Breakdown of Чисти зуби ретельно щоранку.
щоранку
every morning
ретельно
thoroughly
чистити
to brush
зуб
the tooth
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Questions & Answers about Чисти зуби ретельно щоранку.
What is the difference between the imperatives чисти and почисти?
Ukrainian verbs have imperfective and perfective aspects. чисти is imperfective, focusing on the process or a habitual action – keep brushing; почисти is perfective, indicating a single completed action – brush to completion. For a routine like brushing your teeth every morning, the imperfective чисти is the natural choice.
How do you form the imperative чисти from the infinitive чистити?
To form the second-person singular imperative of a verb ending in -ити, drop the -ти ending and add -и: чистити → чист- + и = чисти.
Why isn’t the pronoun ти included before чисти?
In Ukrainian, verbs carry person and number in their endings. The form чисти already signals second person singular, so adding ти would be redundant.
What case is зуби, and why does it look the same as the nominative plural?
Here зуби is in the accusative plural as the direct object of чистити. For most inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative plural is identical to the nominative plural, so зуби appears the same in both cases.
Why don’t we say чисти свої зуби to mean brush your teeth?
Ukrainian typically omits possessive pronouns with body parts when the owner is obvious from context. Saying чисти зуби is clear and more natural than чисти свої зуби.
What does ретельно mean, and why is it placed after зуби?
ретельно is an adverb meaning thoroughly. Ukrainian word order is flexible, especially with adverbs. In a neutral structure, adverbs often follow the verb or object, but for emphasis you could also say ретельно чисти зуби or чисти ретельно зуби.
What is щоранку, and can I use кожного ранку instead?
щоранку is an adverb meaning every morning. You can replace it with the more formal phrase кожного ранку (genitive singular), as in чисти зуби ретельно кожного ранку, without changing the meaning.
How flexible is the word order in this sentence? For example, can I say Щоранку ретельно чисти зуби?
Ukrainian allows flexible word order for emphasis or style. Щоранку ретельно чисти зуби shifts the time phrase to the front, highlighting when it happens. All these variants are grammatically correct, though the most neutral order is Чисти зуби ретельно щоранку.