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Questions & Answers about Петро купує ручку.
What does Петро mean and what is its grammatical role in the sentence?
Петро is a proper noun referring to a person named Petro. In this sentence, it serves as the subject and is in the nominative case.
How is the verb купує conjugated, and what tense does it represent?
Купує is the third person singular form of the verb купувати in the present tense. It translates to “buys” or “is buying” in English.
Why is ручку written with the ending “-у” instead of appearing like the base form ручка?
Ручку is the accusative singular form of the noun ручка. The ending “-у” marks it as the direct object of the sentence, indicating that it is the thing being bought.
Why doesn’t the sentence include an article before ручку, similar to how English uses “a” in “a pen”?
Ukrainian does not use articles equivalent to the English “a” or “the.” Nouns appear without these articles, so ручку stands alone as the object.
What is the typical word order in this sentence, and can it be altered in Ukrainian?
The sentence follows the standard Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word order, similar to English. However, Ukrainian allows flexible word order to shift emphasis or for stylistic reasons, even though the basic meaning remains clear.
What is the gender of the noun ручка, and how does its gender influence its declension here?
Ручка is a feminine noun. In Ukrainian, feminine nouns in the accusative case typically take endings like “-у” or “-ю,” hence the form ручку is used for the direct object.
How can this sentence be turned into a question in Ukrainian?
To form a question, you can simply use a rising intonation when speaking. For example, saying Петро купує ручку? with a questioning intonation will indicate that you are asking whether Petro is buying a pen. Additionally, you may add a question word if more information is needed.