1.6 How to say ‘my’ in Ukrainian
You may have noticed that Olena says мій брат mii brat but моя сестра moia sestra, so there are (at least) two words for ‘my’ in Ukrainian. If you look back at sections 2 and 3, Natalka also talks about мій брат mii brat, Bohdan talks about моя дружина moia druzhyna. These are all examples of possessive pronouns and they change according to the gender of the noun they describe. You don’t need to learn them all at once.
Table 2: ‘my’ in Ukrainian
| Word for my | Example | Translation | |
| with masculine nouns | мій mii | мій брат mii brat | my brother |
| with feminine nouns | моя moia | моя сестра moia sestra | my sister |
| with plural masculine and feminine nouns | мої moi | мої діти moi dity | my children |
Now listen to the pronunciation.
Audio 9 transcript
| Ukrainian | Transliteration |
|---|---|
| мій брат | mii brat |
| моя сестра | moia sestra |
| мої діти | moi dity |
Activity 4: Select missing information
Choose the correct word for ‘my’ from the dropdown menu. You can work either on the Ukrainian alphabet or on the transliterated version or both.
Now try the same activity, using the Ukrainian alphabet.
To complete this section, here is a list of close family members. You can hear the pronunciation on Audio 10 below.
Audio 10 transcript: Key language for talking about close family.
| Ukrainian | Transliteration | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| тато | tato | dad |
| мама | mama | mum |
| чоловік | cholovik | husband |
| дружина | druzhyna | wife |
| дочка / донька | dochka / donka | daughter |
| син | syn | son |
| брат | brat | brother |
| сестра | sestra | sister |
OpenLearn - Introduction to Ukrainian language and culture
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