1.2 Danylo chooses his GCSE subjects
Danylo comes from school with a letter asking him to choose subjects to study for GCSE. Listen to the dialogue between Danylo and his Mum Viktoriia.
Transcript: Audio 2
| Ukrainian | Transliteration |
|---|---|
| Мамо, дивись, це лист зі школи. | Mamo, dyvys, tse lyst zi shkoly. |
| О, що тут пишуть? Треба вибрати предмети. | O, shcho tut pyshut? Treba vybraty predmety. |
| Так, мамо. Є обовʼязкові предмети. Це англійська мова і література, математика, фізика, хімія, біологія та іноземна мова. | Tak, mamo. Ye oboviazkovi predmety. Tse anhliiska mova i literatura, matematyka, fizyka, khimiia, biolohiia ta inozemna mova. |
| А які предмети можна вибрати? | A yaki predmety mozhna vybraty? |
| Ось список. | Os spysok. |
| Отже, історія, географія, економіка, бізнес, соціологія, драма, музика, малювання, компʼютерні технології, фотографія. Який великий вибір! | Otzhe, istoriia, heohrafiia, ekonomika, biznes, sotsiolohiia, drama, muzyka, maliuvannia, kompiuterni tekhnolohii, fotohrafiia. Yakyi velykyi vybir! |
| Треба вибрати три предмети. | Treba vybraty try predmety. |
| Які предмети ти хочеш учити? | Yaki predmety ty khochesh uchyty? |
| Мій улюблений предмет – географія. Думаю, що соціологія та економіка – цікаві предмети. Тому мій вибір – географія, соціологія та економіка. | Mii uliublenyi predmet – heohrafiia. Dumaiu, shcho sotsiolohiia ta ekonomika – tsikavi predmety. Tomu mii vybir – heohrafiia, sotsiolohiia ta ekonomika. |
| Гарний вибір! | Harnyi vybir! |
| Ukrainian | Transliteration | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| Дивись | dyvys | look (imperative, sing.) |
| лист | lyst | letter |
| зі (з) | zi (z) | from |
| треба | treba | one has to…, one must…, one should …, it is necessary |
| вибрати | vybraty | to choose |
| обовʼязковий/ обовʼязкові | oboviazkovyi (pronounced as obov- yazkovyi) / oboviazkovi | compulsory (sing. masc. / pl.) |
| та | ta | and |
| предмет(и) | predmet(y) | subject(s) |
| який / які | yakyi / yaki | which, what |
| можна | mozhna | one may… |
| ось | os | here is… |
| список | spysok | list |
| вибір | vybir | choice |
| (хочеш) учити | (khochesh) uchyty | (you want) to study |
| улюблений | uliublenyi | favourite |
| думаю | dumaiu | I think |
| що | shcho | that |
| цікавий / цікаві | tsikavyi / tsikavi | interesting (sing. masc. / pl.) |
| тому | tomu | this is why |
Transcript: Audio 3
Take a closer look (Audio 3 transcript)
Let’s take a closer look at this dialogue. Danylo starts conversation with the phrase: Mamo, dyvys, tse lyst zi shkoly which means ‘Mum, look, this is a letter from school’. You have probably noticed change of ending in the word Mum in phrase mamo, dyvys (‘Mum, look’) and you might remember word dyvys (‘look’) from Week 4. Tse lyst zi shkoly (‘this is a letter from school’). Viktoriia takes the letter and says: O, shcho tut pyshut? Treba vybraty predmety which means ‘Oh, what do they write here? One has to choose subjects.’ Shcho tut pyshut? literally means ‘What here they write?’ Pyshut means ‘they write’. Verb’s ending shows that this is 3rd person plural. As you can see, Viktoriia does not use pronoun vony (they) because it’s not important who precisely wrote the letter.
Next phrase contains very useful word: Treba vybraty predmety. Treba means ‘one has to…’, ‘one must’, ‘one should’, ‘it is necessary’. Let’s repeat it together: treba ____, treba _____. This word is usually followed by infinitive. Let’s repeat this together: treba vybraty _______, treba vybraty _______. Predmety is plural of predmet (‘subject’). Let’s repeat it together: predmet _______(sing.), predmety _______ (pl.).
Danylo replies: Tak, mamo. Ye oboviazkovi predmety (Yes, Mum. There are compulsory subjects).Oboviazkovyi means compulsory, oboviazkovi is plural form. Danylo lists these subjects: Tse anhliiska mova i literatura, matematyka, fizyka, khimiia, biolohiia ta inozemna mova (‘These are the English language and literature, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and a foreign language’).
Viktoriia asks: A yaki predmety mozhna vybraty? (‘And which subjects one can choose?’) Pay attention to the word mozhna: it means ‘one can’, ‘one may’, ‘it is possible’. Please repeat it with me: mozhna ______, mozhna ________. It is often followed by infinitive: mozhna vybraty ___________ (one can choose). This word is really useful when you want to ask for something, for example, mozhna yabluko? means ‘may I have an apple?’
Danylo points to the list of subjects to choose from: Os spysok (‘Here is the list’). Viktoriia reads the list: Otzhe, istoriia, heohrafiia, ekonomika, biznes, sotsiolohiia, drama, muzyka, maliuvannia, kompiuterni tekhnolohii, fotohrafiia. (‘So, history, geography, economics, business, sociology, drama, music, art, computer science and photography’). Viktoriia replies: Yakyi velykyi vybir!(‘What a big choice!’
Danylo continues: Treba vybraty try predmety, which means ‘One has to choose three subjects’. Viktoriia asks her son: Yaki predmety ty khochesh uchyty? (‘Which subjects do you want to study?’)
Danylo answers: Mii uliublenyi predmet – heohrafiia (‘My favourite subject is geography’). Let’s repeat word uliublenyi (‘favourite’): uliublenyi _______, uliublenyi_________. Danylo continues: Dumaiu, shcho sotsiolohiia ta ekonomika – tsikavi predmety (‘I think, that sociology and economics are interesting subjects’). Remember word ‘dumaiiu’ (I think) which can be used with or without pronoun ya (‘I’). Let’s repeat it together: ya dumaiiu______, dumaiiu _______. Tsikavi is plural of tsikavyi (‘interesting’). Danylo sums up his choice: Tomu mii vybir – heohrafiia, sotsiolohiia ta ekonomika (‘This is why my choice is geography, sociology and economics’).
Viktoriia expresses her opinion: Harnyi vybir! (‘Good choice!’)
Now listen to the dialogue once again.