Learn Hardcore Ukrainian: Чому ти не встиг на зустріч? - Why didn’t you make it to the meeting on time?

It literally means “managed (in time).” In the negative, не встиг usually means “didn’t make it in time for the start,” and the person may or may not have come later.

If you want “was late,” use запізнився на зустріч.
If you mean “didn’t come at all,” say не потрапив на зустріч or не прийшов на зустріч.

Why is the perfective used (встиг), not the imperfective (встигав / встигаєш)?

Perfective focuses on a one-off result (success/failure). Here, the result (making it in time) did not happen, so не встиг is natural. Use imperfective for habits or ongoing processes:

Чому ти не встигаєш на зустрічі? = Why don’t you make it to meetings (in general)?

Why на зустріч, not в/у зустріч or до зустрічі?

With events and activities, Ukrainian typically uses на + Accusative (to, for attending): на зустріч, на концерт, на лекцію.

в/у + Accusative is for entering spaces: в університет, у кімнату.
до + Genitive means “to(wards) the place/threshold” and in the set phrase до зустрічі means “See you.”

Which case is зустріч in, and why doesn’t it change form?

It’s Accusative singular after на (direction). For inanimate feminine nouns in -ь, Accusative = Nominative, so it stays зустріч.
Contrast with the Locative for location: на зустрічі = at the meeting.

Can this be written as one word назустріч?

No. назустріч (one word) means “toward/meeting (someone)” as a direction, e.g., йти назустріч мені = to walk toward me.
на зустріч (two words) is “to a meeting (event).”

Is зустріч the right word for a business meeting?

Often yes, but there are nuances:

зустріч = meeting/meet-up (general).
нарада, засідання = formal work meeting/session.
Beware false friend: мітинг in Ukrainian is a public rally/protest, not a business meeting.

Why include ти? Can it be dropped?

In the past tense, the verb shows gender/number, not person. встиг only tells us “masculine singular,” so ти clarifies you’re addressing “you.”
Without ти, Чому не встиг на зустріч? could also refer to “he” or “I (male)” from context.

How does the sentence change for a woman or for polite “you”?

To a woman (informal): Чому ти не встигла на зустріч?
Polite/formal you: Чому Ви не встигли на зустріч? (capitalize Ви).

What’s the difference between чому, навіщо, and чого?

чому asks for a reason/cause (why did X happen?).
навіщо asks for purpose (for what purpose?).
чого is a colloquial alternative to чому (sounds more informal/regional).
Here, чому is the correct neutral choice.

Can the word order change, e.g., Ти чому не встиг на зустріч? or Чому не встиг ти на зустріч?

Yes. Ukrainian allows flexible word order for emphasis.

Ти чому… is colloquial, focusing on “you.”
Чому не встиг ти… is more marked/stylistic, emphasizing the verb/result.

How do you pronounce it? Any stress tips?

чому́ (stress on the last syllable).
встиг is one syllable, stress on и; pronounce like “v-styh” (y as in “myth”), and Ukrainian г is a voiced h [ɦ], not hard g.
зу́стріч has stress on the first syllable: “ZOO-streech” (ch as in “church”).

Is adding вчасно (on time) redundant with встиг?

Usually yes, because встиг already implies “in time.” You might add вчасно for emphasis: встиг вчасно. For lateness, it’s clearer to say запізнився на зустріч.

Can I say встигнути instead of встигти? What about встигнув?

Both infinitives (встигти / встигнути) are standard. In the past masculine, both встиг and встигнув occur; встиг is shorter and more common/neutral in everyday speech.

How would I ask “Why weren’t you at the meeting?” instead?

Use the locative for being at a place:

Informal: Чому тебе не було на зустрічі?
Formal: Чому Вас не було на зустрічі?

What are other common collocations with встигнути?

встигнути на автобус/поїзд/літак = catch a bus/train/flight.
встигнути зробити щось = manage to do something.
встигнути до дедлайну/строку = make the deadline.