I love watching telly dubbed into Ukrainian, especially when I can understand some of it. In this PDF I have collected phrases I understood from the first 3 episodes of The Queen Charlotte story on Netflix.
I have watched all the Bridgerton series on Netflix and I love the phrases I can gather from each episode. They are things I feel I can use:
I am going darling
We have a probem
Say something!
You can do anything!
What a great breakfast!
They are good together
There are sure to be some errors in my 144 strong list, but I am still going to study all these phrases. I will see my Ukrainian teacher soon, and it will be good to practice the pronunciation with her. In the meantime, I hope to make progress by trying to produce some of these phrases from memory.
I want to be able to communicate and have fun with this language, and that is what I am doing. I hope you don’t mind me sharing this with you.
Best wishes to all, and praying, as ever, for peace.
Many people began learning Ukrainian when war broke out in February 2022. As people finish the course on Duolingo, we can easily reduce the amount of time put into studying.
When I finished writing “My Big Book of Ukrainian Exercises,” … when all the proofs were done and the publishing had begun, I found I lost direction with my learning. I visited a Ukrainian friend which I always find inspiring, and then I decided to put my feelings into words.
I went back to Duolingo, and the first sentence it gave me to practice was a clear sign to me that I need to JUST KEEP GOING! I made a short video of some of the sentences I want to learn this week, and you can download the script, watch the video and learn with me.
Learning any language takes a lot of time. You have already put in a lot of time, but you haven’t got the results yet. You can’t enjoy a good chat in Ukrainian. (This is me, talking to me by the way, you might be different). In order to get the results, and make good on the investment you have already put in, you need to KEEP GOING.
Believe in yourself. You can do it.
If you have kindly read this post, I would welcome comments here, or on the YouTube video, about what you are doing to KEEP LEARNING UKRAINIAN.
For me learning takes a lot of focus. I focus best when I am writing. I may have ideas about learning when I am out for a walk or at work, but then I need to come home and get it down in print. In this document you can read my thoughts, questions, investigations and answers as I go through the list of Ukrainian vocabulary in the sports lesson of the Duolingo course. I want this to be vocabulary that I can use, rather than only be able to recognise. Download the document to see how I do it.
The sports vocab is in the second half of the Duolingo Ukrainian course. I made my notes from the first half of the course into a book. I wrote this book while on sabbatical, and worked harder than I have ever worked before, putting in 14 hour days and using the feedback from dozens of people to get the book to the highest level of accuracy before I published it. It has really helped my learning, and I hope it can help other people’s learning too. Buy “My Big Book of Ukrainian Exercises” here.
Notes to learn Ukrainian vocabulary (sports lesson from Duolingo)
Американський футбол A clear cognate. Easy.
Бігати підтюпцем. Бігати = To run. підтюпцем = Jogging.
I want to know more! підтюпцем!
ПІДТЮПЦЕМ Дрібними швидкими кроками. = JOGGING Small quick steps.
Грицько підтюпцем побіг до брата Труськом. = Hrytsko jogged to his brother Trusko.
Вигравати = To win. To me, break it down and you get Ви = You. гравати = Play. I want it to mean lose, but no, it means win.
Гра = Game
Гравець = Player
Грати = Play
I want to ask Ukrainian experts about the difference between грати and гравати. A quick post on the wonderful Ukrainian Learners Group on Facebook and we will see what they say!
Wikipedia tells me:
“Ukrainian verbs can have one of two aspects: imperfective and perfective. The imperfective form denotes an action that is taking place in the present, is ongoing, is repetitive, or is habitual. The perfective form indicates an action that is completed, is the result of an action, is the beginning of an action, or is shorter or longer than usual. For example, спати (sleep) is imperfective, while поспати is perfective.”
Квиток = Ticket. This seems like a revision word from the transport unit.
Команда = Team.
М’яч = Ball. It sounds like match, so that is a strong association.
Плавати = To swim. I hear part of the word splash in there, which helps.
Поле = Field.
Популярний = Popular. It’s a cognate.
Програти гру = To lose a game. Про = About. грати = To play. гру = Game (accusative case) Again, I kind of expect it to mean the opposite of what it does, but accept the definition as it is, of course.
Просто = Just. Not sports related.
Скоро = Soon. Not sports related.
Фітнес зал = Gym. It sounds like fitness hall, or close enough.
Фітнес тренування = Fitness training. This is a cognate.
М’яч
Квиток
Плавати
Гравець
Американський футбол
Бігати підтюпцем
Команда
Грати
Фітнес тренування
Гра
Поле
Просто
Популярний
Скоро
Програти гру
Вигравати
Фітнес зал
I recognise them all!
Can I recall them?
Бігати підтюпцем will be tricky. під means under. Google translate guesses тюпцем might mean with a thud, but changes its translation when you flip it. Again, Google translate guesses тюп might mean stupid, but that doesn’t hold when you flip it.
Not bad. Непогано. I made mistakes, Я зробив помилки з:
Популярний
Американський футбол
Фітнес тренування
Програти гру
Looks like I got win and lose a bit mixed up in my mind 😊 I will make a flashcard for them 😊
First practice with the individual letters sheet to trace and trace again.
Then practice recognising words. Cognates are words that are similar in two languages and there are hundreds of them in Ukrainian. Cognates are a great way for us and our students to get used to the new alphabet.
Watch the video below on how to make best use of your PDF for learning.
Playing games with language is a great way to learn. Anything that helps you and your learners pay more attention to the target language items will be a winner. Choose the cognates you would like to work with, and start playing!
Please keep an eye on the blog for more useful content coming soon.
If you would like to take your studies further right now …
For beginners, why not have a look at the mini course. Just watch the videos and follow the instructions.
Already got started? Settle into some gentle listening and reading with these meditative LingQ style lessons.
Spanglish Fantástico 