3.1 My name is…

Let’s look at the dialogue. Mary is talking to a child. She decided to choose informal way of addressing a child and says Pryvit which is informal for ‘Hello’. Let’s say together: Pryvit!. Then Mary introduces herself and asks child’s name: Mene zvut Meri, a yak tebe zvut?. You can recognise the answer already: child replies Mene zvut Natalka (‘My name is Natalka’). The dialogue finishes in a classic way: Duzhe pryiemno! – Meni tezh. (‘Nice to meet you!’ – ‘Me too’). You might remember that in the first dialogue of this course there was a conversation between Mary and Natalia. In the last dialogue a child introduces herself as ‘Natalka’. This is the same name, but Ukrainians use a lot of diminutives – forms of words which depict something small or convey a sense of intimacy. Such forms are very common when talking with children. This is why the child replies ‘Natalka’.

Please pay attention, that talking to a child, Ukrainians use ‘normal’, singular ‘you’ – ty. Question ‘What’s your name?’ in singular is Yak tebe zvut? Let’s repeat together: Yak tebe zvut?.

Now listen to the dialogue again.