Тобі треба одягнути теплий светр у лютому.

You need to put on a warm sweater in February.

Breakdown of Тобі треба одягнути теплий светр у лютому.

• у: in
• ти: you
• теплий: warm
• треба: to need

Questions & Answers about Тобі треба одягнути теплий светр у лютому.

Why is тобі in the dative case instead of using ти?

Because треба is an impersonal modal word (“to need, have to”) and does not have a grammatical subject. The person who needs to do something is expressed in the dative case. So “you” becomes тобі, not ти.

What does треба mean here and how is it used?

Треба means “one needs to,” “it’s necessary to,” or simply “need to.” Key points:

• It’s impersonal: there is no subject pronoun like “he” or “she.”
• Structure: dative person
  • треба
    • infinitive.
• Examples: Мені треба читати (I need to read), йому треба спати (he needs to sleep).

Why is the verb одягнути in the infinitive, and why perfective?

• The infinitive is required after треба: you always say треба + що зробити? (what to do?).
• Одягнути is the perfective form, signaling a single, complete action: “to put on” (once).
• If you wanted to express a habitual or ongoing action, you would use the imperfective одягати (e.g. треба одягати шарф щодня – you need to put on a scarf every day).