Не кидай папір на підлогу — поклади його в смітник.

This is a very common aspect question.

• кидати = imperfective, to throw / to be throwing
• кинути = perfective, to throw once / to toss

In Ukrainian, negative commands usually prefer the imperfective:

• Не кидай папір на підлогу. = Don’t throw paper on the floor.

This sounds like a normal rule or instruction.

If you used не кинь, it would sound less neutral and more like be careful not to throw it in a specific one-time situation. So in a general instruction, не кидай is the natural choice.

Meanwhile, the second verb is поклади, which is perfective, because it means put it there as a completed action.

This is also about aspect.

• класти / клади = imperfective
• покласти / поклади = perfective

In affirmative commands, Ukrainian often uses the perfective imperative when the speaker wants a single completed result:

• поклади його в смітник = put it into the trash bin

The point is not just the process of placing it, but the result: it should end up in the bin.

If you said клади його в смітник, that could sound more like:

• a repeated instruction,
• a process,
• or go ahead, start putting it there.

So поклади is the most natural choice here.

Because папір is the direct object of кидати, and with an inanimate masculine noun, the accusative usually looks the same as the nominative.

So:

• nominative: папір
• accusative: папір

That is why you see:

• кидай папір = throw paper

The form паперу is genitive singular, and it would be used in other situations, not as the normal direct object here.

Його means it / him, depending on context. Here it means it, referring back to папір.

It is the direct object of поклади:

• поклади що? → його

For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative pronoun is still його.

So the structure is:

• поклади його = put it

Ukrainian often repeats the object with a pronoun like this, especially when the second clause gives the correct action after the first clause says what not to do.

Because на підлогу shows direction toward a surface, while на підлозі shows location.

Compare:

• на підлогу = onto the floor → movement, so accusative
• на підлозі = on the floor → location, so locative

In this sentence, the action is throwing something onto the floor, so Ukrainian uses:

• на підлогу

If you were describing where something already is, you would say:

• Папір на підлозі. = The paper is on the floor.

For the same reason as на підлогу.

• в смітник = into the trash bin → direction/movement, so accusative
• у смітнику = in the trash bin → location, so locative

Here the speaker is telling someone where to put the paper, so the paper is moving into the bin:

• поклади його в смітник

If you wanted to say where it already is, you would say:

• Він у смітнику. = It is in the trash bin.

Смітник usually means a trash can, garbage bin, or rubbish bin, depending on context.

It comes from сміття = trash / garbage / rubbish.

Depending on region and situation, Ukrainian can use several words for this idea, for example:

• смітник
• урна = often a public trash bin
• сміттєвий бак / контейнер = a larger garbage container

In this sentence, смітник is a normal everyday word for a bin you put trash into.

Ukrainian has no articles like English a/an and the.

So:

• папір can mean paper, the paper, or a piece of paper, depending on context.
• в смітник can mean into the trash bin or into a trash bin, depending on the situation.

Native speakers understand which meaning is intended from context.

That is why the sentence can sound perfectly natural without any extra words corresponding to English articles.

It can function a bit more broadly than the English word paper sometimes does.

In a sentence like this, папір can mean:

• paper in general,
• a paper item,
• or effectively a piece of paper

So the instruction means something like:

• Don’t throw paper on the floor—put it in the bin.

If you wanted to be more explicitly a small piece of paper, Ukrainian might use:

• папірець

But папір is completely natural in this kind of general instruction.

The dash links two short commands in a strong, clear way:

• Не кидай папір на підлогу — поклади його в смітник.

It gives the feeling:

• don’t do X — do Y instead

This is very natural in Ukrainian. It helps show contrast between the wrong action and the correct action.

You could also say it with different punctuation or wording, for example:

• Не кидай папір на підлогу, а поклади його в смітник.

That version is a bit more explicit because а means something like but / rather.

The dash version is concise and idiomatic.

To speak to more than one person, or to one person politely, Ukrainian uses -те forms:

• Не кидайте папір на підлогу — покладіть його в смітник.

Compare:

• кидай / поклади = singular, informal
• кидайте / покладіть = plural or polite

This is very important in real-life Ukrainian, because choosing the right command form depends on who you are addressing.

Yes. Ukrainian word order is more flexible than English, although not all versions sound equally natural.

The sentence as given:

• Не кидай папір на підлогу — поклади його в смітник.

is very natural and neutral.

You could also hear variants like:

• Папір на підлогу не кидай — поклади його в смітник.
• Не кидай на підлогу папір — поклади його в смітник.

Changing the order can shift emphasis:

• папір gets emphasis if moved forward
• на підлогу gets emphasis if placed earlier

But for a learner, the original order is the safest and most standard.

Stress is important in Ukrainian, because it is not always predictable.

In this sentence, the usual stresses are:

• не кидáй
• папíр
• на підлóгу
• покладú
• йогó
• в смітнúк

A learner should pay special attention to:

• підлóга → на підлóгу
• покластú → покладú

Stress mistakes are common for beginners, so it is worth learning each new word together with its stress.

Yes, that is a very close structural match.

Piece by piece:

• Не = don’t
• кидай = throw
• папір = paper
• на підлогу = onto the floor
• поклади = put
• його = it
• в смітник = into the trash bin

So the sentence maps quite neatly onto English.

The main differences are:

• no articles in Ukrainian,
• different aspect choices for the imperatives,
• and case endings showing movement vs location.

That is why this sentence is actually a very useful example for learning several core Ukrainian patterns at once.