У вівторок я прокидаюся рано.

On Tuesday I wake up early.

Breakdown of У вівторок я прокидаюся рано.

• я: I
• прокидатися: to wake up
• рано: early
• у: on
• вівторок: the Tuesday

Questions & Answers about У вівторок я прокидаюся рано.

What does У вівторок mean, and why is у used instead of в?

У вівторок means on Tuesday. In Ukrainian the preposition в changes to у before a word that starts with a vowel (for easier pronunciation). Saying в вівторок would create an awkward sequence of consonants, so it becomes у вівторок.

Why doesn’t вівторок take the prepositional (locative) case after у? I thought у always requires the locative.

Prepositions in Ukrainian can govern different cases depending on meaning:
• У/в + accusative expresses time (when something happens), e.g. у вівторок = on Tuesday.
• У/в + prepositional (locative) expresses location, e.g. у місті = in the city.

How is the verb прокидаюся formed, and what does it mean?

прокидаюся is the 1st person singular present tense of the imperfective, reflexive verb прокидатися, meaning to wake up.
– Prefix про- adds the sense of “going through the action” of waking.
– Root -кид-/-ида- is the verbal base.
– Reflexive suffix -ся indicates the action is performed by and on the subject (I wake myself up).

Why is the verb in the present tense? Shouldn’t we use past or future for a specific Tuesday?

In Ukrainian the present tense often expresses:
1) Habitual actions – what you do regularly (every Tuesday I wake up early).
2) Scheduled events – like timetables.
To talk about a single past event you’d use the past perfective:
• У вівторок я прокинувся рано
For a single future event you’d use the future perfective:
• У наступний вівторок я прокинуся рано

Can I drop the pronoun я? How important is it here?

Ukrainian verbs show person and number in their endings, so subject pronouns are often optional.
• У вівторок прокидаюся рано is perfectly correct and common.
• Including я (as in У вівторок я прокидаюся рано) adds clarity or extra emphasis on the subject.

Can I change the word order to Я прокидаюся рано у вівторок? Does it change the meaning?

Yes. Ukrainian word order is relatively flexible. Both:
• У вівторок я прокидаюся рано
• Я прокидаюся рано у вівторок
mean the same. Fronting У вівторок simply puts a bit more emphasis on the time.

What does рано mean, and how is it different from зранку?

рано is an adverb meaning early.
зранку means in the morning (not necessarily very early).
If you want to stress very early, you can say дуже рано.