Я показав паспорт на прикордонному контролі.

I showed my passport at border control.

Breakdown of Я показав паспорт на прикордонному контролі.

• я: I
• на: at
• показати: to show
• паспорт: the passport
• прикордонний контроль: the border control

Questions & Answers about Я показав паспорт на прикордонному контролі.

Why is паспорт not inflected—why doesn’t it change form?

In Ukrainian, паспорт is the direct object of the verb показав. Masculine inanimate nouns have the same form in the nominative and accusative singular. That’s why паспорт stays unchanged here.

Why do we say на прикордонному контролі and not use the accusative case?

The preposition на can govern the locative case when talking about location (“at” somewhere). Прикордонний контроль in the locative singular becomes на прикордонному контролі, showing where the action took place.

How do I know прикордонному & контролі are locative forms?

• Adjectives in the locative singular (masculine) take -ому, so прикордонний → прикордонному.
• Nouns in locative singular (first/second declension) take -і, so контроль → контролі.

Why is the preposition на used here, not в?

Ukrainian often uses на with services, institutions or events (like border control, customs, school). So people say на контролі, на лекції, на роботі. В is more for enclosed spaces (в кімнаті, в будинку).

Can I leave out Я and just say Показав паспорт на прикордонному контролі?

Yes. Ukrainian verbs are conjugated for person, so Показав already implies “I showed.” You include Я only for emphasis or clarity.

What’s the difference between показати and показувати?

• показати is perfective: it refers to a single, completed action (I showed it once).
• показувати is imperfective: it’s for ongoing, repeated or habitual actions (I was showing it, or I showed it repeatedly).

When would I use показував instead of показав?
[ANSWER] Use показував if you want to emphasize that the action was ongoing or repeated in the past (e.g. “I kept showing my passport every time they asked”). Use показав for a one-off, completed event.

Could I say Я пред’явив паспорт на прикордонному контролі?

Yes. пред’явити is more formal and bureaucratic (“to present officially”), whereas показати is more everyday language (“to show”).

Why don’t we say Я показав паспорт прикордоннику (“I showed the passport to the border guard”)?

You can if you want to specify the person: Я показав паспорт прикордоннику. In the original sentence, saying на прикордонному контролі implies you showed it to the officers there without naming them.

Is it okay to add свій and say Я показав свій паспорт на прикордонному контролі?

Absolutely. свій clarifies “my own passport,” but it’s often left out when context already makes ownership clear.