Я дивлюся в дзеркало щоранку.

I look in the mirror every morning.

Breakdown of Я дивлюся в дзеркало щоранку.

• я: I
• в: in
• дивитися: to look
• щоранку: every morning
• дзеркало: the mirror

Questions & Answers about Я дивлюся в дзеркало щоранку.

Why is the verb дивлюся used here instead of a non-reflexive form like дивлю?

In Ukrainian, дивитися is inherently reflexive and always takes the suffix -ся (or its clitic form -сь). There is no non-reflexive verb дивлю in standard Ukrainian. The reflexive marker -ся turns дивити (an obsolete root) into the modern verb дивитися, meaning “to look.” So you always say я дивлюся, ти дивишся, etc.

What case is дзеркало in, and why?

After the preposition в meaning “into,” дзеркало is in the accusative case because you’re expressing motion or direction of the gaze into the mirror.
• Nominative (subject): дзеркало
• Accusative (direction): дивлюся в дзеркало

Why is the preposition в used here instead of у, and could I say у дзеркало?

Both в and у mean “in” or “into,” but you choose based on ease of pronunciation:
• в is used before words that start with most consonants, as in в дзеркало.
• у is used before words that start with a vowel or certain consonant clusters (e.g. у школі, у Львові).
Saying у дзеркало would clash phonetically (two vowels in a row), so Ukrainian uses в дзеркало.

What is щоранку, and how is it formed?

щоранку means “each/every morning.” It’s an adverbial noun formed from що (“what” or here “each”) + ранок (“morning”) in the genitive:
що + ранку → щоранку
You use it to express a repeated action that happens every morning.

Could I replace щоранку with кожного ранку or щодня, and what’s the nuance?

Yes. All three express habitual timing, but with slight differences:

• щоранку (every morning) – most natural and concise for morning routines.
• кожного ранку (literally “of every morning”) – more formal, slightly longer.
• щодня (every day) – broader: any time during the day, not specifically morning.

Example variations: • Я дивлюся в дзеркало щоранку.
• Я дивлюся в дзеркало кожного ранку.
• Я щодня дивлюся в дзеркало.

Can I move щоранку to the front: Щоранку я дивлюся в дзеркало?

Yes, Ukrainian word order is flexible because of its case system. Fronting щоранку for emphasis is perfectly fine: • Щоранку я дивлюся в дзеркало.
This emphasizes when you look in the mirror.

Is there a comma needed before щоранку?

No comma is needed. Щоранку is simply an adverbial time expression. Commas in Ukrainian only separate subordinate clauses, enumerations, or inserted phrases—not routine adverbials.

How do I pronounce дзеркало, especially the initial дз cluster?

дзеркало is pronounced [ˈd͡zɛr.kɑ.lɔ].
• дз – a single voiced affricate [d͡z], like the “ds” in English adze.
• е – sounds like “eh.”
• Stress falls on the first syllable: DZEr-kalo.