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Intermediate

The Case System Overview

Seven cases (incl. vocative)

Ukrainian has seven cases

Including the vocative — more than Russian's six.

📊 The seven cases
Case Question Use
Nominative who? subject
Genitive of whom? possession, negation
Dative to whom? indirect object
Accusative whom? direct object
Instrumental with what? means, 'with'
Locative on whom? only after prepositions
Vocative — direct address
💬 Examples
стіл → стола → столу → столом → столі → столе
stil → stola → stolu → stolom → stoli → stole
table through the cases
📝 Nom, Gen, Dat, Acc, Inst, Loc, Voc
Я бачу стіл.
Ya bachu stil.
I see the table.
📝 стіл = accusative (inanimate = nominative)
Endings depend on case, gender & number

A large but patterned system.

💬 Examples
до Києва
do Kyyeva
to Kyiv
📝 Genitive after 'до'
у Києві
u Kyyevi
in Kyiv
📝 Locative after 'у'
Cases make word order flexible

Endings carry the grammar.

💬 Examples
Кіт бачить собаку.
Kit bachyt' sobaku.
The cat sees the dog.
📝 Subject (nom) + object (acc)
Собаку бачить кіт.
Sobaku bachyt' kit.
The cat sees the dog. (emphasis)
📝 Reordered; cases keep the meaning