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Questions & Answers about Школа велика.
Why is there no linking verb (like is) in the sentence "Школа велика"?
In Ukrainian, the present tense of the verb to be is usually omitted. The language employs a zero-copula, meaning that the state of being is understood without explicitly stating a linking verb.
How do adjectives agree with nouns in this sentence?
Adjectives in Ukrainian must agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case. Here, школа is a feminine singular noun, so the adjective велика is also in the feminine singular form to match it.
Why doesn’t the sentence include an article like the?
Ukrainian does not use articles. Whether a noun is definite or indefinite is determined by context, so there is no need for a word equivalent to the.
What is the typical word order in Ukrainian, as seen in "Школа велика"?
The standard word order in Ukrainian often follows a subject-predicate structure—in this case, the noun школа (subject) is followed by the adjective велика (predicate). While Ukrainian allows for flexible word order to create emphasis or stylistic effects, this arrangement represents the neutral, descriptive form.
What grammatical case are школа and велика in, and why is that important?
Both школа and велика are in the nominative case. The nominative is used for the subject of a sentence or for stating simple facts, which is why it is employed here to describe the school.
Can adjectives like велика be modified to express degrees of comparison?
Yes, Ukrainian adjectives have comparative and superlative forms. For example, велика (big) can be changed to більша (bigger) for the comparative degree and найбільша (biggest) for the superlative. This allows speakers to compare sizes or qualities in a structured way.