Learn Hardcore Ukrainian: Я дивлюся на зоряне небо уночі.

So Я дивлюся… means I look / I am looking….
In Ukrainian, the verb ending already shows person and number, so you don’t have to say я for the grammar to be clear.

What is the infinitive of дивлюся, and what does the -ся ending mean?

The infinitive is дивитися.

The -ся (or -сь) is a reflexive particle. With many verbs, it can mean:

doing something to oneself (e.g. вмиватися – to wash oneself)
or give the verb some special, idiomatic meaning.

With дивитися, the verb is simply learned as дивитися на щось – to look at something. The -ся here does not literally mean “myself”; it’s just part of the verb’s normal form.

You will also see a colloquial shortened form дивлюсь, which is equivalent to дивлюся in meaning.

Why do we say дивлюся на зоряне небо and not just дивлюся зоряне небо?

In Ukrainian, the usual pattern is:

дивитися на + accusative = to look at something
- дивитися на небо – to look at the sky
- дивитися на картину – to look at a painting

Without на, дивитися щось usually means to watch something (like a film, show, video):

дивитися фільм – to watch a film
дивитися телевізор – to watch TV

So:

Я дивлюся на зоряне небо. – I look at the starry sky.
If you said Я дивлюся зоряне небо, it would sound strange or poetic, not like normal everyday speech.

What case is used after на in на зоряне небо, and how can I see it?

After на with the meaning “onto / at (visually)”, Ukrainian uses the accusative case.

на зоряне небо – зоряне небо is in the accusative.

However, for neuter nouns like небо:

nominative singular: небо
accusative singular: небо

The forms are identical, so you don’t see the case change on the noun itself.
You do see case agreement on the adjective:

зоряне – neuter singular accusative (same form as nominative), agreeing with небо.

Why does the adjective зоряне end in -е?

Зоряне comes from the adjective зоряний (starry), which has to agree with the noun небо in:

gender: neuter
number: singular
case: accusative (same form as nominative in neuter)

Neuter singular adjectives typically end in -е (or -є) in nominative/accusative:

велике небо – big sky
ясне небо – clear sky
зоряне небо – starry sky

So зоряне is the correct neuter form to match небо.

Are there other ways to say “starry sky” in Ukrainian, and do they differ in meaning?

Yes, you might also hear:

зоряне небо – very common, poetic, literally starry sky.
зіркове небо – also starry sky; from зірка (star).
усіяне зорями небо – sky strewn with stars (more descriptive, poetic).

In everyday speech, зоряне небо and зіркове небо both work and usually feel similar. Зоряне небо is especially common in literary or romantic contexts.

What does уночі mean exactly, and what case is it?

Уночі means “at night / during the night”.

It is historically:

у (in/at) + ночі (locative singular of ніч — night).

In this fused form уночі, it behaves like an adverbial time expression: at night. You don’t need an article or extra preposition in English; уночі already covers that.

What is the difference between уночі and вночі? Are both correct?

Both уночі and вночі are correct and mean “at night”.

The choice between у and в is mainly about euphony (what sounds smoother):

Ukrainian tends to alternate у / в to avoid awkward consonant clusters or repetition.
After certain sounds, уночі may feel smoother; in other contexts вночі may.

In everyday usage, both forms are widely understood and used, and in this sentence you can say:

Я дивлюся на зоряне небо уночі.
Я дивлюся на зоряне небо вночі.

The meaning is the same.

Can I change the word order in this sentence without changing the meaning?

Yes. Ukrainian word order is relatively flexible. All of these can be natural, with slight shifts in emphasis:

Я дивлюся на зоряне небо уночі. – neutral.
Уночі я дивлюся на зоряне небо. – emphasizes at night.
Я уночі дивлюся на зоряне небо. – also highlights at night, but keeps я first.
На зоряне небо я дивлюся уночі. – focuses on the starry sky.

The core grammatical relationships stay the same because they’re marked by endings and prepositions, not by word order alone.

Do I have to say я, or can I just say Дивлюся на зоряне небо уночі?

You can drop я:

Дивлюся на зоряне небо уночі.

Ukrainian is a pro‑drop language: the verb ending (-люся) already shows it’s 1st person singular, so the subject pronoun я is often omitted when it’s obvious from context.

Including я can add a bit of emphasis on I:

Я дивлюся на зоряне небо уночі. – I (as opposed to someone else) look at the starry sky at night.

What is the aspect of дивитися, and how would the perfective form change the meaning?

Дивитися is imperfective. It describes:

a process, ongoing action, or repeated action:
- Я дивлюся на зоряне небо уночі. – I (habitually / right now) look at the starry sky at night.

The corresponding perfective verb is подивитися:

Я подивлюся на зоряне небо уночі. – I will (at some point) take a look at the starry sky at night; focusing on the completed act of looking, not the ongoing process.

So:

дивитися – to be looking / to look (process, habit).
подивитися – to (have a) look (single, completed action).