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Questions & Answers about Вона не зла, просто втомилася.
Where is the verb “is” in Вона не зла?
Ukrainian usually drops the present-tense verb to be. So Вона не зла literally reads “She not angry/evil,” but it means “She is not angry.” You rarely need to insert є (“is”) in the present.
Can I add є? What changes if I do?
You can, but it sounds formal or emphatic: Вона не є злою. Note two things:
- With є, Ukrainian often uses the instrumental case for the predicate: злою (not зла).
- In everyday speech, people just say Вона не зла.
Why is it зла, not злий?
Agreement with gender and number:
- Feminine singular: зла (fits вона “she”)
- Masculine singular: злий (for він “he”)
- Neuter singular: зле
- Plural: злі
Does зла mean “angry” or “evil”?
Both are possible. Context decides:
- Colloquial “angry/mad”: Вона не зла, просто втомилася.
- “Evil” (a moral trait): Вона зла людина = “She is an evil person.” If you want to avoid the “evil” reading, use сердита for “angry”: Вона не сердита, просто втомилася. Also: “angry at someone” is злий/зла на когось (e.g., Вона зла на мене).
What does просто mean here?
It means “just/simply,” softening the explanation: “not angry—just tired.” It doesn’t mean “only” in the limiting sense. For “only,” use тільки/лише. Note that colloquially you may also hear Вона не зла, тільки втомилася, where тільки works like “but only.”
Why is there a comma before просто?
You have two parts joined without a conjunction (asyndeton): Вона не зла, [вона] просто втомилася. A comma (or an em dash) separates them. Variants:
- Вона не зла — просто втомилася. (more emphatic)
- Вона не зла, вона просто втомилася. (subject repeated)
Why use втомилася (a verb) instead of the adjective втомлена?
- втомилася (perfective verb “got tired”) highlights the recent change/event leading to the current state.
- втомлена (adjective “tired”) describes the state itself.
Both are correct:
Вона не зла, просто втомилася. (She got tired, hence not angry.)
Вона не зла, просто втомлена. (She is just tired.)
What does the ending -ся in втомилася do?
It’s the reflexive clitic meaning the action affects the subject. втомилася = “she got tired (herself).” Without it, втомила means “she tired (someone/something).”
Is втомилася perfective or imperfective? What would the imperfective be?
втомилася is perfective (from втомитися)—a completed result: “(has) got tired.”
Imperfective is втомлювалася (“was getting tired,” “used to get tired,” ongoing/habitual).
How do I change втомилася for other genders and number?
Past tense agrees in gender/number:
- Masculine: втомився
- Feminine: втомилася
- Neuter: втомилося
- Plural: втомилися
Can I place просто somewhere else?
Yes, with slight changes in emphasis:
- Вона просто втомилася. (Neutral: she’s just tired.)
- Просто вона втомилася. (Discourse-level “simply/it’s just that,” often after a denial.) All are acceptable; the meaning stays close.
Can I repeat the subject in the second clause?
Yes: Вона не зла, вона просто втомилася. It’s slightly more explicit and is perfectly natural.
Is втомилась (with -сь) okay instead of втомилася?
You’ll hear втомилась in speech; in standard writing втомилася is preferred. Both are understood.
Are there articles in Ukrainian? How do we know it’s “not angry,” not “not the angry”?
Ukrainian has no articles. Definiteness/indefiniteness comes from context. Here, не зла is simply “not angry.”
How do you pronounce and stress the sentence?
- Вона́ [vo-NA] (stress on the last syllable)
- не [ne]
- зла [zla] (one syllable)
- про́сто [PRO-sto] (stress on the first syllable)
- втоми́лася [vto-MY-la-sia] (stress on ми) Natural rhythm: vo-NA ne zla, PRO-sto vto-MY-la-sia.