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Questions & Answers about Я кладу ложку у миску.
What is the infinitive of кладу, and what does кладу mean?
The infinitive is класти (to put). Кладу is the 1st-person singular, present tense of класти, so it literally means “I put” or “I am putting.”
What aspect and tense does кладу express?
Кладу is imperfective aspect in the present tense. The imperfective aspect describes an ongoing, habitual, or repeated action, not its completion.
What’s the difference between кладу and покладу?
Кладу (imperfective) implies you are in the process of putting something or do it regularly. Покладу is the perfective future or “I will put” with a focus on the action’s completion.
Example:
– Я кладу ложку у миску. (I am putting the spoon in the bowl.)
– Я покладу ложку у миску. (I will put the spoon in the bowl [and finish doing so].)
Why is the preposition у used instead of в before миску?
Ukrainian uses у before words starting with a consonant for euphony, and в before words starting with a vowel. Since миска begins with a consonant, it becomes у миску.
What case are ложку and миску, and why do they end in -у?
Both ложку and миску are in the accusative singular feminine. Ukrainian inanimate feminine nouns ending in -а switch that ending to -у in the accusative (which equals the general object case).
How is кладу у миску pronounced and where is the stress?
Pronunciation: [klɐˈdu u ˈmɪsku]
– кладу is stressed on the second syllable: кла-ДУ
– миску is stressed on the first syllable: МИ-ску
Is the word order fixed, or could I say У миску я кладу ложку?
Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible. You can say У миску я кладу ложку for emphasis on the location, but the neutral S-V-O Я кладу ложку у миску is most common.
Why are there no articles (“a” or “the”) in Я кладу ложку у миску?
Ukrainian, like many Slavic languages, does not use definite or indefinite articles. Context tells you whether something is specific or general.