Breakdown of Після душу я беру мʼякий рушник.
я
I
після
after
мʼякий
soft
душ
the shower
брати
to take
рушник
the towel
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Questions & Answers about Після душу я беру мʼякий рушник.
Why is the noun душ in the form душу and not душ or душа?
Because the preposition після always takes the genitive case. The genitive singular of the masculine noun душ is душу, so після душу literally means “after (the) shower.”
What does the apostrophe in мʼякий indicate?
The apostrophe separates the preceding labial consonant м from the iotated vowel я, so you don’t palatalize м into one sound. In Ukrainian orthography, you put an apostrophe after б, п, в, м, ф, р before я, ю, є, ї to show they form two distinct sounds (e.g. [mʲa-] rather than [mʲʲa]).
Why do мʼякий and рушник look like the nominative forms even though рушник is the object of брати?
Ukrainian distinguishes animate vs. inanimate nouns in the accusative. For masculine inanimate nouns like рушник, the accusative singular is identical to the nominative singular. Adjectives agree in case, gender and number, so мʼякий рушник serves as the direct object without any visible change.
Why is there no word for “a” or “the” before рушник?
Ukrainian does not have articles (no “a” or “the”). A bare noun can be definite or indefinite from context. If you needed to specify “this towel,” you could add цей рушник, or “my towel” as мій рушник.
Can you omit the pronoun я in я беру?
Yes. Ukrainian is a pro-drop language. You can say Після душу беру мʼякий рушник and it’s perfectly natural—the subject “I” is understood from the verb ending.
Why is the imperfective verb беру used here instead of the perfective візьму?
Брати (imperfective) describes habitual or ongoing actions in present tense. If you want to express a one-time future action (“I will take a soft towel after my shower”), you’d use the perfective візьму:
Після душу я візьму мʼякий рушник.
Where does the stress fall in мʼякий, and how is it pronounced?
The stress is on the first syllable: мʼя́кий. Phonetically it’s roughly [mʲaˈkɪj], with a clear separation at the apostrophe: mʲa-.
Do I need a comma after Після душу when it comes at the start of a sentence?
Short adverbial phrases (two or three words) like Після душу normally do not require a comma. Commas are optional for very long or heavily emphasized introductory phrases, but here you write it without one.