Моя подруга купила ковбасу, а я взяв сметану і свіжий хліб.

Because подруга is a feminine singular noun, and the possessive pronoun my has to agree with it.

• мій = masculine singular
• моя = feminine singular
• моє = neuter singular
• мої = plural

So:

• мій друг = my male friend
• моя подруга = my female friend

In the past tense, Ukrainian verbs agree with the subject in gender and number.

• купила = she bought
• взяв = he took

That means:

• подруга купила because подруга is feminine
• я взяв suggests the speaker is male

If the speaker were female, it would be:

• я взяла

So Ukrainian past tense often tells you the speaker’s or subject’s gender.

Ukrainian often can omit subject pronouns when the meaning is clear, so взяв by itself may already imply I took in context.

But here я is included for contrast:

• Моя podруга купила..., а я взяв...

That gives the sense of:

• My friend bought..., and I took...
• or more literally, ..., while I took...

So я is not required for grammar, but it is very natural here for emphasis and contrast.

Because they are direct objects, so they go into the accusative case.

Both ковбаса and сметана are feminine nouns ending in -а, and in the singular accusative that ending usually changes to -у:

• ковбаса → ковбасу
• сметана → сметану

This is very common with feminine nouns:

• книга → книгу
• машина → машину

So the sentence uses the accusative because these are the things being bought/taken.

Because хліб is a masculine inanimate noun.

In Ukrainian, for masculine inanimate singular nouns, the accusative is usually the same as the nominative.

So:

• nominative: хліб
• accusative: хліб

That is why you see:

• взяв хліб

Compare with a feminine noun, which usually changes:

• сметана → сметану

Because the adjective must agree with the noun it describes.

хліб is:

• masculine
• singular
• inanimate
• accusative, which here looks like the nominative

So the adjective also appears in the matching form:

• свіжий хліб = fresh bread

Agreement is very important in Ukrainian. For example:

• свіжа сметана = fresh sour cream
• свіжий хліб = fresh bread
• свіжі овочі = fresh vegetables

They both can translate as and, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

• а often shows contrast or a shift from one subject/topic to another
• і is a simple and joining words or phrases

In this sentence:

• Моя подруга купила ковбасу, а я взяв сметану і свіжий хліб.

Here а contrasts my friend with I:

• My friend bought sausage, while I took sour cream and fresh bread.

And і simply joins the two items:

• сметану і свіжий хліб

So а connects the two clauses, while і connects the two objects.

Because а is connecting two clauses:

• Моя подруга купила ковбасу
• а я взяв сметану і свіжий хліб

In Ukrainian, when two clauses with their own subjects and verbs are joined by conjunctions like а, a comma is normally used.

So the comma is standard punctuation here.

Yes. Ukrainian word order is fairly flexible, because the case endings already show the grammatical roles.

The given sentence is very natural and neutral:

• Моя подруга купила ковбасу, а я взяв сметану і свіжий хліб.

But you could rearrange parts for emphasis, for example:

• Ковбасу купила моя подруга, а я взяв сметану і свіжий хліб.
• Я взяв сметану і свіжий хліб, а моя подруга купила ковбасу.

These versions are grammatical, but the emphasis changes. The original is a good standard word order for learners.

This is about aspect.

• купила and взяв are perfective
• they present the actions as completed whole events

That fits this sentence well, because it sounds like a completed shopping action:

• she bought the sausage
• I took the sour cream and fresh bread

The imperfective forms:

• купувала
• брав

would sound more like repeated action, process, or background context, depending on the situation.

So the perfective forms are the natural choice for a simple completed event.

Yes, взяв literally means took, but in everyday Ukrainian it is also very common in contexts like shopping, choosing, ordering, or picking up items.

So in a sentence like this, взяв can sound natural as:

• took
• got
• picked up

Depending on context, English might translate it differently, but the Ukrainian verb itself is very normal here.

Because Ukrainian has no articles.

English distinguishes:

• a friend
• the friend

Ukrainian usually does not use a separate word for that. The meaning comes from context, word order, or emphasis.

So:

• моя подруга = my friend
• ковбасу = sausage / the sausage
• сметану = sour cream / the sour cream

The exact English article depends on the situation, not on a separate Ukrainian word.

It looks unusual to English speakers because of the consonant cluster at the beginning: вз-.

A rough pronunciation is:

• взяв ≈ vzyav

The я here gives a ya sound, and the whole word is one syllable cluster plus that vowel sound.

Also, this verb comes from взяти = to take, so the past masculine form is взяв.

This is just one of those common Ukrainian forms that may look hard at first but becomes familiar quickly.