How to Address People in Ukrainian

Do you wonder how to address people in Ukrainian?

In today’s post, we will learn how to do that.

Informal addresses

For addressing people, we normally use the vocative case. Note here that plural nouns in the vocative case coincide with the nominative case. To check the conjugation, use this dictionary to help.

If you want to address a group of people in an informal way, good words to use are:

Люди (noun, plural), народе (noun, singular, the vocative case; народ – the nominative case) – folks, everybody;

Люди, хто хоче піти в кафе завтра?

Folks, who wants to go to café tomorrow?

(Дорогі) друзі, товарищі – (dear) friends. Although the word “дорогі” makes the address a bit more official;

Друзі, давайте купимо ще їжі на вечір.

Friends, let’s buy more food for tonight.

Дівчата і хлопці – girls and boys;

Дівчата, хто зможе зустрітись завтра?

Girls, who can meet tomorrow?

Дівчино (дівчина – the nominative case) / хлопче, юначе (хлопець, юнак – the nominative case) – girl – young woman / boy – young man.

Хлопче, як тебе звати? What is your name, young man?

Formal addresses

The most common formal addresses are пане (пан – the nominative case) – sir, mister, пані (the same “пані” in the nominative case and in plural form) – miss, missis or mizz (where you are unsure about the woman’s status), also lady / ladies, пани, панове (noun, masculine, plural) – gentlemen. If we know the person’s name, we usually use it together while addressing them.

Пане Володимире і пані Тетято, вітаємо вас в Америці!

Mr Volodymyr and Ms Tatiana, welcome to America!

Sometimes the form панно (панна – the nominative case, панни – plural) is used to address the unmarried young woman, but more common is пані because we can use that to both married and unmarried women.

Панно Юліє, що б ви хотіли на сніданок?

Miss Yulia, what would you like to have for breakfast?

Шановний (adjective, masculine), шановна (adjective, feminine), шановні (adjective, plural);

These are the nominalized adjectives – the adjectives which have come to function as the nouns, as in “the rich and the poor” in the English language.

Шановні пасажири, двері зачиняються!

Dear passengers, the doors are closing!

The “шановн-” adjective means “respected” and can be used either alone, or together with “пан-/добродій-”.

Добродію (noun, masculine; the nominative case – добродій), добродійко (noun, feminine; the nominative case – добродійка), добродії (noun, plural) – literary this word is translated as “the one who does good”. In English “добродій” is translated as “mister, gentleman”, “добродійка” – “miss, lady”, and “добродії” – ladies and gentlemen.

Шановні добродії, раді вас вітати у нашому ресторані.

Dear ladies and gentlemen, we are glad to see you at our restaurant!

Now you know how to address people in different ways so we have a little task for you: check the mistakes in this short text. Pay attention to the usage of the Vocative case while addressing.

– Дівчина, скажіть, будь ласка, як вас звати?      

Tell me please, what is your name, young lady?

– Мене звати Тетяна, шановна пане. А вас як звати?

My name is Tetiana, dear sir. And what is your name?

– Мене звати Павло. My name is Pavlo.

– Приємно познайомитись, пан Павле. Nice to meet you, mister Pavlo.

– Взаємно, панно Тетяна. Likewise, miss Tetiana.