Breakdown of Я запікаю тісто в духовці двадцять хвилин.
я
I
в
in
хвилина
the minute
тісто
the dough
духовка
the oven
запікати
to bake
двадцять
twenty
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Questions & Answers about Я запікаю тісто в духовці двадцять хвилин.
Why is the verb запікаю used instead of пеку? What’s the difference between запікати and пекти?
пекти is the basic verb “to bake” (bread, cakes, cookies). запікати adds the prefix за-, implying a specific cooking method—often roasting or baking until browned/crisp. Here запікаю emphasizes that you’re baking the dough in the oven to finish it off or get a certain crust, not just any generic baking.
What aspect is запікаю, and why is it in the imperfective aspect?
запікаю is imperfective, which expresses an ongoing, habitual, or repeated action in the present. The perfective counterpart is запекти. You can’t say я запеку тісто в духовці двадцять хвилин in the present tense—perfective verbs only appear in the past or future (e.g. я запікав or я запеку).
Why is тісто in the accusative case, and why does it look the same as the nominative?
In Ukrainian, direct objects take the accusative. тісто is a neuter noun whose nominative and accusative singular forms are identical. The form doesn’t change, but grammatically it functions as the object.
How do we say “in the oven” in Ukrainian, and why is there no article?
Ukrainian has no definite or indefinite articles. To express “in the oven,” you use the preposition в plus the locative case: в духовці (духовка → духовці). Prepositions plus locative answer “where?”.
How does the time expression двадцять хвилин work? Is it in a special case, and why no preposition?
When you indicate duration (“for twenty minutes”), you simply state the numeral + noun without a preposition. After numerals from 5 upward, the noun takes genitive plural—hence хвилин (not хвилини). The whole phrase functions adverbially, answering “how long?”.
Can I drop the pronoun я and still be understood?
Yes. Ukrainian verbs are conjugated for person and number, so запікаю already implies “I.” Omitting я is common and sounds more natural in many contexts: Запікаю тісто в духовці двадцять хвилин.
Is the word order fixed? Could I say «Я в духовці запікаю тісто двадцять хвилин»?
Word order in Ukrainian is fairly flexible. You can rearrange these elements for emphasis without changing the core meaning. Putting в духовці first highlights the location, while fronting двадцять хвилин would stress the duration.