Learn Hardcore Ukrainian: Смілива дівчина, яка співала на свята, отримала нагороду. - The brave girl, who sang at celebrations, received an award.

It acts as a descriptive clause modifying дівчина (girl). The relative pronoun яка (“who/which”) introduces the clause and specifies which brave girl is meant—the one who sang at the celebrations. This structure is similar to English, where extra details about a noun are added using a relative clause.

Why are commas placed before and after the relative clause яка співала на свята?

The commas set off the relative clause as additional, non-essential information about the subject. They indicate that the clause adds extra detail (i.e., that she sang at the celebrations) but isn’t required to identify the girl. This punctuation helps clarify that the main focus is on the result: the girl received an award.

What tense and form are the verbs співала and отримала, and how do they agree with the subject?

Both verbs are in the past tense and are conjugated in the feminine singular form to agree with дівчина. Співала comes from співати (to sing), and отримала comes from отримати (to receive). Their endings confirm that the actions were performed in the past by a single female subject.

How do adjectives and nouns agree in the phrase Смілива дівчина?

In Ukrainian, adjectives must agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case. Here, смілива (brave) is in the feminine nominative singular form, matching дівчина (girl) which is also feminine nominative singular. This agreement is essential for maintaining grammatical consistency in the sentence.

What does the phrase на свята mean, and how is the preposition на used here?

На свята translates roughly as “at the celebrations” or “during the holidays.” The preposition на is used to indicate the occasion or event when the singing took place. It’s similar to how in English we say “at” an event to denote participation or occurrence during that time.

Is the placement of the relative clause typical in Ukrainian sentence structure?

Yes, it is. Ukrainian often places a relative clause directly after the noun it modifies. In this sentence, the main noun phrase Смілива дівчина is followed by the clause яка співала на свята, which enriches the description, and then the main predicate отримала нагороду concludes the sentence. This order helps clearly connect the extra information to the subject.