Кіт чухається.

-ся is the reflexive marker. It often corresponds to English oneself / itself.

So:

• чухати = to scratch something
• чухатися = to scratch oneself / itself

In Кіт чухається, the cat is doing the action to itself, not to some other object.

The dictionary form is чухатися.

чухається is the 3rd person singular present form, used with він / вона / воно and with singular nouns like кіт.

A few present-tense forms are:

• я чухаюся = I scratch myself / I am scratching myself
• ти чухаєшся = you scratch yourself
• він/вона чухається = he/she scratches himself/herself

So кіт чухається literally matches the cat scratches itself / is scratching itself.

Because the verb follows the normal present-tense pattern for many -атися / -ятися verbs.

Here the ending shows:

• -є- = 3rd person singular present
• -ться / -ся = reflexive element

So чухатися becomes чухається in the 3rd person singular.

For a learner, the most useful thing is simply to recognize -ється as a very common ending meaning something like he/she/it ...s itself.

It can be either, depending on context.

Ukrainian does not normally separate these the way English does. So Кіт чухається can mean:

• The cat scratches itself
• The cat is scratching itself

Context tells you whether it is a general fact, a habitual action, or something happening right now.

чухатися is imperfective.

That means it describes:

• an ongoing action,
• a repeated action,
• or an action viewed without focusing on completion.

A common perfective partner is почухатися.

Compare:

• Кіт чухається. = The cat is scratching itself / scratches itself.
• Кіт почухався. = The cat scratched itself (once, or as a completed action).

Because кіт is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

Here:

• кіт = cat (subject form)
• чухається = scratches itself / is scratching itself

So the structure is simply:

subject + verb

This is the basic, neutral pattern in Ukrainian.

Ukrainian has no articles.

So кіт can mean:

• a cat
• the cat
• sometimes just cat, in a general sense

The exact meaning comes from context, not from a separate word like the or a.

So Кіт чухається could be understood as either A cat is scratching itself or The cat is scratching itself, depending on the situation.

Usually, yes: кіт most literally means a male cat / tomcat.

The female cat is кішка.

However, in casual usage, examples, and simple learning sentences, кіт is often used very broadly when English would just say cat. So in a textbook-style sentence like this, it may or may not matter whether the cat is male.

It would be understandable, but Кіт чухається is more natural and idiomatic here.

Compare:

• Кіт чухається. = natural, normal way to say The cat is scratching itself
• Кіт чухає себе. = more explicit, heavier, and less natural in a simple sentence

Ukrainian often prefers the reflexive verb with -ся instead of using a separate object like себе when the action is directed back at the subject.

Yes, but Кіт чухається is the neutral word order.

Ukrainian word order is more flexible than English. You can change it for emphasis:

• Кіт чухається. = neutral
• Чухається кіт. = more marked; it may emphasize the action or fit a particular context

So the given version is the best default sentence for a learner.

Very roughly:

• Кіт ≈ keet
• ч sounds like ch in chair
• х is a throaty sound, like ch in Scottish loch or German Bach
• ться / ється at the end is said roughly like -tsya

So a rough English-friendly approximation is:

Keet chu-kha-ye-tsya

That is only approximate, but it helps with the main sounds.