Breakdown of Вмикай лампу, коли темно в кімнаті.
в
in
кімната
the room
коли
when
вмикати
to turn on
лампа
the lamp
темно
dark
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Questions & Answers about Вмикай лампу, коли темно в кімнаті.
What is the form and meaning of вмикай?
вмикай is the 2nd person singular imperative of the imperfective verb вмикати (to turn on / switch on). It’s used to give a command to one person you address informally. To address several people or speak politely, you would use вмикайте.
Why is вмикай imperfective? Why not use a perfective form like увімкни?
Choosing the imperfective imperative (вмикай) makes it a general or habitual instruction: “turn on the lamp whenever it’s dark.” A perfective imperative (увімкни) would focus on completing the action once: “turn the lamp on now.” For repeated or rule-based advice, the imperfective is more natural.
Why is лампу in this sentence instead of лампа?
лампу is the accusative singular of лампа (lamp). In Ukrainian, direct objects of transitive verbs take the accusative case. Since лампа is feminine, its accusative singular ends in -у.
Why is there no article before лампу? Don’t we need “the” or “a”?
Ukrainian does not have definite or indefinite articles like English “the” or “a.” The noun in the accusative case alone conveys that it’s the object you’re referring to.
What is темно here, and why not an adjective like темний?
темно is an impersonal predicate (a short-form neuter adjective used adverbially) meaning “it is dark.” In Ukrainian, states of weather, light, temperature, etc., are often expressed impersonally: жарко (it’s hot), світло (it’s light), холодно (it’s cold). An adjective like темний would describe a noun, e.g. темний коридор (a dark corridor).
Why do we say в кімнаті, and what case is that?
в кімнаті is the prepositional case of кімната (room), used here to indicate location (“in the room”). Prepositions of place like в/у (in) require the prepositional case. We use в before a word starting with a consonant; you’d use у before a vowel or certain consonant clusters for easier pronunciation (e.g. у університеті).
Why do we not say є (the verb “to be”) in коли темно в кімнаті?
In Ukrainian, the present-tense copula (to be) is usually omitted. Instead of коли є темно в кімнаті, we simply say коли темно в кімнаті. The meaning (“when it is dark in the room”) remains clear without є.
Is the word order flexible? Could you say коли в кімнаті темно?
Yes. Ukrainian has relatively free word order. коли в кімнаті темно and коли темно в кімнаті both mean “when it’s dark in the room.” You can adjust word order for emphasis or style without changing the fundamental meaning.