends on context. English has to choose an article, but Ukrainian does not.

They are different words:

• рука = hand / arm
• рукав = sleeve

So in this sentence, рукав clearly means sleeve, not arm.

This is a useful vocabulary distinction for clothing-related sentences.