Learn Hardcore Ukrainian: Вода надто холодна.

The pronunciation (transcription) is: vo-DA na-DTO kho-LÓD-na.
• The stress falls on the second syllable of вода (vo-DA) and on the first syllable of холодна (kho-LÓD-na).
• надто is usually unstressed or carries only light stress (na-DTO).

How would you translate Вода надто холодна word by word?

• вода = “water” (nominative, feminine)
• надто = “too” (indicating an excessive degree)
• холодна = “cold” (feminine adjective, nominative)
So literally: “Water too cold.” In natural English: “The water is too cold.”

Why is there no article before вода? Why not “the water” in Ukrainian?

Ukrainian does not use definite or indefinite articles like the or a. Context alone shows whether you mean “water in general,” “some water,” or “the water.” In this sentence, вода can mean “the water” that’s being referred to, but there’s no separate word for the.

Why is вода in the nominative case here?

Because вода is the subject of the sentence (what we’re talking about), and Ukrainian uses the nominative case for subjects in simple declarative sentences.

What part of speech is надто, and how is it different from дуже?

надто is an adverb meaning “too” or “excessively.”
дуже is also an adverb, but it means “very” (it intensifies without implying excess).
• вода дуже холодна = “the water is very cold.”
• вода надто холодна = “the water is too cold” (implying it’s colder than desired).

Can you use занадто instead of надто here?

Yes, занадто is a synonym for надто in most contexts and also means “too.”
• Вода занадто холодна is perfectly correct and essentially interchangeable with Вода надто холодна.

Why is the adjective холодна placed after вода?

In Ukrainian, adjectives normally agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify and can come either before or after it. However, the most common standard position is before the noun (e.g., холодна вода). Placing it after, as in вода холодна, slightly emphasizes the predicate (“the water is cold”). With надто, the fixed pattern is Вода надто холодна (subject–adverb–predicate adjective).

What endings do we see on холодна, and why?

холодна ends in -а, marking it as a feminine singular adjective in the nominative case, matching вода (feminine singular, nominative). If the noun were masculine (e.g., чай), you’d say Чай надто холодний.

Is the sentence positive or negative, and how is that shown?

The sentence is an affirmative statement. The negative sense (“not enough warm” or “too cold to drink”) comes from the meaning of надто (“excessively”), not from a negation particle. In other words, there’s no не (“not”) in this sentence.

How would you form a question from this sentence to ask “Is the water too cold?”

You can simply raise your intonation and/or add чи at the beginning:
• Чи вода надто холодна? (literal: “Is the water too cold?”)
• Or in informal speech: Вода надто холодна? with rising intonation.