Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Ukrainian grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Книга лежить на тумбочці.
Why doesn’t Ukrainian use articles like a or the in this sentence?
Ukrainian simply doesn’t have articles. A noun like книга can mean either “a book” or “the book” depending on context. To specify definiteness or indefiniteness, you’d use words like цей (this) or якийсь (some), or rely on context.
What case is книга in, and why is it used here?
книга is in the nominative case, because it’s the subject of the sentence—the thing that “lies” (лежить).
What form is лежить, and what information does it carry?
лежить is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb лежати (“to lie/be lying”). It tells you that книга (third person, singular) is performing the action right now.
Why doesn’t the verb лежить change for feminine gender, since книга is feminine?
In Ukrainian, verbs in the third-person singular present tense do not inflect for gender. They only reflect person (third) and number (singular).
What case is тумбочці in, and why do we use that case?
тумбочці is in the prepositional case (often called the locative). After the preposition на to indicate location (“on something”), Ukrainian uses the prepositional case.
How do you form the prepositional singular for feminine nouns ending in -ка, like тумбочка?
For most feminine nouns ending in -ка, you replace -ка with -ці. So тумбочка → тумбоч- + ці = тумбочці.
Can на ever take a different case in Ukrainian?
Yes. When на expresses motion onto (e.g., “put the book onto the table”), it takes the accusative case. When it expresses location (“the book is on the table”), it takes the prepositional case.
Is the word order rigid in Ukrainian? Could you say “На тумбочці лежить книга”?
Ukrainian has relatively flexible word order. You can say На тумбочці лежить книга to emphasize the location first, or Книга лежить на тумбочці to follow a more neutral Subject–Verb–Object-adverbial order. The basic meaning stays the same.
How do you pronounce тумбочці, and where is the stress?
You pronounce it [tum-bót-chtsi], with the stress on the о: тумбо́чці. The чц cluster sounds like [tʃ-tsi], a soft “ch” followed by “tsi.”